The 'Eternals' spoiler leak has Marvel fans in a tizzy.

Eternals/Disney

A big spoiler from the 'Eternals' post-credits sequence was released by a film reviewer. Is it a spoiler if it's already been revealed?

MCU fans were surprised when Variety reporter Matt Donnelly tweeted a spoiler for the film's post-credits scene shortly after Marvel's Eternals premiered this weekend. On the one hand, he provided information that should not have come as a surprise. However, because the spoiler has no bearing on the story, it's arguable that he didn't "spoil" the movie in the slightest.

To that end, if you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now!

This was more of a casting announcement than a plot detail: Harry Styles will play Thanos' brother Eros/Starfox in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For him, it's a dream role: a sultry, ethically gray space savior. The fact that this is only Harry Styles' second film role after 2017's Dunkirk shows how big he has become as an actor and how much he will contribute to the Dunkirk saga going forward. (We're not sure what occurs beyond the credits, although it's likely connected to another MCU film.)

Moviegoers debated whether or not it's okay to provide plot details ahead of time after this tasty nugget of information went viral on Twitter.

Pre-release spoilers have enraged some Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans, and one film reviewer went so far as to recommend that preview audiences sign NDAs with a $1 million penalty to safeguard a studio's intellectual property, which is completely irrational. People who disagreed with this assessment noted it was only a casting call and hence no cause for concern. It's not like Darth Vader was revealed to be Luke Skywalker's father in 1980 by a random person.

The MCU spoiler culture is unquestionably a Disney-encouraged marketing strategy designed to encourage consumers to buy tickets on opening weekend in order to avoid seeing spoilers online. Viewers may only express vague comments like "Wow, what an incredible experience!" after seeing the films' previews under strict embargo. Marvel fans and film reviewers who are unable to express their criticism are mixed together during these screenings, creating a wave of enthusiastic yet vague chatter. Meaningful criticism is restricted until after the release of a film, in order to safeguard the first weekend's box office performance. As a result, when moviegoers compulsively scan the internet for spoilers, they're essentially working for free for Disney's public relations department.

The disclosure of the post-credits sequence in a Marvel movie, like in Eternals, comes as a shock to many people. Nevertheless, if this casting news had appeared in Entertainment Weekly a few days earlier, no one would have interpreted it that way.

It's up to you whether or not to avoid spoilers. It's important to keep in mind that MCU spoiler culture is exceptionally virulent, and it didn't develop by accident. The meaning of "spoiler" has been broadened to encompass almost any information about a forthcoming film due to Disney's promotion of these films as top-secret events.

Most MCU films, by normal standards, only have a few really spoilable moments: character deaths, dramatic discoveries in the last act, and so on. Unlike Memento and The Sixth Sense, these films don't rely on narrative twists, and even if they did, everyone (especially film reviewers) recognizes that we shouldn't divulge such a major surprise in advance. When it comes to pre-release "spoilers," as seen by the outcry over the Harry Styles casting news, Disney and certain MCU fans strictly monitor them. So far, the only information we have is that Harry Styles appears in the film as a figure who was almost certainly going to feature in the MCU. That's not a huge thing at all.