'Avengers 4' Trailers Won't Include These Marvel Characters

The events of Avengers: Infinity War brought some dire consequences to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most beloved characters, yet some audiences found their deaths difficult to believe while keeping in mind Avengers 4 would hit theaters a year later. MCU president Kevin Feige, however, played coy about whether or not characters will return and, when addressing how the film's trailers will market the film, claimed the dead characters won't appear in promotional materials.

When io9 asked Feige if a character like Black Panther could appear in a trailer, Feige denied that he would show up, citing, "Because he's gone."

Once Thanos constructed his Infinity Gauntlet, he snapped his fingers and instantly killed half of the population of the universe. This included dozens of beloved MCU heroes, leaving Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Nebula, Rocket, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, War Machine, Okoye, and M'Baku as the survivors. The fates of Hawkeye, Ant-Man, and the Wasp are unclear, as they weren't present in Infinity War.

Compared to the number of characters that appeared in promotional materials for Infinity War, Avengers 4 will see a drastic decrease, though the number of surviving heroes exceeds the rosters of previous Marvel team-ups.

Feige then went on to admit that, while marketing the film will be tricky, it won't be impossible, given the expertise of Disney and their marketing team.

"We are working with the greatest marketing team in the world with Disney so I'm anxious to see how they start to put [the marketing] together," Feige admitted.

Another tricky marketing issue that the MCU will have to handle is that Spider-Man: Far From Home hits theaters two months after Avengers 4, with their marketing campaigns overlapping to a degree. Feige attempted to dismiss those concerns by questioning when the events of the Spider-Man film actually take place.

"Well, when does that movie take place?" Feige pondered. "We know it's the summer. I think it's summer vacation. I think he's going to Europe with his friends. I don't know what summer... I mean, I do know [but you don't]."

Avengers: Infinity War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely addressed the situation last month, noting the difficulties of creating a film and the inherent complications of audiences' foresight.

"It's a good question and it's certainly the bigger question about audience expectation and you know too much about how Hollywood works or release schedules things like that, does it hurt your enjoyment of the movie?" McFeely asked during an interview with Collider. "We can't make movies for people who read Variety, you know what I mean?"

Fans will find out next year how the marketing team handles these tricky situations.

Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters now. Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel opens on July 5, 2019.

Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6th, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.

Do you think the promotional materials will be able to keep the film's plot a secret? Let us know in the comments below!

[H/T io9]