Marvel’s Marketing Mishap

The latest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie came with a bit of a strange marketing choice.

(The following contains minor spoilers for Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts*, now playing in cinemas)

Marvel is back in theaters with Thunderbolts*, the 36^th entry in a film series that has been going on for almost two decades. Per a recent Wall Street Journal article, the movie – the final cinematic installment of what is referred to as Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – was the first to enter production after Marvel Studios decided to reduce its overall output and have greater quality control following a bit of a rough patch. Based on critical and audience reactions so far, mission accomplished. And yet, there’s one aspect where the studio was uncharacteristically sloppy.

The film centers on a team of antiheroes, four of whom – Yelena Belova/Black Widow, John Walker/U.S. Agent, Ava Starr/Ghost and Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster – bump into each other at the very beginning of the movie when they are unknowingly sent on the same mission, which was engineered by their employer to kill them. Dreykov dies during the initial confrontation between the four, while the other three team up, with help from Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, to take down their mutual enemy.

As director Jake Schreier explained in a spoiler interview, the decision to kill off Taskmaster – who, based on actress Olga Kurylenko’s prominent billing in the credits, was originally supposed to have a larger role – came about as a byproduct of the 2023 Hollywood strikes, which delayed the start of filming by eight months. During the hiatus, Schreier and the writers – once their strike was over – went over the script and came to the conclusion that one of the Thunderbolts had to die, preferably at the beginning so it wouldn’t impact the film’s emotional arc too much.

The script was adjusted accordingly, and Kurylenko’s screentime thus reduced to a single scene (with some wondering, after seeing the film, if she was even on set, since the brief shots where Taskmaster is unmasked could have been added later). Given Marvel’s penchant for extensive reshoots, it’s to Schreier’s credit that he made such a decision before the start of shooting, leading to a smoother creative process. And then the marketing department came along.

Since Antonia’s death is meant to be a surprise, the character features prominently on the posters with the rest of the team (including one depicting an actual scene from the movie that takes place after she’s been killed). So far, so good. The trailers, however, were another matter: while the teaser did try to conceal the truth by adding her to a shot in the third act (where her placement is, with hindsight, blatant fakery), fans quickly caught on to the fact she was largely missing from most of the major set pieces.

Then, on March 26, Marvel announced a large chunk of the cast for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, including most of the Thunderbolts* actors. Notably absent was Kurylenko, which was seen as confirmation that Taskmaster would not have a major role in her second – and presumably last – appearance (fans have speculated someone else could take over the mantle, given the MCU version differs a bit from the comic book original).

Such carelessness was surprising, given Marvel’s reputation for keeping spoilers at bay: the first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War contained digitally altered shots whenever Thanos wore the Infinity Stones, and the epic final moment of the team running towards the camera was created specifically for the trailer to hide the fact the Hulk was AWOL after the opening scene; the teaser for Spider-Man: Far From Home was carefully edited to avoid all mentions of how Avengers: Endgame, unreleased at the time, ended; and the sequel, No Way Home, digitally erased its two major guest stars from the main trailer. Granted, the last two examples were technically Sony Pictures, but the point still stands.

And, of course, by the time the Doomsday marketing kicks in later this year, it stands to reason some trickery will be required once again, especially after the dismissal of the recent Yesterday lawsuit, which some speculated could have impacted movie advertising going forward (two fans of actress Ana de Armas took Universal to court because they had rented the film after seeing her in the trailer, not knowing her character had been removed from the final cut). So, why did they fumble the bag with Taskmaster?