'Avengers 4' Spoilers: Sebastian Stan Says He's Not Involved — We Call B.S.

The actual events of Avengers: Infinity War were a total mystery to its many actors before the film’s release, and its direct sequel Avengers 4 is no different. For some crucial scenes, cast members didn’t even get scripts. That was reportedly the case for Bucky Barnes actor Sebastian Stan, so much so that he’s not even sure if the former Winter Soldier appears in Avengers 4 at all.

But is this all just calculated misdirection?

In an interview with Collider published Tuesday, Stan talked once again about the confusing way Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 were filmed.

“When I was shooting anything, nobody ever told me what was part one or part two,” Stan said. “The truth is, I don’t even know if I’m in [Avengers 4].”

Both films shared a continuous production, and because actors received either partial scripts or no text at all for certain scenes, it wasn’t clear where one film ended and the other began.

Then again, some actors clearly returned for recent Avengers 4 reshoots. So if Stan wasn’t involved in that, it might mean his character really won’t appear in the upcoming film.

In May, Stan spoke of how he learned Bucky’s untimely fate at the end of Infinity War, dying as one of the trillions of beings ashed by Thanos’ snap. He didn’t know it was happening until moments before filming.

An additional tactic of misdirection involved filming scenes that might never even get used. “There were things that we shot that were never gonna’ make it because it was easier to just convolute the whole thing,” Stan confirmed to Collider, perhaps referencing the iconic team-up shot from the first Infinity War trailer that he’s a part of.

In the epic scene from the Infinity War trailer that never made it into the actual movie, War Machine, Falcon, White Wolf, Black Widow, Steve Rogers, the Hulk, Okoye, and Black Panther all charge into battle with the Wakandan army behind them. In reality, the Hulk never even showed up.

So is this particular scene an instance of Marvel trying to “convolute the whole thing” by filming a fake Infinity War scene, or is it actually a scene that happens in Avengers 4 somehow?

Stan’s confusing experience filming both Avengers movies was corroborated by plenty of other MCU actors. At ACE Comic Con in Phoenix, Arizona in January 2018, Spider-Man actor Tom Holland explained that in some scenes he filmed, he had no idea who he was even fighting — and the directors refused to tell him any concrete details.

Both Tom Holland and Sebastian Stan, along with many others behind characters that died in Infinity War, are still credited for Avengers 4 on IMDb. Most theories assume that time travel and/or the Quantum Realm will help undo the events of Infinity War and revive everyone. That would also help to explain why the Disney+ streaming service is getting a Falcon-Winter Soldier series starring Stan and Anthony Mackie.

So plenty of Marvel actors have no idea what’s going on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and like the rest of us, they might not learn the truth until the film finally hits theaters.

Avengers 4 is scheduled for release on May 3, 2019.