10 Times Marvel Movie Merch Spoiled Major MCU Reveals

The MCU is a massively popular brand, so it makes sense for it to have a lot of merchandise surrounding it. What doesn’t make sense is how consistently this merchandise spoils parts of the movies before they even come out. Sometimes it’s as small as a costume change for one of the heroes, but some merchandise has even gone so far as to spoil major plot points from movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron. Though spoilers don’t necessarily ruin a whole movie, it can be a big disappointment when a toy box gives away what should be a big moment in the MCU timeline.

Consistent culprits of these spoilers tend to be LEGO sets and Funko Pop! figures. Because LEGO sets depict entire scenes some of the time, they don’t only give away which characters will be appearing, but also details about the movie’s plot. Sometimes, even if the merchandise itself doesn’t spoil anything, the marketing material around it can. Things like box art or descriptions on a product listing can also give away key details of upcoming Marvel movie releases.

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10 Sam Wilson’s Captain America Suit Was Spoiled By The Marvel Collector Corps Box

Captain America: Brave New World

There is still over a year before Captain America: Brave New World is released, so official information from Marvel is still pretty scarce. The Marvel Collector Corps Box recently revealed Sam Wilson’s new Captain America suit would look like in the upcoming movie. Though what a character’s suit looks like isn’t a big spoiler, it is still surprising that it would be seen for the first time in a product advertisement instead of in a trailer or in official promotional art. The announcement also raises other concerns about potential Brave New World spoilers.

The Marvel Collector Corps Boxes usually come with a few Funko figures based on characters in the movie. Funko has a bit of a history of spoiling character appearances in the MCU, and the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World box could include figures that might spoil the movie way in advance. For instance, many believe General Thunderbolt Ross might turn into the Red Hulk in the movie, but Marvel is likely keeping that a surprise – so it could be a big issue if a Red Hulk figure or piece of merch turned up in this box.

9 LEGO Spoiled Ant-Man’s Giant-Man Powers In Civil War

Captain America: Civil War

It was no secret that Ant-Man was going to appear in Captain America: Civil War. However, the scene where Scott uses his Giant-Man powers for the first time was meant to be a big moment. Unfortunately, anyone who saw the LEGO set of the airport battle would already have known about Ant-Man’s secret abilities. Not only is Giant-Man featured prominently on the cover of the box, but the art also shows Bucky and Captain America escaping in the Quinjet. This gives away one of the airport battle’s biggest surprises and, essentially, how it ends.

While there are still some surprises left in the battle – namely Rhodey getting injured – it seems strange for Marvel to let so much of it be spoiled ahead of time. This wasn’t the first, nor last time that a scene on a LEGO set basically just showed audiences a pivotal scene from a Marvel movie. Anyone invested in keeping Marvel movies spoiler-free should probably avoid LEGO product releases until after they see the movies from the set.

8 Funko Pop! Spoiled Flerkittens In The Marvels

The Marvels

One of the best moments in The Marvels is the reveal that Nick Fury has planned to evacuate his crew by having them eaten by Flerken kittens, AKA Flerkittens. While this twist itself was preserved for the actual movie, the presence of Flerkittens was spoiled before they even appeared in the film’s trailer. Funko previewed some of their Pop! figures from The Marvels that would be included in a Marvel Collector Corps Box ahead of the trailer. One of the figures previewed was a figure of Goose with the kittens, and the box also included a Flerkitten pin.

7 Spider-Man’s Iron Spider Suit Was Spoiled By A LEGO Set

Avengers: Infinity War

Trailers for Avengers: Infinity War showed Spider-Man wearing his new high-tech suit. However, they didn’t fully explore what the suit could do. Spider-Man in more technologically advanced suits wasn’t really a big change of pace for the MCU, but there was still the fun reveal of the suit’s multiple mechanical arms that was saved for the movie. Though Peter Parker was pretty surprised when the arms popped out, some audience members might not have been if they had seen the Infinity War LEGO sets.

LEGO’s Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown set for Avengers: Infinity War showed off the battle between some of the Avengers in New York against Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian. The set doesn’t only show off Spider-Man’s new suit, but also its Iron Spider arms. What makes this spoiler even worse was that Spider-Man didn’t even get this suit in the movie until after the LEGO set’s scene takes place. That essentially means LEGO basically went out of their way to spoil the reveal of the suit’s powers.

6 A Toy Stormbreaker Spoiled Groot’s Selfless Act From Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War

The forging of Stormbreaker in Avengers: Infinity War is a tense scene, especially after Thor has absorbed too much of the star’s power. Aside from worrying about Thor, the moment is also a pivotal one for adolescent Groot, who makes the selfless decision to sacrifice his own arm to create the ax’s handle. This meaningful moment of the movie would have a little less impact on audiences who already knew it was coming, thanks to Hasbro’s electronic Stormbreaker toy.

The toy Stormbreaker clearly shows Groot’s severed arm as the handle, and even has a leaf as a main feature for activating its sound effects. Though younger kids who the toy is targeted toward might not put too much thought into it, it’s not a stretch to think hardcore fans would immediately recognize Groot’s signature vines. This would essentially give away that Thor ends up spending time with the Guardians, and spoil Groot’s big moment.

5 Hasbro Action Figure Spoiled Rescue’s Endgame Appearance

Avengers: Endgame

The final battle of Avengers: Endgame was full of big moments, including Pepper Potts arriving in her Rescue armor to join the battle. Of course, anyone who follows Marvel merch releases would have known that Pepper would be suiting up in the final film, thanks to a pair of action figures from Hasbro. The toy company revealed a two-pack of action figures that included both Iron Man and Rescue. Even though some people who saw the toy might not have known Pepper’s history as Rescue in the comics, the toy’s description mentions her by name, spoiling the reveal.

4 Hasbro Action Figure Spoiled Killmonger’s Black Panther Costume

Black Panther

A year before Black Panther was released, Hasbro came out with a line of tie-in action figures as part of their Marvel Legends toy series. One of the toys spoiled was Erik Killmonger in his version of the Black Panther suit. Though simply spoiling how the costume looked wouldn’t have been a big deal, knowing that Killmonger ends up in it does give away some major plot points. The toy basically gives away how Killmonger and T’Challa’s initial fight will go, and that Killmonger will take over the mantle for at least a portion of the movie.

3 Shuri Taking The Mantle Of Black Panther Was Spoiled By LEGO

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Which character would take up the mantle of Black Panther in T’Challa’s absence was a big question going into Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. When LEGO sets for Wakanda Forever were being previewed, several new sets seemed to show Shuri wearing a form-fitting black outfit. While she didn’t have a Black Panther mask on, it did add further fuel to the fire in terms of the speculation online that she would be taking up the mantle.

To give LEGO credit, they did try to preserve the reveal for customers by having text describing the “Shuri’s Lab” set refer to the Black Panther figure using male pronouns. Still, when Black Panther wasn’t prominently featured in any of the other Wakanda Forever LEGO sets, and Shuri was featured in all three, it was pretty clear who the new focus of the film was going to be.

2 The Avengers’ Quantum Suits In Endgame Were Spoiled By Toy Box

Avengers: Endgame

Ahead of Avengers: Endgame‘s release, art from Hasbro’s Thor and Rocket Raccoon tie-in toys was shown online. The art on the box clearly shows the pair in their Quantum Suits, ready to perform the time heist. Some hardcore fans were even able to piece together that the Avengers might be traveling through time, thanks to the resemblance of the suits to Hank Pym’s Quantum Realm suit from Ant-Man and the Wasp. However, while there were some spoilers on the box, its art didn’t give away one of Endgame‘s biggest reveals.

The art of Thor on the box has him looking very much the way he did in Avengers: Infinity War. In truth, when the Avengers are actually ready to pull off the Time Heist, Thor has gone full “Bro Thor” mode. Though the box art on this Thor and Rocket toy may have spoiled the suits, it also helped make the initial Endgame Thor reveal even more surprising, since official art had already shown him with a more traditional look.

1 Hasbro Figure Spoiled Vision’s Debut In Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Before Avengers: Age of Ultron was released, it was already known that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver would have big parts in the movie. This was teased in the post-credits scene for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. What wasn’t known was how Vision was going to look in the movie, or that he would be played by JARVIS voice actor Paul Bettany. Earlier on in the film, it even seems as though JARVIS has been killed by Ultron, and it’s a big reveal when he comes back. Or, at least it was supposed to be.

When Hasbro previewed their Vision toy before the movie, not only did they spoil the MCU look for the hero, but also gave a hint at the actor playing him. There were some that recognized Bettany’s likeness in the toy, allowing them to figure out the JARVIS twist ahead of Age of Ultron‘s release.