Feature: Paul Rudd & Jeremy Renner for the LA Times

   

Over the course of 10 years, Marvel has built a reputation for delivering two inevitabilities: meaty post-credits scenes and spoiler-free press runs.

Case in point: At the hush-hush “Avengers: Endgame” “Avengers: Endgame” press conference in downtown Los Angeles, Paul Rudd and Jeremy Renner (who play Ant-Man and Hawkeye, respectively) managed to talk about the Marvel Cinematic Universe while revealing absolutely nothing about the upcoming superhero team-up.

“You don’t want to ruin it because people spoil stuff, man,” said Renner, who skillfully dodged every question that even alluded to the top-secret film. “It’s terrible.”

He was right to be cautious. Just over a week before “Endgame” is slated to hit theaters worldwide, five minutes of credible footage from the film was leaked online.

According to descriptions, the footage includes scenes from throughout the movie that reveal key details about the plot. Disney has not confirmed whether the footage is indeed from the upcoming film.

On Tuesday, the Russo brothers, who have directed four MCU titles including “Infinity War” and “Endgame,” issued a statement via Twitter urging “the greatest fans in the world” not to ruin the movie for other fans.

“Please know that the two of us, along with everyone involved in ‘Endgame,’ have worked tirelessly for the last three years with the sole intention of delivering a surprising and emotional powerful conclusion to the Infinity saga,” read the statement. “When you see ‘Endgame’ in the coming weeks, please don’t spoil it for others, the same way you wouldn’t want it spoiled for you.”

“It’s a bummer that we are in this place where there are people that really want to find things out and then advertise that to get clicks and sell advertising dollars or whatever it is,” said Rudd, prior to the leak. “I always think it’s fun to see a movie and not know anything about it.”

“It’s a better moviegoing experience not to know anything,” Renner agreed.

Keeping fans (and journalists) in the dark is so emblematic of Marvel that it was surprising to find even the slightest hint about the upcoming film hidden in the form of Hawkeye’s updated “Endgame” costume, which was displayed among a decade’s worth of movie posters from 22 MCU films and mannequins sporting the Avengers’ uniforms.

Not far from Ant-Man’s familiar red, white and black suit was Renner’s costume, which looked more befitting of a ninja, complete with a katana and a hood rather than the usual archer’s bow and arrow.

The refreshed look, plus the few glimpses of the character offered in the movie’s trailer, hint that Hawkeye will assume the mantle of Ronin, a persona multiple characters have adopted over the years in the comics. (The word Ronin means “lone samurai” in Japanese.)

“I’m not cleared to say anything,” said Renner when asked about Ronin, again proving how seriously everyone involved wants to preserve even the most expected “Endgame” twists.

The finished product is so top secret that Disney even took the unusual step of not screening the film in advance of their press day, instead showing only a meager amount of footage — something that was also done for “Infinity War” and a handful of “Star Wars” titles, but is typically unthinkable in the world of studio press junkets.

That left the stars free to riff on things like the costume display.

“My favorite one was Bruce Banner’s,” said Rudd of the character’s dark blazer and jean-clad mannequin, which was positioned between Captain America’s rogue soldier uniform and Okoye’s Dora Milaje armor. “Because it was a dude standing like a mannequin at Macy’s among all these super suits.”

“So was [Tony] Stark’s,” said Renner with a laugh. “It was like fancy sweats and a shirt.”

“Like at Barneys,” said Rudd. The two burst into laughter. [More at Source]