There was a time when spoilers were the worst thing about films. People never wanted to know what was going to happen in upcoming movies because it ruined their film-watching experience. Now, though, people make businesses based on spoiling movies as the audience nearly always wants to know what’s going to happen. Due to franchise movies becoming the biggest thing out there, people want to be aware of the big developments as it gives them a sense of security. The filmmakers themselves know of this and put in spoilers that point toward what’s going to happen.
Marvel films are notorious for following this practice, but they do it one better by placing these spoilers way ahead of time. Many films have subtle spoilers that inform the viewer about something that’s going to happen years down the line. A lot of these are easy to spot, yet are only apparent when the spoiler the movie concerns with has been released. It’s a great way of keeping fan interest as it makes you invest more of your time and effort into watching these films, and that’s just what Marvel movies want from you. At times, spoilers are also put in at the beginning of said film, which spoils something that’ll happen at the end of the same film.
Fans have become used to this practice and can point out some spoilers at the start of the film which were easy to find, but there are still many that are quite easy to miss as well.
25 Missed: Coulson Revealing S.H.I.E.L.D. (Iron Man)
Coulson seemed to be something of a comic relief in Iron Man where no one was taking him seriously. But in his final scene in the film, he revealed he worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. It was a huge deal for fans in 2008 as it pointed to a larger world in the series.
However, you can figure it out by paying attention to Coulson when he tells Pepper who he works for upon first appearance. Of course, at the time people didn’t care what he had to say and the full-form of S.H.I.E.L.D. went unnoticed by everyone.
24 Easy: Vision And Scarlet Witch Romance (Captain America: Civil War)
Anybody who’s watched even a couple of romantic comedy movies will have figured out that Vision and Scarlet Witch were headed toward becoming a couple after their interactions in Captain America: Civil War.
There were two moments that pointed toward this – one of which was at the start of the movie. The first instance was when Vision instantly sprang up to Scarlet Witch’s defense when Thaddeus Ross implied that the world’s governments will come for retribution against Scarlet Witch. It was clear indication that they had a connection between them. A little later, there was the “Paprika” scene where they made dinner together, and that was the clearest of all indicators.
23 Missed: Loki Becoming King (Thor: The Dark World)
This was very subtly done, but there were a couple spoilers our way in Thor: The Dark World that couldn’t be spotted at first glance unless you went in with eagle eyes.
Firstly, Loki was adamant in his claim to Odin that he was a rightful king, which came to pass at the end of the film when he took on Odin’s visage and did become the “right” king. Another one was the stance with which Odin sat on his throne. Odin sat straight, while Loki’s positioning was always where he leaned. When he impersonated Odin, he retained that stance.
22 Easy: Steve And Sharon Romance (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
While Steve has retained his love for Peggy Carter all these years, he most definitely did spoil his intention to move onto another relationship in the beginning of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Here, you can see Steve trying to get a date out of Sharon Carter, who had been undercover at the time. By Captain America: Civil War, Steve and Sharon still had an underlying attraction to one another and sealed this with a kiss. We all saw this coming thanks to the indications pointing toward it happening in the beginning of the second movie.
21 Missed: Frigga's Demise (Thor: The Dark World)
You could convince yourself that Odin loved Thor more than Loki, but there’s no way that could apply to Frigga. Her last interaction with Loki also spoiled how Frigga would pass away in the same movie, although this was concealed in a sad scene involving the two.
Loki was unable to touch Frigga when he moved in for comfort, and she disappeared. This was a hint toward how he couldn’t feel his mother’s touch ever again and how she vanished from his life forever, seeing as she would pass away before he saw her once more.
20 Easy: Gwen's Demise (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)
The first indication was from Gwen’s father during his final moments in The Amazing Spider-Man, but Gwen’s speech at the start of the second movie sealed it.
You don’t say stuff that’s so profound and meaningful in a film when it’s not going to be used later; Spider-Man did make use of it later when he was depressed about her passing and used it to get back in the superhero game. It wouldn’t have been possible if she hadn’t passed away, and so this was an easy spoiler to spot.
19 Missed: Star-Lord's Father (Guardians Of The Galaxy)
At the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy, you’ll see young Star-Lord weeping at his mother’s upcoming demise, so it’s easy to miss the dialogue that’s going on there. His mother claims Star-Lord’s father will come to get him since he’s “an angel from the sky.”
Seeing that Star-Lord was then instantly abducted by aliens, it was pointing toward how his father was also an alien, a point proven by the film’s end. But Meredith Quill’s whimpering prevented people from discerning what she was saying, and this spoiler wasn’t caught by many.
18 Easy: Surtur's Promise (Thor: Ragnarok)
Thor: Ragnarok played it pretty straight compared to the previous films, and Surtur’s opening dialogue was easy indication of what was to happen by the film’s end. Surtur claimed he would be one with the flame in Asgard and then destroy that world.
Thor would then say he would claim Surtur’s crown and stash it in Asgard’s vault – this is the point where you’d put two and two together. It was pretty clear that the film was heading toward Surtur being the one to finish Asgard and this was told to us right in the opening scene.
17 Missed: Doctor Strange's Timeline (Doctor Strange)
There was a lot of demand for the MCU’s official timeline from Marvel, and Doctor Strange confused many as the story was set in seemingly an entire year. However, a spoiler to the actual timeline was possible by taking a peek at Doctor Strange’s awards in the scene before he got into his car crash.
You can see the awards while he suits up, and on one of these is the date of 2016. This means the beginning was set in that year and by the end the year was 2017, which lines up with Thor: Ragnarok. It was incredibly difficult to spot, though.
16 Easy: Thanos' Victory (Avengers: Age Of Ultron)
This spoiler came out as far back as in 2015 for a film that came out in 2018. In Tony’s vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron, he sees all the heroes defeated and Thanos’ army’s victory. This effectively spoiled the end of Avengers: Infinity War as almost everyone did perish and Tony could’ve done something about it.
He came close to beating Thanos, but couldn’t get the job done. It was obvious, though, for everyone watching considering that the Chitauri were seen in the scene, and this was a nod toward Thanos, who wasn’t in the film.
15 Missed: The Snap Victims And Survivors (Captain America: Civil War)
This was so beautifully hidden that you must give the directors mad props for keeping it that way. As can be seen in the above picture, the victims of Thanos are seated to our right while the survivors are seated to the left.
What’s more, Tony’s not seated next to the other three, which points toward how he was far away from them. This is a magnificent way to hide a spoiler and we doubt anyone would’ve caught this before watching Avengers: Infinity War.
14 Missed: Musical Prediction Of Ragnarok (Thor: Ragnarok)
Who pays attention to the lyrics of a song in a movie, right? This is why people didn’t see how the Immigrant Song was a spoiler to what was going to happen by the end of Thor: Ragnarok.
The song mentions how “we” come from distant lands and drive ships to “new lands” and how the only goal is “the western shore”. As you know, the Asgardians left their home on a ship together and set course for Earth. Few may have spotted this spoiler, but definitely not most.
13 Easy: Uncle Ben's Demise (Spider-Man & The Amazing Spider-Man)
Everyone and their cat saw that Uncle Ben was going to be passing away in both Spider-Man origin movies. There’s not one scene that points toward this, but all of them. After all, every single thing Uncle Ben said was basically sage advice, and Peter was seen following them later on in the movies.
Plus, all of Uncle Ben’s scenes took place at the beginning of those films, so we all knew his end was pretty much inevitable. These are instances where the filmmakers intentionally wanted the film spoiled.
12 Missed: Doctor Strange's Existence (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
This was a mini-second’s worth of a reference and was naturally overlooked due to the scene being so intense. Jasper Sitwell, the HYDRA agent infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. gave away that HYDRA was keeping tabs on anyone who would be a future threat and mentioned Doctor Strange as one.
This was a superbly hidden spoiler as at the time Doctor Strange hadn’t even been announced yet. With the dialogue so fast paced, most didn’t even catch Strange’s name coming up. And it wasn’t even a film that was really connected to Captain America, either.
11 Missed: The Waitress' Role (The Avengers)
This could’ve been in the easy pile if you watched the deleted scene, but we’ve kept it here since this scene is overlooked by people who search deleted scenes. The waitress in The Avengers seemed to be a random character given screentime for no real reason; however, she was useful as she provided justification that the Avengers were heroes and not menaces in an interview at the end.
You couldn’t have spotted her in the theatrical release since the scene was cut, and most likely you haven’t seen the deleted scene either, making this a spoiler hard to catch.
10 Easy: Doctor Strange's Warning (Thor: Ragnarok)
If you watched Thor: Ragnarok in the cinema, then you definitely watched the teaser trailers preceding its release. Although this scene got deleted, almost everyone did see it in the trailer - this had focus on Doctor Strange who warned Thor that “destiny has dire plans for you.”
While one might have thought Thor would just save the day in the end, this was an easy spoiler sent our way to inform us that things really would take a dire turn for Thor. Since we knew this would most likely be the last Thor film, it was clear the “dire” plans would come into fruition.
9 Missed: The Space Stone's Significance (Thor: Ragnarok)
By Thor: Ragnarok, people had started thinking the Tesseraact was just a McGuffin that wasn’t significant anymore. Of course, this was disproved in Avengers: Infinity War where it was revealed to be the Space stone.
Hela had provided a subtle spoiler to the Space stone’s significance earlier in the movie when the Tesseract was the only thing she didn’t insult when looking into Asgard’s vault. This was also a spoiler for later in the same film as Loki would also pass by the Tesseract and snag it, thereby providing a beacon for Thanos to follow the Asgardians.
8 Missed: Maria Hill Aware Of Nick Fury's Survival (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
It was made to appear as if Nick Fury really had passed away earlier in Captain America: The Winter Soldier when he was shown in the hospital room and his teammates were mourning him. What we didn’t see was the continuation of Maria Hill’s mourning as the camera mainly focused on Captain America and Black Widow.
This was a spoiler for Nick Fury’s survival as Maria Hill was shown to be fully aware of this. She had quickly fled the scene once we initially saw her crying, which meant she was only playing a part in that moment.
7 Easy: Magneto's Revenge (X-Men: First Class)
Magneto’s main goal in X-Men: First Class was to gain revenge on Shaw for taking the life of his mother. He prepared for this the whole time and we were shown an easily spoiler when he drove a coin in the center of a picture of Shaw.
Fast forward over to the end of the film, and this was exactly how Magneto took out Shaw as he used a coin to impale Shaw’s forehead and take his life as well as gain revenge for Magneto’s mother.
6 Missed: Captain America Coming Full Circle (Captain America: The First Avenger)
You might have thought that Captain America changed a lot personality wise across his three films, but the spoiler for the fact that he was the same person inside all these years was in the very beginning of Captain America: The First Avenger.
Here, he fought a bully and lost badly, but kept getting back up by proclaiming, “I could do this all day.” All the way in the end of Captain America: Civil War, Steve did the same with Iron Man, which was meant to show that deep down he was the same man.