Is It OK To Spoil Avengers: Endgame?

I’ve already seen Avengers: Endgame. I saw it days back at an advanced screening, and I’ve been sitting on the secrets for days. People who know that I’ve seen it begin conversations in one of two ways: “Don’t tell me anything, not even a reaction,” or, “Hey, does Spider-Man survive?” Without consideration of the inquiries, I keep my face as stoic as possible while the words “Don’t Spoil the Endgame” robotically echo while in my brain.


It’s the mantra members of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have adopted, slapping it in hashtags at the end of tweets, emblazoning it on shareable graphics, repeating it in PSAs. Filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo even wrote a letter requesting that fans keep the secrets even soon following the movie hits theaters so that other fans — fans who couldn’t make it to the earliest screenings — could still totally and fully appreciate the “surprising and emotionally powerful conclusion to the Infinity Saga.”


Nevertheless according to science, the term “spoiler” is actually a little bit of a misnomer. As University of California San Diego Professor Nicholas Christenfeld put it, “Spoilers don’t.”


In 2011, Christenfeld and his co-author Jonathan Leavitt published a study in which they tested how spoilers affected reader enjoyment on short stories in three categories: ironic-twist stories, mysteries, and literary stories. Contrary to our gut reaction, they noticed that in all categories, knowing spoilers actually enhanced enjoyment.


The simplest way to explain this is that stories aren’t about the destination; they’re about the journey. “Basically, a plot is like a coat hanger that displays the garment, which is the play or the TV show or the movie, whichever it is,” Christenfeld told MTV News. “It’s just needed to have some structure, a framework to present it, nevertheless you don’t mention the coat hanger’s crucial to the pleasure — it’s just a device to enable you to appreciate the artistry, the drama, the human pathos, and thus on.”


The idea is that knowing that framework ahead of time frees up some space in your brain — where unspoiled-you could be thinking, “What’s happening? What does this mean? Where is this plot taking us?” — Give attention to those other pleasing characteristic of the story.


Furthering that thought, the more intricate a story’s plot, the more positively spoilers impact enjoyment. On the side of low-level cognition, like books someone might read in elementary school, Christenfeld noticed, in a separate study from the one said previously, that spoilers had no real effect. They didn’t hurt enjoyment, and so they didn’t enhance it either.


As for higher level cognition, Judith E. Rosenbaum, right now Assistant Professor at University of Maine, examined how leaked Game of Thrones spoilers impacted the viewing experience and noticed that people who were exposed to the spoilers enjoyed the Season 5 storyline more than those who didn’t.


“That is connected to the idea of mental models — how you make sense of characters in a storyline. Some days spoilers will support you construct a mental model that makes it easier to process what’s going on, and that increases your enjoyment of the show,” Rosenbaum explained. While examining the effects of spoilers across different genres, Rosenbaum also noticed that overall, fantasy stories, including Marvel movies, are generally enjoyed more any time spoiled.


So that would lead us to believe I’m not doing you any favors by not telling you the fate of the Avengers, and I may even be doing a disservice to you, because right now you’ll be so concerned with organizing the plot points that you won’t have the ability to completely appreciate the nuances of Captain America’s butt.


Unless your enjoyment doesn’t hinge on "America's ass."


In another study, Rosenbaum and Benjamin K. Johnson sought to find out who likes spoilers and who doesn’t. They noticed that people who have a low required for cognition — or people who don’t desire to overthink the plot — prefer spoiled stories, while those with a high required for effect — or people who like to experience emotions — prefer unspoiled stories. Separately, using a different scale for enjoyment than Christenfeld used in 2011, the duo found that unspoiled stories are rated as more moving than spoiled stories.


The emotional aspect feels particularly pertinent to Avengers: Endgame, given that an enormous portion of the fanbase has dedicated 11 years-worth of emotional resources to these characters and to the fandom overall.


“We do wish to experience emotional events with each other rather than by ourselves,” UCLA clinical psychologist and avid Marvel fan Andrea Letamendi mentioned. For people who have noticed a sense community inside the fandom, stumbling upon spoilers can be an isolating experience — there’s just no one to process your emotions with. Although saving the surprises for the theater can be really positive for the in general enjoyment. “It actually does intensify the experience because we’re group kind of mediating our responses with each other’s responses,” she explained, like as soon as someone you’re talking to smiles so you smile, or they cry, plus it makes you cry.


And it’s fully valid for members of the fandom to feel proper emotions for these characters, although, logically, they know they’re fictional. Letamendi describes this as a parasocial relationship. “I know they’re not real, I know I can’t touch them and experience them, and If I visualize Scarlett Johansson, I know she’s not Black Widow, nevertheless, any time I’m experiencing them in the film, the parasocial relationship is experienced as real,” she explained. So, any time something happens to the characters, we are capable of feeling real emotions in response.


And with major franchise releases like Endgame, the fun isn’t just noticed in the theater — it’s also in the build-up. Letamendi points out that anticipation is connected with certain “feel-good chemicals” in the brain, like adrenaline, norepinephrine, and dopamine, and with spoilers, “the anticipatory emotions are dampened and so some of the joy is taken out of that,” she said.


These emotions can be really powerful and good — in the event you like experiencing emotions in real time. Conversely, in another study, Rosenbaum noticed that some people use spoilers as a shield of sorts. “Sometimes you get really invested in a character and you’re worried that if something bad’s going to happen to that character, the emotional effect will be also overwhelming,” she said.


Basically, every person’s experience with spoilers is so individualized, plus it all depends on what characteristic of a story you’re attempting to adore. In case you hope to maximize your emotional output, avoid spoilers. In the event you desire concentrate on the artistry and more technical characteristic, spoilers would be useful. And in case you aren’t sure what you want, just go with your gut. “Honestly, in case you go look for spoilers, they probably won’t hurt your enjoyment,” Rosenbaum reasoned.


Yet because some types of enjoyment can be impacted by spoilers, it’s routinely a good practice to keep in mind before you put spoilers out into the world. So, seriously, don’t spoil the Endgame… unless someone specifically asks you to.