Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani has spoken of how heavily she followed the Infinity Saga, and shed some light on Marvel producing fake leaks online – including in Avengers: Endgame.
In a Reddit AMA to celebrate the finale of the Disney Plus series, Vellani answered a multitude of questions about the past, present, and future of the franchise, detailing many interesting stories and facts around the studio’s secretive process. Of particular note was the actress talking about the spoiler culture, and how Marvel enjoys playing with the detective-like work done by fans.
At the peak of the Infinity War fallout and the then-titled “Avengers 4” speculation were apparent story leaks, trailer leaks, and misdirects that were seemingly done by none other than Marvel themselves. Vellani explained how she would browse /r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers and an alleged story leak caused her to leave, only to find out Marvel had planned it.
“r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers is my second home…however i did leave the subreddit for two years during infinity war/ endgame once i saw that BARF case set photo leak which turned out to be a total misdirection from marvel security. they literally planted that! and i now have so much respect for marvels security team”
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B.A.R.F (Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing). was introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War, a way for Tony Stark to put himself through therapy and relive moments from his past. It ended up being a crucial plot point in a future film; just not the Infinity duology. Instead, it was a creation of Quentin Beck/Mysterio, who felt aggrieved by Stark taking his idea in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
You have to credit Marvel for its own inventiveness to cover up tracks. For a long while , when fans were waiting for even a still from Avengers: Endgame, theories would involve B.A.R.F. thanks to that “leaked” prop photo.
Now Vellani is inside the spoiler sphere herself, and having just starred in Ms. Marvel, she’s now set to become one of the faces of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and will co-star in The Marvels with Brie Larson next summer.