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Feeling annoyed that a major event has just been spoiled for you? Irritated? Enraged? [[Fan Myopia|Too bad; the fans and apparently advertisers all agree it's your own fault for not being aware]].
Basically, a
Sometimes hard to avoid in shows that feature major changes in setting and cast line-up that hinge on major plot twists in previous seasons. The Season 1 [[Big Bad]] is [[Heel Face Turn|a major player on the good guys' side]] in Season 4 -- how exactly are you going to ''hide'' that in promos just for the sake of not spoiling the people who haven't watched Season 3 yet? Also a frequent problem in [[Long Runner
If the spoiler in question is common knowledge to people in general, then [[It Was His Sled]]. Compare [[Trailers Always Spoil]] and [[Spoiler Opening]], when the plot is spoiled before the fans even get their hands on the product, as well as [[First Episode Spoiler]], which tends to be the extreme of this. If it's a little less extreme, hits early but not immediately, it might be a [[Seventh-Episode Twist]]. Arguably a subset of [[All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game"]].
{{examples}}▼
Naturally, the examples below are [[Spoilered Rotten]], and every old fan of a work was once a new fan, so read with caution.
== Anime & Manga ==▼
▲{{examples}}
* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'':
** Brock leaves the show for reals in ''Best Wishes''.
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** One of the endings for ''Best Wishes'' gave away which of Ash's Pokemon would evolve and which he would get soon. In almost excruciating detail.
* Nowadays, whenever someone starts to watch the ''[[School Days]]'' anime, they will almost certainly go into it already knowing that, at the utmost minimum, that at least ''one'' of the girls involved is a [[Yandere]]. You can thank the [[Memetic Mutation|Nice Boat meme]]<ref>The first time that it was supposed to air, the final episode of the ''[[School Days]]'' anime was replaced with [[Relax-O-Vision|thirty minutes of peaceful landscape scenery, including a boat on a lake]], after it was deemed [[Too Soon|too close to home]] due to violent incidents in the news. This resulted in "NICE BOAT" being used to describe anything from [[Moral Guardians|censorship]] to [[Yandere|being murdered]]</ref> for that.
* ''[[
** Part 1: Jonathan Joestar dies and takes Dio's head with him, and Will Zeppeli dies to save Jonathan early on.
** Part 2: Joseph survives his fight with Cars, but Caeser dies fighting Wham.
** Part 3: Dio survived the events of Part 1 by taking Jonathan's body (which retroactively spoils the end of Part 1) and gains a stand that can stop time. Anybody familiar with the [[Memetic Mutation]] surrounding Dio knows about his stand stopping time, but in the series proper, none of the heroes knew until they actually fought him, with Kakyoin sacrificing himself to give the rest of them a clue. Also steamroller.
** Part 7: Only exists because the [[Big Bad]] of the previous arc [[Cosmic Retcon|reset the universe]].
* In ''[[Afro Samurai]]'', Kuma being Afro's childhood friend, Jinno is treated as this, not only in the second movie, ''Resurrection'', but even on the season one website. Then again,
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'':
** Not many people may remember that Chibi-Usa/Rini being the daughter of Sailor Moon was once a late second-season revelation. Once she became Sailor Chibi-Moon, it was everywhere.
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* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'':
** Considering her current role as [[The Lancer]], not to mention the insane amount of official and fanmade art depicting both her and [[The Hero]] attached by the hip, it will be very surprising indeed if anyone who has even heard of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' doesn't know that Fate pulls a [[Heel Face Turn]].
** Hayate and the Wolkenritter get this, too, to a lesser
** Given their prominent placement in art for StrikerS Sound Stage X and ViVid, {{spoiler|Cinque, Nove, Dieci and Wendi's [[Heel Face Turn]]}}, as well as {{spoiler|Vivio's true nature}}, are headed toward this.
* Though Fuuma's [[Face Heel Turn]] in ''[[X 1999]]'' is treated as a surprise when it happens, official art and the opening of the anime series explicitly show him locked in combat with the main character, so whether any viewers of the anime were actually shocked by this revelation is debatable. The suspicious absence of Kotori in other art also foreshadows the [[Wham! Episode]] pretty heavily to the point that it's fairly easy to guess what's going to happen to her (the [[Waif Prophet]] even all but says it at several points).
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* ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'':
** The big [[The Reveal|Reveal]] about the title character's nature. An ad for the books in Shonen Jump mentions the twist while explaining the premise of the series.
** In fact, watching the episodes in in-story chronological order (the order in which the episodes were released in America, naturally) turns half the anime series into
** Any merchandise with Asakura Ryouko on it tends to advertise her as {{spoiler|an alien computer}} as well as {{spoiler|a [[Yandere]] [[Knife Nut]]}}, and sometimes even {{spoiler|Yuki's first [[Evil Counterpart]]}}. It's worth mentioning that both of these are revealed in the ''first'' volume of the manga adaptation. Second chapter, to boot.
* ''[[One Piece]]'':
** Many of the Straw Hats' joining the crew; the anime often assumes that the viewers have read the manga already and will not be surprised to see them as part of the crew in openings, endings or commercials. The first five Straw Hats are shown in the crew in the first opening and the first three are shown in the first manga volume (which ends when Luffy first meets Nami). Robin was shown in the crew in the third opening, despite it being twenty episodes before her [[Heel Face Turn]]. Brook was shown in ads for One Piece: Unlimited Cruise late in the Thriller Bark arc. The only true exceptions seem to be Franky and Chopper.
** Many of the villains' or the Straw Hats' other enemies being as such are surprises in the manga when they initially seem to be harmless characters, but are known by the time of the anime adaptation, especially Kuro, Tashigi, the Number Agents in Whiskey Peak (including Vivi, whose being revealed as [[The Mole]] puts her in a double
*** To be fair, the fifth opening did play with this without out right spoiling the [[The Reveal]]. The CP9 agents and Galley-La were shown only briefly, and the most fights shown in the opening have to do with either Franky's or Foxy's crew, with Galley-La as a whole painted in an ambiguos light, as if [[Reasonable Authority Figure|Iceburg]] were the [[Big Bad]]. Said opening however still managad to spoil Luffy's fight against [[Curb Stomp Battle|Aokiji]] and {{spoiler|Usopp}}.
** Franky debuted in America in ''Unlimited Adventure''... ''long'' before he was ever introduced in the English manga or anime, and Robin was shown as a crew member long before she actually joined.
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** Even the episode titles are pretty big spoilers, especially in the "next time" previews. One of these previews (during the Frieza saga) had the narrator asking "Goku has recovered! Can he make it to the battle before Vegeta dies?!" (or something like that). Then it showed the title of the next episode - "The End of Vegeta." [[Captain Obvious|...guess he doesn't make it.]] This spoil is commonly used to up ratings.
** The preview for Episode 271, as well as its title, clearly states that {{spoiler|Goku destroys Buu with the Spirit Bomb}}.
** In the movies, was it supposed to be a plot twist that Broly was the legendary Super Saiyan? Because his first movie is called ''Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan''.
** That's not the only time, either. Specifically, in the third Broly movie, even though it was intended to be kept a mystery as to who exactly they were cloning other than the fact that it was a saiyan, the title spoiled it by explicitly stating "Bio-Broly."
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'':
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*** Since said OVAs came packaged with manga volumes from way later the plot points they cover, the only reason this should apply is if you're [[Fan Sub|somehow]] watching them without following the manga, and in that case, it's only your fault, and not the studio's.
* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' is based on rather basic [[Real Life|history]], so it [[Foregone Conclusion|obviously]] will invoke this trope. {{spoiler|The Axis Powers lose.}} But on the more personal levels for the characters, it's assumed that every fan has at least read the strip "America Cleans Out the Storage", which is a [[Tear Jerker]] in a comedy series.
* Lots of fans still treat the fact that {{spoiler|there are two (actually, three) Syaorans}} in ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' as a spoiler (or, alternatively, the fact that {{spoiler|Watanuki from ''[[
** The fact that Fai {{spoiler|had his left eye torn out and eaten by one of the aforementioned Syaorans}}, and to a lesser extent {{spoiler|the fact he's a vampire dependent on Kurogane's blood as a result}}, is also still treated as a spoiler by some fans...despite the fact he's {{spoiler|sporting an eye patch in almost every subsequent cover and official art}}. At least until he {{spoiler|got it back in a later chapter}}...
* The DVD case of ''[[Desert Punk (manga)|Desert Punk]]'' shows what the main character looks like without his mask and the dub credits (though oddly not the credits for the Japanese cast) also spoil what his real name is by billing him as such, when we don't find out either until episode 3.
* Hey, at least all of the above waited until the spoiler had actually ''happened'' in the show. Not ''[[Fresh Pretty Cure]]''. [[Dark Magical Girl|Setsuna/Eas]]'s defection from Labyrinth and rebirth as [[Sixth Ranger|the fourth Fresh Cure, Cure Passion]] was spoiled left and right by merchandising at least a month before it actually happened. Even if you managed to avoid this, being spoiled on her [[Heel Face Turn]] is still nigh-inevitable when most every piece of general ''[[Pretty Cure]]'' media nowadays will include Setsuna with the other Cures.
** In ''[[Heartcatch Pretty Cure]]'', [[Bifauxnen|Itsuki Myoudouin]] is a girl and Cure Sunshine; Yuri Tsukikage is Cure Moonlight. Not only did the merchandising department spoil this in their rush to market two more Cures, the [[Trailers Always Spoil|trailers completely gave away]] Sunshine's identity before it was officially revealed.
** Really, every time ''[[Pretty Cure]]'' adds a new character, their identity becomes all but impossible to avoid. ''[[Suite Precure]]'' is now subjecting Ellen/Cure Beat to this treatment, and she probably won't be the last.
* [[Planetes]]: Due to the [[Evolving Credits]], anyone who sees a late season version of the intro will be horrifically spoiled on 2 major characters who [[Face Heel Turn]].
* Back in 1996, Van's [[Wing Pull|wings]] in ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]'' were major spoilers. Nowadays, nearly [http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e249/Shadow_Wolf_1991/Escaflowne/wings.jpg half] [http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii251/porcarr/escaflowne.jpg of] [http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq256/tts_posters_2008/ANIME/escaflowne.jpg the] [http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac171/pure_anime/Vision%20of%20Escaflowne/vision_of_escaflowne_008.jpg official] [http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac171/pure_anime/Vision%20of%20Escaflowne/untitled.jpg art] show them, including the ''[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/Escaflowne_dvd.png box set]''. That's right, you get spoiled just trying to ''buy'' the damn show.
* Any story summary for ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'' has to reveal that {{spoiler|Tenma decides to save the young boy in the first episode, who turns out to be [[Complete Monster|a homicidal genius]] and the [[Big Bad]] of the series.}}
* A couple covers for later volumes of [[
* Any attempt to cover that "Siegrain" or Ultear from ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' were villains who slipped into the council in order to manipulate it for their own personal gain are half-hearted at best. No one really attempts to hide that Siegrain is really a guy named Jellal who used illusions to trick everyone into thinking Siegrain was another person (his twin, if anyone saw both of them) either. The only thing people try to cover up is that Jellal was a villain because Ultear brainwashed him. Wait...no. They don't care if that one gets out either.
** Technically, the fact that ''Natsu is Fairy Tail's Salamander'' spoils the twist at the end of the first episode.
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** Speaking of which, try to describe ''[[Evangelion]]'' to a newcomer without explaining that it gets pretty dark and [[Mind Screw|psychoanalytical]]...
* Seeing as how it was revealed back in 2005, the fact that Sōsuke Aizen is the [[Big Bad]] in ''[[Bleach]]'' can't possibly be avoided if one casually mentions the series... well, unless you're only talking about the first arc.
* For those just starting to watch ''[[The Slayers|Slayers NEXT]]'', Xellos is a [[
* ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]'' at first appears to be a simple series about two [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship|best friends]], with some [[Les Yay]] and mechas thrown in. Then it turns into a twisted love triangle. Being that it is one of the most popular [[Girls Love]] series to date you should already know that the main duo aren't just best friends and who Himeko ends up with. And if you don't know, the english dub DVDs made sure to make it clear.
* [[FUNimation]] and its predecessor [[Geneon|Geneon Entertainment]], as well as the original Japanese trailers (plus openings if you count the sound novels), spare no detail when it comes to ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]''
** The manga is a better example. They show Hanyuu and Shion in omake before they appear, leading people who have never played the sound novels or watched the anime to wonder why Mion's hair is down (you could just think it's a fanservice omake thing, though) and who that girl with the horns is.
* {{spoiler|Ai's}} true identity is one of the biggest plot twists in [[Detective Conan]]. Too bad she's one of the most popular characters and its impossible to talk about her without spoiling anything.
** Then again, it does get revealed pretty soon after she first appears, so no troubles. Shuichi Akai and Jodie, on the other hand... {{spoiler|Try discussing them without revealing that they're not Gin and Vermouth in disguise, which probably everybody assumes before the big reveal.}} And let's not even start with Rena.
* ''[[Pokémon Special]]'': [[Samus Is a Girl|Yellow is a girl]]. If you read FRLG or the last chapters of Emerald or GSC before you read the Yellow arc, you're going to be awfully confused by the consistent male terminology.
* ''[[Pluto]]'': The cover of the final volume shows {{spoiler|Atom touching one of Pluto's horns, spoiling not only that he returns to life in-series but also the ultimate outcome of their fight}}.
** Of course, if you've [[Astro Boy (manga)|read the original]], as just about everyone in Japan would have, [[It Was His Sled|you'd know this already]].
* All the official art for the second season of ''[[Sora no Otoshimono]]'' shows [[Dumb Blonde|Astraea]] hanging around the good guys (Well, fellow [[Our Angels Are Different|Angeloids]] [[Emotionless Girl|Ikaros]] and [[Token
* Kidou's [[Heel Face Turn]] [[Seventh-Episode Twist|halfway through the first arc]] of ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' was accompanied by a uniform change (for obvious reasons, but he even changed the color of his [[Badass Cape]] to match) and turned him into a permanent fixture of the central cast, making this trope practically impossible to avoid.
* In ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'', the fact that Hikari Yagami was the eighth Chosen Child was intended as a surprise ([[Foreshadowing|well]], [[Spoiler Opening|sort of]]). Come ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'', we're "reminded" of the fact in the first episode.
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* In ''[[Vampire Knight]] Guilty,'' that Yukki {{spoiler|is actually a pure-blood vampire, as well as Kaname's sister (technically; it explains things in the manga) and fiance.}}
* ''[[Girl Friends]]'' spends much of the first volume looking like a standard story about two girls of contrasting personalities meeting and becoming friends, before Chapter 7 confirms that one of them has fallen for the other in a big way. Of course, as the manga is best known as a modern classic of the [[Yuri Genre]] with advertisers marketing it as a story of two best friends who fall in love, it's hardly a surprise now.
* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'': the fact that this anime is actually a [[Deconstructor Fleet]] which is definitely [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|not for your little sister]] was originally disguised behind a cutesy
** Also, it's pretty widely known that {{spoiler|Mami [[Off with His Head|loses her head]] [[Cerebus Syndrome|in Episode 3]].}}
** And that {{spoiler|Kyubey is evil!}} Ironically, that one [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|is not]] [[Ron the Death Eater|entirely accurate]].
== [[Comic Books]] ==
== Comics ==▼
* A popular arc of ''[[Superman]]'' featured a warped and bizarre Metropolis in which the villainous Superman every night busted out and had to be brought back to jail by the resident superhero, Bizarro. The reason behind this sudden change and the entity responsible? The mystery was tightly kept during the original release, but the fact that the paperback collection was titled {{spoiler|Emperor [[The Joker|Joker]]}} ruined the big surprise.
* The second issue of Marvel's ''[[Thunderbolts]]'' comic had a retailer's incentive alternate cover that showed the team {{spoiler|in their original Masters of Evil guises}}. This cover was also used as the cover of the first collected edition.
* Similar to the first example, the trade paperback for one ''[[Transformers]]'' story was called ''Transformers: {{spoiler|Legacy of Unicron}}''. This was a big deal when the comic was first published: the title was blanked in the table of contents.
* When Mary Jane first appeared in ''[[Spider-Man]]'', she was initially [[The Faceless]], and the fact that she was a complete fox instead of just plain was a huge surprise to Peter Parker as well as his friends ([[The Reveal|"Face it, tiger; You just hit the jackpot"]]). Of course, now that the cat's out of the bag, it's virtually impossible to view this as a surprise thanks to her immense popularity as well as her countless depictions in the media.
** While that was the first time Peter Parker (and the ''readers'') saw Mary Jane's face, other characters had seen her before, and remarked that she was quite gorgeous.
* The trade paperback for ''[[Marvel 1602]]'' has a foreword by a critic... [[What Do You Mean It's Not Didactic?|I really should have known better than to read it]]. Although it doesn't quite spoil the ending it does a large part of the middle; {{spoiler|namely, the death of Queen Elizabeth, and that the heroes end up in America.}}
* There's something about [[Neil Gaiman]] and spoileriffic forewords. Frank McConnell's foreword to the Sandman trade paperback "The Kindly Ones" actually features the line, {{spoiler|"Dream dies at the end."}} Not only that, but McConnell is utterly unapologetic about spoiling it for people who haven't read the comic yet: "Sorry to bust your bubble, but {{spoiler|this is a tragedy, or at least, as classically tragedy has been written in a long time,}} so you should know at the outset how it's going to end." Thanks, Frank, but if Neil Gaiman felt that way, he probably would have started with that scene and flashed back, or had a Greek chorus tell us how the arc would end, or DO ANYTHING BUT TELL THE STORY IN A LINEAR CHRONOLOGICAL FASHION.
** There is a clue in one of the earlier comics: Destiny looks in his book and sees an image of {{spoiler|"Dream, clothed all in white and with white hair."}}.
** The above hardly qualifies as a clue, though, since its meaning is difficult to discern until after the fact. The fact that it seems to be one of a thousand throwaway lines (about half of which, admittedly, end up foreshadowing ''something'') doesn't help.
*** What is
* The title of the first post-''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' [[Captain America (comics)]] TPB? Captain America: {{spoiler|The Death of Captain America.}} While yes, there was a huge media blitz about it when it happened, it kind of sucks for new readers, or people in other countries who didn't get that hype.
** Then it happened again, only in reverse. With the delays on {{spoiler|Captain America: Reborn}}, he appeared in at least four books before the big event had actually happened.
* The ''Robin'' trade paperback that features the {{spoiler|return of Spoiler}} has this plastered on everywhere. The {{spoiler|Spoiler alert tag itself}} is a spoiler. {{spoiler|Spoiler}} is on the cover. Then inside, the reader discovers very quickly
* ''[[The Legion of Super Heroes]]'' storyline, ''The Great Darkness Saga'' featured Darkseid as the main antagonist. His appearance intended as a surprise is blown to anyone who picks up the trade (as he appears on the cover).
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* The fact that the ''[[My Little Pony:
▲* The fact that the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' fanfic ''[[Cupcakes (Fanfic)|Cupcakes]]'' is grimdark was supposed to be a [[Shocking Swerve]]. With the level of infamy this fic has in the fandom, if you figured out about the fanfic without knowing this, then someone intentionally set you up.
* While not nearly as egregious as some examples, in ''[[Winter War]]'', Byakuya's survival is one of these. The series index lists the chapters by name and POV character. Byakuya is MIA at the start of the fic, his death apparently confirmed several chapters later... and then we get a chapter titled "Byakuya: Necessity." So if you started reading late, and looked at the chapter index, you probably knew he wasn't really dead even before you got to the point where Hanatarou remembers seeing him apparently die.
* The
* Season Three of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series]]'' is called {{spoiler|''The Cancelled Series''}}, which is advertised as such and, therefore, spoils what happens at the end of season two.▼
== [[Film]] ==
* Trailers and merchandise for ''[[Shrek]] 2'' and ''3'' both obviously and inevitably spoil what was a huge surprise in the first movie: Fiona turns into an ogre. "Why is Fiona fat and green?! Wait! NOOOO!"
* The 2-disc DVD edition of [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney's]] ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' starts with several movie trailers before you reach the main DVD menu. Including the trailer for ''Aladdin: The Return of Jafar''. Where he, you know, ''[[Revenge of the Sequel|returns]]''. As a genie.
** And Heaven forbid anyone watch the ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' TV show before seeing that Iago did a [[Heel Face Turn]] in ''The Return of Jafar''. The [[Disney Channel]] aired several episodes in April 1994 before the company's video department released that sequel in May, and thus Iago was inexplicably "being all chummy-chummy" with the crew, perching harmlessly on Jasmine's shoulder, etc.
* ''[[Tangled]]'' has a follow-up short, ''Tangled Ever After'', detailing events from Rapunzel's wedding day. Among other things, this reveals that Rapunzel has short brown hair by the time her movie ends, and that her love interest's real name is Eugene Fitzherbert, not Flynn Rider.
* ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Empire Strikes Back]]'': it's hard to find anyone that ''doesn't'' know that [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father]], [[All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game"|even if they've never watched any of the movies.]]
** The VHS release of ''[[A New Hope]]'' opened with a trailer for the full trilogy on video, including the line "Is Darth Vader my father?" from ''Jedi'', ensuring that even the most ignorant first-time viewers weren't surprised.
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** Lampshaded mercilessly by [[Ansem Retort]] Darth Maul, who was shown as being oblivious that {{spoiler|Qui-Gon died}}, complaining to Marluxia that "some people haven't seen this movie yet." This is made more absurd when one considers that his introduction into the comic included whining about his fate in the end of the movie.
** And even for newcomers watching the movies in chronological order, it is quite hard to remain unspoiled about the relationship between the Queen of Naboo and her handmaiden when so many materials about Episode II and III talk about {{spoiler|Senator Padme Amidala}}.
* The trailers and posters for ''[[Harry Potter
** Also, if you haven't read or seen ''[[
** Trailers for the fifth movie obviously center on the Ministry's refusal to accept that Voldemort has returned. Gee, I wonder what happened at the end of the previous film.
*** These are really all examples of [[It Was His Sled]].
** Trailers for the fifth movie also clearly show that Sirius Black is {{spoiler|a good guy}}, spoiling [[The Reveal]] at the end of the third film. It's made even more explicate in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaCwrQCjeRk this promo] for the same film. In fact, if you spend any time around pretty much anything ''Harry Potter''-related on the Internet, it's very hard to remain unspoiled about this before you read the third book/watch the third movie.
* ''[[Speed Racer (film)|Speed Racer]]'' hangs a lampshade that Racer X is Rex Racer, [[Not His Sled|with the twist that he isn't Speed's brother]] {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|except he still is, he just had plastic surgery]]}}.
* The final shot of ''[[Being There]]'' is often spoiled by reviewers, biographies and documentaries of [[Peter Sellers]] (as well as the 2004 biopic ''The Life and Death of Peter Sellers''), and even TV promos (and the trailers for that biopic). What's really sad is that it's an unusually powerful [[Twist Ending]] {{spoiler|in that it forces the viewer to rethink what they know about Chance the Gardener -- as said at the [[Misaimed Fandom]] entry, perhaps the viewer
** Heck, the shot is often used on the cover.
* Because it's been in so many other ''[[Batman]]'' media anyway, it's impossible not to know that Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face. The only question in any of the series is how, and when. Still, there was an interview with Aaron Eckhart in the July/August
** Also something that might have thrown people by the Burton/Schumacher films: Harvey Dent was played by Billy Dee Williams in the first movie, and [[The Other Darrin|Tommy Lee Jones]] (as Two-Face) in the third. Lest you think that changing actors can be done subtly, Williams is Black and Jones is White.
*** As mentioned on the ''[[Batman Forever]]'' page, Williams took the minor role of Harvey Dent expecting that in sequels he would become Two-Face, and had it in his contract. The studio bought him out, when they wanted to use Tommy Lee Jones instead.
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* ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien Resurrection]]'''s official trailer flatout says that {{spoiler|Ellen Ripley died before the events of the film}} no less than three separate times (using various characters' quotes).
** The back cover for the UK DVD release of ''Alien 3'' outright spoils the fact that supporting characters Dwayne Hicks and 'Newt' Jorden are killed at the beginning of the film (before Ripley crashes on Fiorina 161).
* There's a very subtle one in [https://web.archive.org/web/20140602231731/http://www.posters.ws/images/408149/usual_suspects.jpg this poster] for ''[[The Usual Suspects]]''. The tagline is a hint. {{spoiler|Kevin Spacey (aka Verbal Kint) is the only one who's over his name. Also, he's the last in the lineup and the last one named.}}
** The DVD of ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'' is even worse. The scene index shows a still clip from each of the 25 "chapters" of the DVD. The still clip for the final chapter shows a fax machine receiving an image of Keyser Soze's face, and even at low resolution a casual viewer can easily see it's {{spoiler|Kevin Spacey}}.
** Also, if you watch too much of the main menu of the DVD of the ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'' you will see {{spoiler|a man's feet as he limps down the street. His gait quickly becomes less shuffling and he is suddenly walking perfectly fine.}}
* If you didn't know that {{spoiler|Jigsaw died}} in ''[[Saw]] III'', you may wish to steer clear of the trailers and DVD boxart for ''Saw IV'', which show {{spoiler|Jigsaw's body lying on an autopsy table and his disembodied head being weighed on a scale}}, respectively.
* The DVD cover of ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]] II'' outright spoils the fact that Laurie Strode is Michael Myers' {{spoiler|sister}}; something that isn't revealed until mid-way through the film.
* Once you pop the ''[[Ghost Rider]]'' DVD into your player, the background visuals behind the menus reveal that {{spoiler|there is a second Ghost Rider}}.
* Prior to
* ''[[The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers]]'', by necessity, spoils [[Thor (film)|most]] [[Captain America: The First Avenger|of]] [[Iron Man (film)|the]] [[The Incredible Hulk (film)|films]] it follows, seeing as how [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover|all of the heroes]] from said films show up and make reference to prior events. Bruce Banner mentions that he "leveled Harlem" (from ''Incredible Hulk''), Steve Rogers mentions that he remembers "HYDRA's secret weapon" (along with a discussion of how it fell into the ocean when he crashed), Loki and Dr. Selvig's presence (spoiling [[The Stinger]] of ''Thor'') and many other minor elements.
* ''[[Top Gun: Maverick]]'' is openly driven in large part by Maverick's lingering guilt over the death of Goose in the first ''[[Top Gun]]'', as well as the resentment the man's now-grown son has.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* In general, [[School Study Media]] is bad about this. The editions that they hand out in class often contain forwards by literature professors giving some background on the author, a bit of context for some things seen in the work, and of course, spoiling every single plot twist in the book. [[Serious Business|Because apparently they can't imagine that]] [[Sarcasm Mode|someone might read these books because they are interested in the story.]]
* Nicely averted by Penguin Classics; each has a warning not to read the introduction if you haven't read the book before, as it tends to give away major plot points.
* In the [[Kenzie and Gennaro Series]], the identity of the serial killer in the second book is mentioned repeatedly in later books. He essentially becomes Patrick Kenzie's boogeyman, with his memory constantly haunting his nightmares. It's easy to forget that in the second book, he was introduced as {{spoiler|Gerry Glynn, the retired policeman who runs a bar in Patrick's neighborhood}}.
** Also, the sixth book is a direct follow-up to ''[[Gone Baby Gone]]'', the fourth book in the series. The conclusion to that one, where {{spoiler|Kenzie rescues the girl from her loving kidnappers and returns her to her neglectful drug-addict mother,}} is spoiled on the back cover of the sixth book.
* ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'': Edward is a [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampire]]. You can glean that from ''the back of the book''. This despite the fact that it tries to keep the reader guessing what Edward's deal is for about the first half of the book.
** It's really more of [[Dramatic Irony]] than "keeping the reader guessing"; the reader knows, but Bella still needs to figure it out.
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** Certain editions of the ''[[Discworld]]'' book ''[[
::By the way, the character summaries of these editions are found all the way back in the first book of ''Discworld'', which doesn't even have the City Watch. In fact only four of the seventeen characters in the summaries are even in the book and only two of those played a major part.
** The Harper Torch printings of the older ''[[Discworld]]'' books tend to assume you've read them already, so they tend to have fairly spoileriffic images on the cover. To their credit, the spoiler usually doesn't make sense until you ''have'' read the book, but it's still not cool to put the gonne on the cover of ''[[
** The "classy" Corgi reprints have black covers with something symbolic or significant (eg vampire teeth for ''[[
** Not only does this happen with the endings of the Discworld books, but it will automatically happen if you read the first book of a series published after any earlier work. This is most glaring with the first Moist von Lipwig book, ''[[
* [[Shakespeare]]'s works. Everyone knows the ending to ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' (pictured), and to ''[[Hamlet]]'', and to ''[[Julius Caesar]]'', and to ''[[Macbeth]]''. (''Romeo and Juliet'' even [[Oh, and X Dies|mentions in the prologue that both the title characters die]]. And ''JC'' is helped by [[Doomed by Canon|being based on a true story]].) The lesser known works such as ''[[Othello]]'' are still at risk but way better than the Big Five.
** Just knowing the ''genre'' of a particular Shakespeare play pretty much spoils the entire ending. If it's a comedy, everyone gets married at the end and lives happily ever after; if it's a a tragedy, everyone dies at the end; and if it's a history, well, those are [[Foregone Conclusion|no-brainers.]]
** Take a look at the title of ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead]]''.
* This happens with a few Dickens novels, especially ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'', but ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'', despite always getting talked about in popular media, is an odd aversion of this. Everyone know
* [[The Reveal]] at the ending of ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'''s first book? Rand is the Dragon Reborn. The cover of the third book? A triumphant Rand, with the words "The Dragon Reborn" written in big, bold letters. Although in all fairness, it was pretty obvious from about halfway into the third chapter. (Of course, it's only a spoiler if you identify the young man with sandy-coloured hair wearing a cream-coloured tunic with a purple belt, denim jeans (or the fantasy equivalent), mid-calf leather boots, and a glowing sword floating in mid-air above his raised hand as being the tall, gray-eyed youth with a reddish tint to his hair described in the first book - it's not like the cover comes with a name tag.)
* The front cover art of ''[[Spellsinger|The Moment of the Magician]]'' by [[Alan Dean Foster]] spoils what is clearly written to be a surprise, {{spoiler|that the new evil magician in town is a kid's party magician who stumbled in from our own world, and now his lame magic works}}.
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** Instead, it's [[Dramatic Irony]].
*** A fact which in itself may or may not be situational irony...
* One of the reviews on the back of ''[[The City of Ember]]'' says {{spoiler|"The cliffhanger ending will leave readers clamoring for the next installment."}}
* In some parts of the ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' fandom, something only counts as a spoiler if it happened in a book that came out less than a month ago. If the book is more than a month old, well... too bad. However, the phenomenon also appears in the books themselves:
** The author seems to act like everyone should know what happens in the first series, too, considering how much of it she spoils in the spin-offs. Also no one, ''literally'' no one, calls Firestar "Fireheart", because everyone should know that {{spoiler|Bluestar dies and he becomes leader in Book 6}}. Most [[Official Couple
** And there's the blurb for ''Sunrise'', which spoils the [[Wham! Episode|climax of the previous book]]. Yay!
** The award goes to the ''Tigerstar and Sasha'' manga, since ''the title itself'' is a spoiler for ''Moonrise''.
** And, of course, the character lists in the front of the books, which are so riddled with spoilers it's a wonder they still put them in the front of the books. If a character dies sometime in the book, they are treated as dead.
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** Even worse than that is that readers who aren't very careful (or aren't sure about book's names) will read the preview chapter at the end of ''[[Realm of the Elderlings|Ship of Destiny]]'', and find out that very spoiler. I spent the entirety of ''Fool's Errand'' thinking "Okay, shouldn't this happen in the beginning? Yeah, it's supposed to happen. I'm 50 pages from the end, it hasn't happened. Okay, just happened. I guess I should feel sad now. Hmm."
* French translation of the title of Lois McMaster Bujold's first book in the ''Vorkosigan'' series, ''Shards of Honor'', was ''Cordelia Vokosigan'', calling the heroine by her married name, said marriage occuring at the very end of the book and being quite hard-won by that time.
** And in ''Cordelia's Honor'', ''Barrayar'' and ''Shards of Honor'' packaged together, the blurb on the back spoils the first half of the book for anyone who was new in coming to the ''Vorkosigan Saga''.
* Because the ''whole plot'' takes off from it, the inside dust jacket (and subsequent paperback covers) for Sidney Sheldon's ''Memories of Midnight'' had to spoil the [[Twist Ending]] of ''The Other Side of Midnight'': {{spoiler|Catherine didn't die, but Constantin had her rescued and hidden so Larry and Noelle would be tried and executed for her murder}}. It's worth noting that the book was intended to work as a standalone novel as well as a sequel, via extended flashbacks to what happened in its predecessor.
* There is a dreadful 1970s pulp horror novel called ''Rabid'', about the rabies virus spreading to the previously (and actually) rabies-free British Isles. The back-cover copy on the paperback edition ended with, "And when the virus became airborne, then the whole world would learn what it meant to be .... RABID!" The element of the virus mutating into an airborne form was a ''twist ending'', on quite literally the last page of the book: it had nothing to do with the book's primary plot.
* Don't read the blurbs on the back of the later ''[[Codex Alera]]'' books if you want there to be ''any'' surprise when [[The Reveal]] rolls around about {{spoiler|Tavi's parentage}}. It's much more entertaining when you piece it together over the course of 3 books, but it's very difficult to provide even a basic plot summary of the last two books without giving it away.
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* The second paragraph of the blurb for ''Inkdeath'' starts, "{{spoiler|The fire-eater Dustfinger is dead.}}" Okay, we know the movie and the book end differently, but come on!
* The first book of the ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' series ends with the execution of {{spoiler|[[Decoy Protagonist|Ned Stark]]}} and the fallout from this event fuels the plot of the next book; this, and the fact that Daenerys managed to {{spoiler|hatch the fossilised dragon eggs}} is spoiled in some versions of the blurbs of later books. Other major events throughout the series are also spoiled in this way, including {{spoiler|Jaime and Cersei's incest, Robert's death, Stannis' defeat, Joffrey's death, and many more}}. The miniseries is going to have a similar problem, especially with the first one; how are they going to hide the fact that {{spoiler|Sean Bean, of all actors}} will not be returning for season two?
* In the short [[Death by Newbery Medal|Newbery-award winning]] book, ''[[On My Honor]]'', the summary on the back spoils what is probably the only [[Slice of Life|plot point in the entire novel]].<ref>
* The two bigs twists at the end of the first ''[[Percy Jackson & the Olympians|Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' novel, ''The Lightning Thief'', is that {{spoiler|Kronos is the [[Big Bad]] of the series, with Luke, Percy's [[Big Brother Mentor]] as his [[The Dragon|Dragon]]}}. Reading the blurb of pretty much any of the subsequent books spoils at least one of these twists, if not both.
* So, you decide that you are interested in reading the ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant]]'' books. You glance at the fifth book and decide to look at the blurb... Congratulations, the blurb has spoilered for you the huge twist at the end of the fourth book, which reveals that {{spoiler|Valkyrie is Darquesse}}.
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* You know just by the fact that there are sequels that Katniss Everdeen makes it out of ''[[The Hunger Games]]'' alive (although they [[Averted Trope|do a good job keeping the secret]] that {{spoiler|Peeta does too}}).
* The back of each ''[[Deltora Quest]]'' book spoils the previous one. The summaries on the back of any book in the second and third series will tell you who the heir is.
*
== [[Live
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'':
** The big twist in the first season, that Angel is a vampire, is pretty lame if you've seen any other season, or any preview for [[Angel|his own show]]. In the [[DVD Commentary]] [[Joss Whedon]] mentions that he was surprised that so few people figured this out before [[The Reveal]], as he assumed everybody would.
** Likewise, Angel's fate is spoiled from the beginning. You know any deaths or [[Face Heel Turn
** Same can be said for Spike's [[Heel Face Turn
** Any episode of either show where characters mention events on conversations that took place during their guest spot on the other show, usually making vague enough references that you can usually get the gist of what happened.
** In the commentary track for the very first episode Joss Whedon mentions that the school is blown up at the end of the third season.
** A commentary in the first season spoils the fact that {{spoiler|Harmony becomes a vampire several seasons later.}}
** UK channel Sky One ran previews for the season five finale which showed {{spoiler|Buffy's gravestone}}, running it constantly so that everyone watching TV would know how the episode ended.
** Many of the DVD menu screens manage to give away the epiode's [[The Reveal|reveal]] in a single image.
* ''[[iCarly]]'': Sam and Freddie [[First Kiss|kissed]]. Even more spoiled if new viewers of the show saw the trailer of "iThink They Kissed" without watching the prequel "iKiss". In said trailer, Carly yells [[Trailers Always Spoil|''Sam and Freddie KISSED!'']].
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*** However, the DVD release of said episode now features the Cybermen on the cover...
*** Often the writers (and occasionally even the directors) created it so the revelation of the returning foe or foes was given great weight, only to have the script editor or producer change the title to showcase said foe. For instance, the serial scripted as ''The Deadly Experiments'' used the revelation that the Sontarans were behind the experiments as the only cliffhanger. Script editor Robert Holmes was very unhappy to learn at a late stage that it had been retitled ''The Sontaran Experiment'' but the cliffhanger left intact.
*** One aversion of the trope occurred in the story titled, ''Invasion of the Dinosaurs''. The first episode was run with the title "Invasion" to prevent spoiling the appearance of dinosaurs at the end of the episode. Subsequent episodes ran the full title.
** The new series is a particularly nasty example of this trope since it's so damn popular, so the marketing material tends to assume everybody and their robot dog has already seen the latest episode and happily puts massive spoilers on the DVD covers.
*** And the BBC website spoiled the {{spoiler|return of the Master}} in the 2009 Christmas Special. In September.
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** The season 3 DVDs contain a booklet that goes beyond giving brief descriptions of every episode into spoiling major twists (the description of the finale {{spoiler|mentions casually what occurs in Jack's flashforward}})...which is bad, since some people wait for the DVDs to watch the show instead of [[Better on DVD|watching it on air with constant breaks]].
** Let's not forget the season 4 DVD set. When you pull off the slipcover, the picture on the front of the case shows the cast, with the Oceanic 6 quite obviously darkened. Who they were was one of the primary mysteries of the first part of that season.
** Season 5: {{spoiler|The Journey Back}}.
* The first half of ''[[Burn Notice]]'' Season 2 ended on September
** Said trailers were also airing during the catchup marathon before the episode.
* On the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "The Wire", Garak tells several ([[Multiple Choice Past|conflicting]]) stories about his past as a spy with his friend Elim. The end of the episode reveals that {{spoiler|Elim is simply Garak's first name}}. But you'd be hard pressed to find a reference to Garak, including the Deep Space Nine page on This Very Wiki, that doesn't {{spoiler|list him as "Elim Garak"}}, which pretty much takes the sting out of the episode.
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* The first name of ''[[MacGyver]]'' is a mystery until a few seasons in but is found on the back cover of the first season DVD set.
* The box art for Season 6 of ''[[One Tree Hill]]''. There was a big cliffhanger at the end of Season 5, as Lucas calls either Brooke, Peyton, or Lindsey and asks whoever he called if she wants to marry him that night. The back of the DVD box reads, "And speaking of Lucas, just which one is the right girl?"... when there are two pictures clearly visible on the back that reveal who it was: {{spoiler|it's Peyton--the two pictures are of her and Lucas embracing in their kitchen and the background of the DVD box is Lucas kissing her in the hospital from the finale}}. Additionally, the network allegedly ruined the Season 5 cliffhanger by editing a promo for Season 6 in a way that made it obvious who Lucas calls, which is why Mark Schwahn, the showrunner, handles making the promotional materials now.
* The [[The Office (2005 TV series)| U.S. version of ''
** NBC's hyping of {{spoiler|their marriage and the subsequent birth of their first child}} during the sixth season solidifies this as an example of this trope.
*** Then again, anyone who'd watched the UK version saw it coming and knew it would eventually happen, {{spoiler|as the UK series ends with them finally getting together.}}
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* Promotional materials for later seasons of ''[[Supernatural]]'' show Bobby in a wheelchair.
** Not that it matters much, since [[Deal with the Devil|he got better]] just a few episodes later.
*** There are a lot of these on ''Supernatural''. Dean did go to hell. Viewers who had seen the publicity for later seasons would know that when Zachariah smote Cas, it wasn't permanent. Also for viewers watching the fourth season, Sam and Dean are not going to stop all the seals from being broken. And -as the intro re-cap for the early episodes of season five will tell you - Lilith was the final seal .
* Season 4 of ''[[Dexter]]'' was spoiled during the ad campaign for Season 5
** The DVD cases of later seasons show Dexter with a [[Enfant Terrible|potentially-evil baby]] wearing a bib saying "My Dad is a Killer". Wait, Dexter had a kid?
** The ''Dexter'' website describes the death of his wife at the end of Season 4, an important and unexpected plot point
* If you've watched the first two series of ''[[Torchwood]]'' and wonder why in official images and the DVD cover for the third season {{spoiler|only Jack, Gwen, and Ianto appear}}... oops.
** If you've watched the third series of ''Torchwood'' and wonder why in official images and the DVD cover for the fourth season {{spoiler|only Jack, Gwen and some new guys appear}}... oops.
* ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'' begins with a [[Time Skip]] that picks up with a new group of students (and the original students from ''[[Degrassi High]]'') more than a decade after the final episode, "School's Out". If you watch the new series before the original, most of the surprises (Joey and Caitlin's breakup, Spike having a child named Emma that she has to raise on her own, Lucy's paralysis) are spoiled.
** Later seasons of ''Next Generation'' spoil plot points from earlier episodes in their DVD boxart. Why yes, Jimmy is now in a wheelchair and J.T. is suspiciously absent from the episode summaries of the latter half of the series. More notably, the cast changeover (and graduation of most of the previous students) is spoiled by the DVD boxart for everything after season 9.
* Watching ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]'' and yet not up to par on your ''[[Super Sentai]]'' knowledge despite ''Gokaiger'' being [[Milestone Celebration|an anniversary series]]? Too bad, because the subject matter of episode 28 is {{spoiler|the death of Gai Yuuki}} in ''[[Choujin Sentai Jetman]]'', which happens to be the final scene of that series!
* The trailer for the then-unaired second season of ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** Likewise, the season 3 trailer spoils the fact that {{spoiler|most of the fleet has settled on New Caprica, and that Tigh is missing one of his eyes}}.
** The fourth-season trailer begins with, "Last season {{spoiler|Starbuck Returned...4 Were Revealed}}", before showing the faces of the four Cylons whose identities were (up to that point) a secret.
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* The season 2 commercials for ''[[Sherlock]]'' showed who Moriarty was, despite the fact that it was part of the major cliffhanger at the end of the first season.
▲== Pro Wrestling ==
* Since tickets for wrestling shows go on sale months ahead of time, there have been cases where advertised matches spoil an upcoming [[Heel Face Turn]], [[Face Heel Turn]], or and absent wrestler's surprise return.
* Also, DVD and Blu-ray releases of PPV events can spoil what were surprise returns at the [[PP Vs]] (like [[Daniel Bryan]]'s return at [[Summer Slam]] 2010) in their match lists or the front cover can spoil the outcome of the main event (like [[CM Punk]] triumphantly holding the WWE Championship on the cover of the Money in the Bank 2011 DVD).
** If you look closely on the cover of the ''SummerSlam'' cover described above, you can actually see Daniel Bryan brawling with [[John Cena]], [[Chris Jericho]], [[Edge]], Wade Barrett, and nine other Superstars! Presumably, most first-time viewers didn't look that carefully before they watched the show.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The ''[[Pathfinder]]'' setting books normally care not to spoil earlier Adventure Paths, but only those of the same edition. Those released for ''Pathfinder'' proper will freely include information that was secret in the material made as third party supplements for 3rd Edition ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', such as freely discussing the nature of Drow in the setting when that was previously a major secret of ''Second Darkness'' or writing an entire book about starting town of Sandpoint set ''after'' the events of ''Rise of the Runelords''. The Adventure Paths for ''Pathfinder'' having occurred in the second edition's version of the setting results in major changes to the setting that render it basically impossible to say anything about without touching on their results.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Numerous previews of ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]] 2'' spoiled the big plot twist of the first game, as did many articles about the game beyond a few months after its release that refer to the main character as {{spoiler|Revan}}.
* Throughout the development of ''[[Halo]]'', the existence of the Flood was kept a secret. Afterwards, they were still considered spoiler material, and magazines avoided directly referring to them. Then the second Halo novel was called ''Halo: The Flood''.
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* It is revealed in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'' that {{spoiler|Tetra is actually the titular Princess Zelda}}. [[Phantom Hourglass]] being the direct sequel, this information is shown in the opening cinematic.
** ''[[Spirit Tracks]]'', despite skipping two generations, does still manage to ruin this twist for anybody who hasn't played ''[[The Wind Waker]]'' yet, thanks to Tetra {{spoiler|building a massive stained glass window, despicting herself (in Pirate-garb!!!) in the thoronation-chamber}} and to Zelda {{spoiler|praying to Queen Tetra herself, clearly saying her civilian name, before the Final Boss Battle.}} At least's it's not as obvious as in the ''[[Phantom Hourglass]]'' case, as both of this instances are easy to miss if you're not familiar with the character Tetra yet.
* Nintendo doesn't seem to consider Sheik's identity in ''[[Ocarina of Time]]'' as much of a spoiler, what with Zelda's ability to turn into Sheik in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]. Melee''.
** Nintendo may have some justification in this. After all, ''Ocarina of Time'' was one of the more popular games for the N64, and it was released in 1998, giving most Nintendo fans three years to figure it out...
** For fans of the ''[[
*** Not to mention, [[Mother 3|Lucas's]] trophy text mentions a somewhat big spoiler, specifically {{spoiler|about how he would eventually have to fight his brother Claus in the end.}}
** Don't forget the trophies you collect! Some of them have spoilers for other games in them (In ''Melee'', the trophy description for [[Custom Robo]] 2's Annie ends by saying, {{spoiler|"At the climax of the story, Nanase fell prey to temptation and stained her hands with the illegal robot Majei. This act ultimately set the stage for her undeniably tragic end."}}).
** The trophies also spoiled an awful lot from ''[[Twilight Princess]]'', namely: {{spoiler|[[Hijacked by Ganon|Ganondorf was the villain the whole time]], and Midna was the Twilight Princess.}} If you truly want to avoid spoilers for almost every game that Nintendo has made, you're better off avoiding the trophies altogether if possible.
* ''[[Castlevania]] [[Dawn of Sorrow]]'' games had no problems mentioning the Big Reveal at the end of its prequel, ''[[Aria of Sorrow]]''' -- that protagonist Soma Cruz is the [[Reincarnation]] of Dracula. Heck, it says it outright on the back of the box.
* Casual screenshots of ''[[Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories]]'' will spoil an event that happens to someone in ''[[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness]]''....{{spoiler|Namely, that Laharl isn't a ''complete'' asshole, and airheaded [[Love Freak]] ultra-pure Angel trainee Flonne has fallen from grace and become an airheaded love free ultra-pure Devil trainee.}} And don't even try playing it if you mind spoilers, because the intro movie reveals the same thing. Also, {{spoiler|Prinny Kurtis is part of the storyline.}}
** The opening of ''[[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice]]'' spoils this too. So does merely shopping at the Rosenqueen store in real life. In fact, it's hardly worth tagging the spoiler anymore.
** When playing La Pucelle, a spiritual predecessor to Disgaea, that there is a pair of secret scenes where Priere {{spoiler|becomes a Demon Lord and Demon Overlord}} is technically a spoiler. However, with La Pucelle: Ragnarok, the remake of La Pucelle, {{spoiler|Priere's demon form}} is right on the cover. Of course, it's now a full route, not merely an ending. And she has appeared in four later NIS games as a "secret" character, and another as DLC, in full {{spoiler|demonic glory}} no less, it's not much of a secret to anyone with an interest in their games.
*** On top of that, many secret characters ''aren't''. It's practically expected that the major characters of previous Disgaea games will appear, even in remakes, plus Asagi since Makai Kingdom, plus a splattering of others. It's just a question of ''which'' characters from those games will appear.
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** The back of ''the instruction manual'' for the Greatest Hits re-release of ''Sly 2: Band of Thieves'' has an ad for the then-upcoming ''Sly 3'' {{spoiler|featuring Bentley in his wheelchair and foreshadowing Murray's brief absence from the team}}.
* In ''[[Phoenix Wright]]: Justice for All'', one character gets into a truly life-threatening situation in that game's final episode. Which is fine and dandy, except the boxart for ''Trials and Tribulations'' is an immediate giveaway that this character survives. Though, to be fair, Mia is also on the box, so it could be said that Capcom at least ''tried'' to subvert this.
** A certain character's [[Heel Face Turn]] is given away by the fact that he has [[Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth|his own spinoff.]]
** Oddly averted in ''[[Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth]]''. Edgeworth never actually mentions why {{spoiler|he stopped following the path of von Karma}} and someone playing the game first might assume it was due to soul-searching and personal moral decisions. They would be unaware that in the first game Edgeworth discovered that {{spoiler|von Karma murdered his father and raised him as a heartless prosecutor as revenge for Edgeworth's father giving him a penalty in court.}} In fact, most of the big spoilery events of the earlier games are either not mentioned or referred to so lightly (such as {{spoiler|Franziska being shot}})a newbie might think they're talking about a [[Noodle Incident]].
** The fact that {{spoiler|Adrian Andrews}} shows up in case 3-2 completely ruins a dramatic moment at the end of the second game if you played the third one first.
* The ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' franchise has many examples of this:
** Almost every sequel after the original game repeatedly mentions that Solid Snake and Liquid Snake are clones of Big Boss.
** In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'', despite the promotional material and game box hiding the twist, the manual has to tell the player (by necessity) that Snake {{spoiler|isn't the main character - Raiden is}}. The game also runs into [[All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game"]] territory - it's taught in game design courses and referred to by almost everyone who plays the game as being fourth-wall breaking, insane and incomprehensible (thereby spoiling most of the shock value to new players).
** The main selling point of ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'' is that it chronicles Big Boss' [[Start of Darkness]]. It was originally meant to be a reveal, but now doesn't need to be spoiler-marked.
*** The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf6hRFXlQco&feature=fvsr trailer] for the [[Nintendo 3DS]] remake of ''MGS3'' shows off the beginning of the Snake/Boss battle from the end of the game, spoiling her end-of-Act 1 defection to the Soviet Union.
** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' got this bad. Not only does Snake's role as the main character mean that the plot twist of ''MGS2'' is spoiled for anyone who hasn't played it, but {{spoiler|Meryl Silverburgh's}} appearance is evidence of the canonical ending of ''MGS1''. In addition, Snake's rapid aging in the game means that the whole plot twist of FOXDIE (and the nanomachines) in the original game is rendered pointless for anyone who's new to the series.
** The marketing for ''Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance'' will have anyone who didn't play ''MGS4'' asking, "Wait, why is Raiden a robot?"
* The ending of ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' left you hanging right up until the moment before the credits on whether or not {{spoiler|Balthier and Fran die in a heroic act}}. Unfortunately, shortly before the game was actually released in North America, there was already a trailer for ''[[Revenant Wings]]'' (the Nintendo DS sequel) circling the web which revealed {{spoiler|them to be alive and well}}. Any English fan who saw the trailer before reaching the end of the first game were therein stolen any and all suspense on the reveal that {{spoiler|Balthier and Fran lived after all}}.
** {{spoiler|Their survival was hinted by Penelo, who pointed out that their airship couldn't have been stolen if the original owners were retaking it. They also received a letter presumably from Balthier and Fran, as it included Ashe's wedding ring that Balthier 'looted' from her (which he said he'd return if he found something of greater value)}}
* The big spoiler for the first ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' game, {{spoiler|Mega Man is a [[Replacement Goldfish]] of sorts made from Lan's dead brother}}, is mentioned a few times in latter games, however because it is not explicitly explained either, it {{spoiler|and the occasional use of the plural "Sons"}} can get confusing if you didn't play the first game or read it on the internet.
** A bit less of an issue in the
** Interestingly, the sixth game instead treats it as if it was a reveal
* Speaking of ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'', the fact that Dr. Wily is a villain for all of the games in the original series technically spoils about half of those games (specifically, games ''[[Mega Man 3]]''-''6'' and ''9''-''10''). But the ending of ''9'' references all of these endings anyways.
** Of course, ''9'' plays around with the trope - even in the introductory story, Mega Man suspects Dr. Wily (he just doesn't have proof yet), and the achievement given by the game for beating it is called "Wily Masher".
*** ''10'' has the same achievement as well.
** From ''[[Mega Man X]]'', you should know that someone's going to die in the first game, since the plot of the second game revolves around ''resurrecting him''.
** Also, how many games have explicitly stated that Zero {{spoiler|is Dr. Wily's masterpiece?}} Let's see, there's ''[[
*** Or, just ask any ''Mega Man'' fan if they're even aware of the fact.
*** Ironically, Zero's [[Mega Man Zero|own series]] ''never'' even alluded to this fact.<ref>There is, in fact, a minor allusion to it in the 4th game when Zero talks with Weil before the latter's final merge with Ragnarok Core. But it's very difficult to notice it unless one knew about the identity of Maverick Virus' original carrier and the identity of virus' creator. There's also one with the entirety of Omega's existence in the 3rd game, but likewise, it's difficult to notice anything other than Zero's age and power if one didn't know about the virus before.</ref>
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* The spirit meter mechanic of ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2|Mask of the Betrayer]]'' is explicity stated by the manual to be a spoiler; this doesn't stop every review from detailing it.
** It didn't stop Atari's PR Department from making it a selling point either.
* Sure, you ''could'' play any of the [[.hack]] games out of order if you wanted to, but be prepared to be spoiled since 1.) The intros serve as a recap and 2.) Each game picks up ''immediately'' after the previous one. And let's not forget that the games ''themselves'' spoil the anime series since they serve as prequels to the games. For example, .hack//Roots hadn't even been translated when .hack//GU came out so everyone who played the game knew {{spoiler|that Shino gets Pked and sent into a coma.}} It's insanely hard to avoid spoilers in this [[All There in the Manual]] series.
* The opening cinematic for ''[[Final Fantasy IV]] DS'' just assumes that you already know the whole plot, and it spoils, among other things, {{spoiler|that Cecil has to fight Kain at one point, that Cecil becomes a paladin and fight against his own inner darkness, that Kain is intensely jealous that Rosa is with Cecil, that the Tower of Babil is actually the storage place for a giant mech that can destroy the world and the Red Wings and Dwarves are going to fight it, that Rydia eventually returns and can even summon the Leviathan that seems to kill her, they reveal the final team including Kain, and finally as the coup de grace they reveal the Lunar Whale that takes you to the moon}}. Of course, this is a grand tradition with the game; the original American release revealed in the instruction manual that {{spoiler|1=FuSoYa would be joining your party, and was from the moon}}.
** Of course, the game is almost old enough to vote in the United States, so...
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* The sequel to ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.]], Project Origin'', pretty much assumes that the player knows {{spoiler|Alma is both Paxton Fettel and the F.E.A.R. Point Man's mother, and is the cause of the rampant psychic madness rolling through the city.}}
* Back before ''Infinity'' came out, the idea that the protagonist in ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' might be the 10th Mk. IV cyborg was seen as a wild and hotly contested piece of [[Fanon]] by most players. Now, of course, many descriptions of the game refer to him simply as "the Marathon cyborg", even though this ''still'' hasn't been made entirely explicit by the game itself.
* Yuna's mere ''presence'' in ''[[
** {{spoiler|Tidus}}'s conspicuous absence and Yuna's search for him gives some indication of what happens to him at the end of the previous game.
** And of course the only people who would be spoiled by that first one are the people who played to the ~ 3/4 point where {{spoiler|it is revealed that the summoner dies during the final summon,}} but did not proceed to the end of the game itself.
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** The game's full title is ''Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising''.
** The plot twist in the game, which is that {{spoiler|Hawke kills Sturm}}, is mentioned twice in general conversation in the next game.
* The ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]: Season Two'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20130525061440/http://www.telltalegames.com/images/productshots/s2_seasondisc_boxart.png Collector's DVD cover] spoils what {{spoiler|T-H-E-I-R}} spaceship really looks like.
* The ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' series is replete with these, starting with the fact that anyone who plays the original MK after either MKII or MK 3 will be confused by the notion of Shang Tsung as a) the boss and b) old. Later games reveal that Reptile {{spoiler|is an actual reptile and no longer wears a mask}}, Liu Kang {{spoiler|is a zombie in ''Armageddon'' because he died at Shang Tsung's hands at the start of ''Deadly Alliance''}}, Kitana {{spoiler|is a heroic princess}}, Mileena {{spoiler|is Kitana's evil monster-clone}}, Sindel {{spoiler|is Kitana's mother}}, Noob Saibot {{spoiler|was Sub-Zero in the first game and is the current Sub-Zero's older brother}}....it goes on and on. Many of these are spoiled in character backstories at the start of the later game; some are obvious just from seeing the character portrait!
* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'', the fact that there are actually two worlds is supposed to be a big reveal several hours into the game. Of course, it's pretty much impossible to read anything about this game without that fact being spoiled, including the [[Trailers Always Spoil|back of the game case]], where it says, "The line between good and evil blurs in this epic adventure where the fate of two interlocked worlds hangs in the balance."
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** It's hard to look at any fan work for any length of time without finding out that one character's absent dad doesn't stay absent and [[Luke, I Am Your Father|other]] [[Double Agent|associated]] [[Fake Defector|spoilers.]]
* Like the example of ''[[Mother 3]]'' and ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'', English players who never played Japanese version of ''[[Tales of Graces]]'', but will play its expanded version ''Tales of Graces f'' in 2012, will no doubt be spoiled by the ''very cover'' if one looks close enough that {{spoiler|[[Mismatched Eyes|both Asbel's eyes aren't the same color]], even though they are throughout the most of the game, and Richard and Sophie wear some new clothes not present in the main arc, implying that Richard and Sophie don't die at the end.}}
* The [[
* ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]: [[Crisis Core]]'' stars a protagonist who is a spoiler. His existence, appearance and role are almost entirely unknown until Cloud untangles his [[Tomato Surprise]], very late in the game. Mails sent to this protagonist casually drop facts like SOLDIERs being implanted with {{spoiler|Jenova cells}} (a major spoiler in the original, since it explains that Cloud's reason for wanting to hunt down Sephiroth isn't simply revenge), and - well, when Cloud shows up and he's {{spoiler|a Shinra grunt rather than a SOLDIER First Class}}, that twist is ruined for you.
** The truth about Cloud was already prematurely spoiled in 1999, in ''[[Ehrgeiz]]: God Bless the Ring'', where his alternate costume was {{spoiler|a Shinra infantry uniform}}.
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*** And if you have played the original you know {{spoiler|Zack dies}}, which puts both games in the uncomfortable situation that any of the two games spoils the other, so no matter in which order you play it, you're still screwed.
** If you watch ''Advent Children'', you'll get some spoilers for the main game ( {{spoiler|'''Rufus''': Cloud, you'll help us, won't you? You used to be in SOLDIER. '''Cloud''': In my head.}}), but god help you if you watch Advent Children Complete. Crisis Core and Before Crisis are both spoiled rather easily, and if you watch the Reminiscence of [[Final Fantasy VII]] Compilation, well, you're screwed (though that's the point).
* In the original ''[[Resident Evil]]'', S.T.A.R.S. commander Albert Wesker [[The Mole|isn't exactly]] [[Magnificent Bastard|the nice guy]] he first appears to be, but he ends up dying in the end of the game. [[Back
* ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]'': Gilgamesh's presence (and less likely, his class) is usually not hidden at all by promotional materials or other sources, and Fate/Unlimited Codes has both him and {{spoiler|Dark Sakura}} as playable characters from the get-go.
** Hell, the fact that [[Sinister Minister|Kotomine]] is, in fact, the [[Big Bad]], as well as the above mentioned Servant's Master, and not merely a [[Jerkass]] comes as a surprise late in the [[Road Cone|first route]]/[[The Anime of the Game|anime]] to anyone who wasn't spoiled, which is practically no-one, thanks in part to Fate/Unlimited Codes and the fandom in general.
** Likewise Fate/Zero spoils the fact that {{spoiler|Rin and Sakura are sisters}} ''VERY'' early on.
* Many works parodying or otherwise discussing ''[[
* [[Valve
* Present in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series:
** Due to ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
** ''[[Chain of Memories]]'' (which was released for Nintendo's [[Game Boy Advance]]) assumes that the player has played the original game (which was released for a rival console system, namely the Sony [[
*** And then ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'' spoils the events of ''Chain of Memories'', which did have a [[
** And now the [[Trailers Always Spoil|trailer]] for ''Dream Drop Distance'' spoils ''Birth By Sleep''. Specifically, ''it shows Vanitas unmasked''. Those planning on playing Birth by Sleep should avoid watching the end of the trailer.
* In the opening cinematic of ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]] II'', we learn that Kratos is the God of War, not Ares.
** The ''God of War Collection'' has helpful trophy descriptions, viewable as soon as you start the game, such as "Daddy Issues: Defeat {{spoiler|Zeus}}."
** Also, [[Bilingual Bonus|if you happen to speak Greek]], the goddamn ''title song'' is a spoiler, as the lyrics, translated, are:
{{quote|
''Betrayal, rage, rage! The end begins now!
''I will kill him! I will kill him!
''Patricide! Genocide!
''I will kill them all! Olympus shall fall! }}
* The videogame conventions the player takes no notice of initially in ''[[Haze]]'' are supposed to be [[Painting the Fourth Wall]], as it turns out they're actually being implemented on the [[Player Character]]. This [[Plot Twist]] would be more of a surprise if it hadn't been spoiled by ''every single preview'' of the game after a certain point. Those frathouse manchildren who are your comrades in arms? They're actually on drugs, and literally can't register the death and destruction they cause.
* ''<nowiki>
* The ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' series spoils itself in the openings. Especially the opening cinema of ''Soul Reaver 2''.
** Or ''Soul Reaver'', where the intro is pretty much the first game's (''Blood Omen's'') twist ending retold.
* Nintendo seems to feel that anybody interested in buying the ''Sky'' edition of ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'' should already know the parts of the plot from Time/Darkness. This goes to the point that they include an animated special that spoils pretty much ''the entire game up to that point'' as a ''pre-order bonus.'' Add to this the clear hints in the commercials and the info on Sky's website and it's all over. WAY TO GO NINTENDO!
* It was impossible to see any commercials for ''Pokémon Platinum'' that didn't spoil {{spoiler|Cyrus's status as Team Galactic's boss or the fact that he tries to summon a legendary or two}}. Guess they assumed that everyone had played ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]''...
** ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'' had Team Rocket breaking up, and Blue being the Champion. Come ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]'', and those are ingrained into the plot. It's probably even worse for the remakes, since a lot of kids who play it probably haven't played the Kanto games or their remakes.
* Pretty much everything in the first ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' game falls under this, as does the fact that Ashelin is Praxis' daughter and Errol coming back as an [[Omnicidal Maniac]]. So far, the series' biggest and [[The Reveal|most shocking]] plot twist has avoided this, despite its major effect on the character dynamic... or at least, [[Aborted Arc|the effect it could/should have had]].
* The prologue screen in the [[Sega Genesis]] [[Beat'Em Up]] ''Last Battle'' isn't so much of a prologue as it is a plot summary of the WHOLE GAME itself. This is partly because ''Last Battle'' was originally a ''[[Fist of the North Star|Hokuto no Ken]]'' game that was [[Dolled-Up Installment|rebranded]] and [[Blind Idiot Translation|lazily localized]] for its overseas release.
* Opening (or so) lines to [[X-Play|Morgan Webb]]'s review of ''Persona 3 Fes'': "As you know, the original protagonist of the Persona 3 perished at the end of the game." [[Take That]], nerds who hold out for Special Edition releases.
* ''[[
** ''Continuum Shift 2'' got a new opening FMV that shows {{spoiler|Noel turning into Mu-12.}}
* ''[[Rainbow Islands]]: The Story of [[Bubble Bobble]] II'' (and further games in the ''Bubble Bobble'' series): The boys? They were transformed (before) into bubble dragons. Family confusion and [[Red Herring
* In ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' for the DS the dojo section features pictures of the various techs in action. This is fine as they're only unlocked after you learn them, however some of the first techs unlocked show {{spoiler|Magus in your party,}} who won't join you until near the end of the game.
** And also, the SNES version's manual contained a profile on all recruitable characters, including this surprise character.
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** Being the final volume of a trilogy, ''A Crack in Time'' outright summarizes ''Tools of Destruction'' and ''Quest for Booty'' in its unskippable intro FMV (as the game needs to install data, so interrupting it would otherwise corrupt).
** The trailers for ''A Crack in Time'' casually give away that Doctor Nefarious survived the end of ''Up Your Asrenal''.
*** It was never implied that Nefarious and Lawrence were dead. [[Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal|UYA]] out-and-out said that they were stranded on an asteroid in the middle of space. This was referenced in ''[[Ratchet: Deadlocked]]'', too. It ''could'' be argued that the trailers spoiled the fact that they got ''off of'' the asteroid.
* The Wiiware release of ''[[Cave Story]]'' contains some extra playing modes in addition to the original game, none of which require any sort of unlocking. So you can spoil the boss fights by playing the [[Boss Rush]] game before the main game, or you can spoil the existence of a character who's introduced one-third into the game by playing "Curly Story" first.
** The ''[[Cave Story]] 3D'' box art also makes it quite obvious that {{spoiler|the main character is a robot}}.
* In the second ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'' game, two villains ({{spoiler|Axel Almer and Einst Alfimi}}) are supposedly killed off, but they come [[Back
* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]] [[Gaiden Game|Daybreak Portable]]'''s [[Spoiler Opening|opening theme]] contains a shot of [[Shrinking Violet|Natsumi]] {{spoiler|wielding a butcher knife and bearing a very lovely [[Slasher Smile]]}}. Sure hope you've seen all the way through either Onisarashi-hen or Someutsushi-hen.
* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', players who don't haven't completed {{spoiler|Drakuru's quests}} in Grizzly Hills (and who may not have even met him), will likely have the twist spoiled if they complete Drak'theron Keep with a player who has his last Grizzly Hills quest, which reveals that {{spoiler|he's working with the Lich King}}. Similarly, the Black Knight is listed as the prerequisite for the achievement for completing the Trial of the Champion, spoiling the twist that he comes back from the dead. Icecrown Citadel raids often advertise themselves as being up to {{spoiler|Saurfang}}, which prematurely reveals that {{spoiler|[[Memetic Badass|Varok Saurfang's]] son was reanimated as a death knight}} after the Wrathgate battle.
** Due to the nature of questing through Northrend, players are much more likely to run into this trope in Zul'Drak, the zone after Grizzly Hills, when they begin the Ebon Blade quests and see that {{spoiler|Drakuru is a Scourge commander running a necropolis}}.
** The current loading screen for Northrend shows the Lich King {{spoiler|is not Arthas}}. When players defeat the Lich King, {{spoiler|Bolvar Fordragon takes Arthas' place, because without a Lich King the Scourge will go out of control.}}
* ''[[
** In ''[[
* Some editions of ''[[The Longest Journey]]'' include a trailer for the sequel, ''Dreamfall'' on the disc. If you watch that trailer it makes it pretty obvious that {{spoiler|April won't become the next guardian}} at the end of the first game.
* The main plot twist of ''[[King's Quest III to Heir Is Human]]'' is spoiled by almost every installment afterwards. That slave kid...isn't. And his real name ain't "Gwydion," either.
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* Following the events of the first ''[[Professor Layton]]'' game, the young heiress Flora Reinhold comes to stay with the Professor. If you haven't played through the first game yet, this is a spoiler for at least one plot element. However, she is clearly present in the second and third games, (occasionally) promotional art, and the prologue to the prequel movie, ''Eternal Diva''.
* The fandom of ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' doesn't hide the fact that there is a [[Groundhog Day Loop]] going on, as well as the magical beings that keep appearing per arc. The PS3 version is even worse, where they blatantly show all the magical beings that appear in future arcs (until EP4) ''in the opening'', nonetheless.
* The first trailer for ''[[Call of Duty]]: [[Modern Warfare 2]]'' blatantly spoils the fact that the death of Imran Zakhaev (the [[Big Bad]] of the first game) is what directly causes the antagonist of the sequel, Makarov, and his splinter group to seek revenge.
** Likewise, ''Modern Warfare 3'''s trailer spoils the fact that Vladimir Makarov is still alive and well after the events of the second game, and that tensions between Russia and the U.S. have escalated into all-out warfare.
* So, you've finally overcome the indecision on picking up ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' after the [[Ruined FOREVER|fandom]] [[Broken Base|outcries]] and [[8.8|shocking scores]]. That's fine, and hey, since you have yet to play it you won't be so bored during the wait for the [[Final Fantasy XIII-2|sequel]], if you're interested. But in case you're curious, just know that it isn't a good idea to see the announcement trailer.
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* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'''s marketing runs on the fact that players are aware that Shepard destroyed {{spoiler|Sovereign}} in the first game (which ruins the impact of Shepard's [[Like You Would Really Do It|supposed "death" and reappearance]]). Likewise, the XBox Live Marketplace spoils a DLC mission titled "{{spoiler|Normandy}} Crash Site". Wonder what that's all about?
** ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' 's trailers showcases a number of characters from the previous games, including ones who took part in the titular "suicide mission" of the previous installment (including {{spoiler|Garrus, Tali, Jacob, Miranda and Legion}}). Ashley/Kaiden also show up front-and-center in the trailers, making the whole sequence where s/he's paralyzed by the Collectors in ''ME2'' (and eventual rescue) a non-surprise. To make things worse, the Xbox Live Marketplace spoils the fact that {{spoiler|you can recruit a Prothean squad member}} in the "From Ashes" DLC pack.
** ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' (and to a lesser extent ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' through the Codex) shamelessly reveals the major plot twist from ''[[Mass Effect]]'' that {{spoiler|the Reapers exist, and that Sovereign himself is actually a Reaper and not just a ship}}.
* The reveal of SHODAN (the primary antagonist of the original game) in ''[[System Shock]] 2'' (which occurs roughly halfway through the game) is considered by many to be one of the most shocking and surprising plot twists in any survival horror game in recent memory. It probably ''would'' have been a bigger surprise - if it wasn't already spoiled by the game's boxart (which have SHODAN front and center) or the game description on the back of the box.
* ''[[Aliens: Colonial Marines]]'', by virtue of being a [[POV Sequel]] to the [[Alien (franchise)|1986 film]], spoils the climax of the movie (and its offscreen result) by necessity. The Hadley's Hope colony on LV-426 was almost completely destroyed due to an atmosphere processor explosion caused by the main characters in the film.
* Want to avoid spoilers for ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind]]''? Then it might be a good idea to involve anything relating to the games that came out later, or any fandom discussions at all. Since ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' games let the player create their own character, the games are very careful to not make any specific details about previous heroes canon, and always make sure to give the player character a title for them to be referred to in future games. For the hero of ''Morrowind'', that title is {{spoiler|"The Nerevarine"}}. The problem with this is that it's supposed to be a twist that {{spoiler|the player character is the Nerevarine.}}
* ''
* ''[[Honkai Impact 3rd]]'''s advertising is absolutely shameless about spoilers and [[Walking Spoiler]] playable characters. Non-story modes may also carelessly drop spoilers for parts of the story that the player might not have reached yet, including [[Walking Spoiler]] bosses.
▲== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In general, the Cast and About pages of
▲* In general, the Cast and About pages of webcomics' sites, if they exist. Sometimes they just summarize what readers could figure out from an [[Archive Binge]], but other times they're meant to be read first to give necessary backstory. But most of the time, the only way to really know is to read them first. And it's not uncommon in both cases for these pages to be updated as the strip progresses to touch on storylines from the strip's run, including plot twists.
** Even putting the latest strip on the home page runs the risk of doing this. Woe betide any reader who just happens to arrive right after a major plot twist.
** And if the site has a fan art section, avoid it like the plague until you've read the archives. Very often they depict not only characters but actual events from the strip's run.
* A lot of the advertising, merchandise, and fan artwork surrounding ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' involves Oasis. Enough so that someone who [[Archive Binge|starts reading the series from the beginning]] will probably guess something's up when she "dies" at the end of her introductory story in 1999, although it's [[Lampshade
* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'': Ellen exists, and she doesn't stay a villain; Grace can shapeshift, and Tedd doesn't need glasses.
** Still, the comic gets an honorable mention for ([[Abandoned Info Page|initially at least]]) having a cast page split between "spoilers" and "not spoilers".
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* Parodied in ''[[Ansem Retort]]''. Someone yells at Marluxia for ruining the fact that {{spoiler|Qui-Gon Jinn dies}} in ''[[The Phantom Menace]]''. That someone? Darth Maul.
* ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'': Lindesfarne and Danielle are both from the human world.
* ''[[The
** Though the first book does include a suggestion that you read the strips before the extra text.
* [[Paradigm Shift]]: Every page has badge graphics for each act of the series. The badge for "Flight" makes it pretty clear what Kate's story is.
* ''[[Flipside]]'': [[Blithe Spirit|Maytag]] and [[Lady of War|Bernadette]] are lovers.
* ''[[Ozy and Millie]]'': Captain Locke is {{spoiler|[[Luke, I Am Your Father|Millie's father]]}}. It said so right on the Cast page, [[Abandoned Info Page|back when there still was one]].
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** Speaking of which, said arc treats the facts that {{spoiler|Aradia is a ghost and that the trolls created the universe}} as surprises. Now, good luck finding a discussion on the trolls that doesn't mention either of these.
*** Honestly though given that it's a free webcomic with the entirety of it's archives intact, most people openly discuss spoilers constantly and fan discussions almost never spoiler tag anything, mostly because aside from a small subset of fans that are reading the comic slowly, most of the fanbase has read it up to the current pages.
** To a lesser extent, the appearances of John's three friends (especially the long-delayed reveal of gardenGnostic; Homestuck started in April
** The [[The Merch|What Pumpkin store]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130724014615/http://whatpumpkin.com/godtier-hoodies.html used to spoil which characters have gone god-tier]. However, that very concept wasn't introduced until well into the storyline, so you'd have to have read up until that point, stopped, and then gone there to be actually spoiled by it. Also, the store now carries shirts for people who have not attained god-tier, removing the spoiler effect. Though it could be argued that they may spoil the concept of god-tier for new readers and what the outfits look like.
** Averted with regards to the {{spoiler|Alpha Session}}, a major spoiler for Act 5, which is fairly well kept, on this wiki at least.
*** However! Reading ''[[Homestuck]]'' regularly, it's almost hard to remember that some of the {{spoiler|Alpha kids'}} names and appearances, especially {{spoiler|Dirk's}}, were major (and tantalizing) spoilers, especially when the logs on the left-hand side of the page regularly indicate their actions.
*** Though Lord English's identity, one of the greatest mysteries of the comic up until his introduction, gets thrown about fairly casually.
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* The titular [[Girl Genius]] is always referred to as Agatha Heterodyne, despite the fact that her [[Changeling Fantasy|true identity]] takes a whole story arc to be [[The Reveal|revealed]]. YMMV on [[Foreshadowing|how much]] [[First Episode Spoiler|of a spoiler]] this is.
* The seventh ''[[Electric Wonderland]]'' comic dramatically [[The Reveal|revealed]] Lululu's mermaid tail. After the cartoonist wrote some character bios in June 2010, newcomers who clicked the "newbie? go here!" button on the [[Platypus Comix]] home page could find out about her tail beforehand. The bios also spoil the fact that Natasha Wing, the seemingly random policegirl who appeared at the end of the sixth comic, is actually friends with protagonist Trawn.
== [[Web Original]] ==
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*** Another Season 8 example: Within the first few minutes of the season premiere, and in that season's trailer, the viewer sees that {{spoiler|Donut is dead and Washington has pulled a [[Face Heel Turn]]}}, which were both huge twists for the end of the previous season
* This is highly common in works from [[The Slender Man Mythos]], typically in the form of characters gleaning information about Slender Man from earlier works. Word of advice: if you plan on watching [[Marble Hornets]] or reading [[Just Another Fool]], do not, by any means, watch or read ''anything'' posted at later dates.
* Parodied in ''[[Uncyclopedia]]'': This article contains spoilers (as a template after the article, after it's too late). Wait, I should have told you earlier? My bad.▼
▲* The [[Pretty Cure Fanfics|community of OC fics]] in the ''[[Pretty Cure]]'' fandom does tend to fall to this. Some authors spoil a lot ''before'' the episodes are out for the convenience of [[Spoiler Hound|Spoiler Hounds]], but even things that they kept secret, like Ashley's fate in the end of ''[[Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy|Perfume Preppy]]'' (and the incident that earned her the [[Fan Nickname]] "[[Darker and Edgier|Cure]] [[I'm a Humanitarian|Cannibal]]"), are treated as common knowledge in the fanwriter community after the episode is released. Even a cursory glance over ''character popularity'' spoils you. [[Dark Magical Girl|Dark Magical Girls]] get all the fanart and are the only ones usually put into the ''[[Pretty Cure Fan Fic Features]]'', so if you're wondering why [[Futari wa Pretty Cure Blue Moon|Emiru]] is on all these bonus story cast lists when she's completely normal and all the commenters on the first half of the series either don't mention her or ''hate'' her, well...
** [[The Other Wiki]] used to post spoiler warnings before the plot summary; they no longer do so. Uncyclopedia is likely parodying Wikipedia's position on this.
▲* Parodied in [[Uncyclopedia]]: This article contains spoilers. Wait, I should have told you earlier? My bad.
▲* Season Three of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series]]'' is called {{spoiler|''The Cancelled Series''}}, which is advertised as such and, therefore, spoils what happens at the end of season two.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The true identity of {{spoiler|Longarm}} is one of the most shocking reveals of ''[[Transformers Animated]]''... so naturally, it was all over the internet in a pretty big hurry. [[Merchandise-Driven|Then the toy came out.]] At this point, it's probably not likely to surprise many people any more.
** It was over the internet ''before'' anyone who talked about it saw the episode. It [[Short Run in Peru|aired in Dubai]] and this was about all the blurry screencaps could tell us.
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** Also, {{spoiler|[[Forgotten Superweapon|Omega Supreme]].}}
* By at least halfway through the first Season of ''[[Transformers Prime]]'', you should be aware that Cliffjumper is dead. It happened in the first five minutes of the show and it frequently gets brought up.
* In ''[[Code Lyoko]]'', Aelita is {{spoiler|a human girl}}. And Franz Hopper {{spoiler|is her dad, and the creator of Lyoko}}. If you don't want to be spoiled, it is ''absolutely imperative'' you watch the series in season order.
* The title Phantasm in ''[[Batman: Mask of the Phantasm]]'' is {{spoiler|Bruce's ex-fiancée Andrea Beaumont}}. A clever viewer could figure this out anyway, but the [[Merchandise-Driven|toy division]] screwed up by releasing the Phantasm action figure, with removable hood, unmasked.
* After announcing its pending cancellation, the third season of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' was created in Nick Studios in
* The true nature of the ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]]'' (2003) version of Shredder became this, particularly after it became necessary to qualify him as such in order to distinguish him from the other versions of the character.
** This is also immediately spoiled (and lampshaded) in ''[[Turtles Forever]]'' if one hasn't seen the 2003 series at all. The 80's Shredder's reaction to the 2003 Shredder's true nature is likely to mimic that of viewers unfamiliar with the 2003 series. Likewise, it probably worked vice-versa (fans of the 00s series would be surprised by the 80s version's incompetence).
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** ''World Tour'' itself has been plagued by this, first because Cartoon Network's commercials made it possible to figure the vote-off order, and then because Australia got the episodes and aired them in quick succession. Bizarrely, Canada (TD's home land) is getting the show after just about ''everybody'' else; even before Australia, most Canadian fans were Youtubing episodes after America aired them rather than waiting months for them to come out there.
* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' creators have a habit of giving large spoilers during episode commentary on the DVD. Played straight when one commentator points out that spoilers have been given and the collective response is "No one watches the commentary before they watch the actual show!". Later subverted during a convention when the shows creators are confronted by a fan whose friend saw the commentary before the episodes being spoiled.
{{quote|
** it also ties into their [[Defied Trope|open defiance
* Bonus features on the DVDs containing the first 13 episodes of ''[[The Avengers: Earth's
** The ''Avengers'' Season 2 trailer included on the Blu-Ray Discs of ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]'' and ''[[Captain America: The First Avenger|Captain America the First Avenger]]'' also spoil Carol Danvers becoming Ms. Marvel.
* In ''[[
* The DVD boxset for season 14 of ''[[South Park]]'' reveals Mysterion's identity in the cover art.
* Amazingly subverted in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''. Any reader of the comics knows that Norman Osborn is the Green Goblin. After dropping several hints to this effect, and [[Lampshade Hanging|even having Peter single out Norman as the most likely suspect]], it turns out to be {{spoiler|Harry.}} Taken a step further at the end of season 2, where {{spoiler|Norman turned out to have been the Green Goblin all along, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. That's right, they managed to turn a
* The opening credits for the ''[[Chilly Willy]]'' short "Chilly Chums" credit Grace Stafford as "Woody's voice", sort of spoiling the gag about {{spoiler|[[Woody Woodpecker]] making a suprise cameo}}.
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