5 MCU Trailers That Revealed Very Little About The Film/Show

While the next eagerly awaited entry in the MCU will be What If..?, hitting Disney Plus on August 11, and the next planned theatrical release will be Shang Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings, out in September, perhaps the most eagerly awaited piece of MCU content at the moment is the trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The film is only months away, currently due for release on December 17, but, strangely, there has been no sign of a trailer, or even a teaser. The only promotional material seen so far for the film has been the title announcement, and a few set pictures which tell us little to no new info.

Some fans believe the reason for the lack of a trailer is to avoid spoiling the film, which is strongly rumoured to feature the return of past cinematic Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in a potential live-action Spider-verse plot. However, Marvel have a very succesful history of no-spoiler trailers.

Here are five MCU trailer that actually revealed very little about the final product.

1. Doctor Strange

The first Doctor Strange film, released in 2016, was an important one for the MCU. For one thing, it confirmed that magic and mystical forces, previously only seen in films set in Asgard, also existed on Earth. It also introduced Doctor Stephen Strange, a character destined for importance in future MCU films, and the Time Stone, one of only two Infinity Stones that had still been unaccounted for at that point.

However, the trailer for the film revealed very little about the plot, aside from the car accident that mangles Doctor Strange's hands, and a few shots of him beginning his studies in the mystic arts. The film's villain, Caecilius, appears only briefly, and is not mentioned by name. Mostly, the trailer was used to highlight the film's impressive visual effects.

Despite the relative lack of plot, the trailer intrigued fans enough to lure them to theatres anyway, making Doctor Strange one of the MCU's highest grossing origin stories.

2. Avengers: Infinity War

In 2018, Avengers: Infinity War, the penultimate chapter of a decade's worth of MCU storytelling, arrived in theatres. The trailer for the film is basically a mix and match of action shots, revealing very little about the plot beyond what fans already knew, ie, the Avengers taking on Thanos for the first time.

The trailer even included a few shots meant to intentionally throw people off, for example, the Hulkbuster appearing in Wakanda which, at the time, hinted at the presence of Tony Stark during that battle, and a group shot of the Avengers charging into battle, which included the Hulk. In reality, Tony was never in Wakanda, and the Hulkbuster was operated by Bruce Banner, who was unable to transform into The Hulk during the film.

For the most part, the misdirects didn't hurt Infinity War, although some fans were disappointed at the absence of the group shot.

3. Avengers: Endgame

After a full decade of world and story building Marvel Studios, understandably, did not want any of the major plotpoints of Avengers: Endgame, the final chapter of the Infinity Saga, to be spoiled before the film's release. Endgame's trailer is mostly comprised of clips from past MCU films, interspersed with very brief flashes of new footage, and a voice over from the film's major characters.

This meant people went into the theatre for Avengers: Endgame with great hype, but very little idea what to expect. Therefore, some of the movie's best surprises, suchas the five year time jump, the existence of Morgan Stark, the reveal of Bro-Thor, and of course, the 'Portals' scene, were left completely intact.

Most fans will agree that their theatre experiences were better for their lack of prior knowledge.

4. WandaVision

After spending an extended period starved of new content thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, fans were excited to see what Phase Four had in store when it eventually opened with WandaVision. However, fans unprepared for what the series had planned were confused by the series trailers.

Both WandaVision trailers emphasised the classic sitcom world the characters inhabited, with only slight hints of the uncanny valley nature of the setting, and what was going on in the real world. The trailers proved a success, with fans intrigued enough to tune in and find out the truth.

5. Loki

Loki was easily one of the most eagerly awaited of the Disney Plus Marvel series. On the surface, the trailers tell us what seems to be everything. Loki is captured by the TVA, an organisation tasked with protecting the proper flow of time, and forced to work for them.

However, once the series began airing, it quickly became clear how little the trailers had shown. The vast majority of material in the Loki trailer is taken from episodes one and two, with only very brief snippets from the rest of the series. The trailers hold no hint of Sylvie, the female Loki variant who became the show's second lead from episode three onwards, or the truth of who was really behind the TVA. This was a good thing, as it kept the finale's big reveals a complete surprise.

There's every chance that when the time comes, Marvel will be able to produce a Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer that does not spoil any major plot points. Fans can only hope that time is soon.