Trailers Always Spoil: Difference between revisions

Can lead to [[Trailer Joke Decay]]. See also [[Spoiler Opening]] and [[Late Arrival Spoiler]]. Compare [[The Namesake]], when the title itself may be a spoiler. Or just see [[Spoiler Title]].

 

 

== Anime & Manga ==

** ''Naruto'''s Volume 42 preview shows Sasuke saying that the Mangekyo Sharingan 1){{spoiler|enables the user to control tailed beasts}}, 2){{spoiler|causes blindness}}.

** The preview for the fourth uncut DVD collection reveals nearly all of the matchups in the preliminaries and, most [[Egregious|egregiously]], features a shot of the winners gathered together.

** On the other hand, although the ''[[Pretty Cure (Anime)|Pretty Cure]]'' fandom was more-or-less unanimous about [[Sixth Ranger|Cure]] [[Heartcatch Pretty Cure|Sunshine's]] identity, there was still some suspense to be had in-show...until the trailer for Episode 23 killed it: the preview footage consisted almost entirely of [[Student Council President|Itsuki]] transforming into said Cure.

* The infamous "Malay dubs" of ''[[Transformers Headmasters (Anime)|Transformers Headmasters]]'' would often have major spoilage IN THE TITLE ("Ultra Magnus Dies!" Wonder what that episode is about). And one particularly amusing spoiler from the narrator in one episode:

 

== Comic Books ==

** The [[Clone Saga]] was such an example. Marvel announced several months in advance that the Spider-Clone would return with interviews in Wizard magazine and advertisements. During this time, the titles saw a "mysterious drifter" covered in shadows spying on Peter and visiting the graves of Parker's parents. It was obvious that it was the clone but the titles still treated it as some sort of huge mystery even to the point where, when they revealed the clone's face, it was played off as some surprise twist.

* In 2011 [[Marvel Comics]] has been especially bad about this saying that now they'll probably kill off a major character every quarter to raise sales:

** Early June saw the death of Bucky Barnes, the second Captain America, in [[Crisis Crossover|Fear Itself]] #3 to the surprise of almost nobody as Marvel had already announced that original [[Captain America]] Steve Rogers would return to the uniform a month later. The only reason it didn't make any sort of media splash was because [[DC Comics]] one upped them the day before by announcing that they were relaunching their entire line of comics this September.

** The same month featured the release of ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' #160, the last issue of the "Death of Spider-Man" storyline. Cue the media exploding with articles about it and pundits saying things like "Prediction: fans will buy up copies of ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' #160 until it is no longer collectible." Ignoring that ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' takes place in an [[Alternate Continuity]] and the real Peter Parker is not only alive and well but starring in "Spider Island" his own little mini crossover event.

** Not learning their lesson, ''Enterprise''-D's crashing saucer was shown in the ''[[Star Trek Generations]]'' trailer.

* The trailer of ''[[The Sixth Sense]]'' spoiled a major revelation, which made a large chunk of the film rather lame since everyone knew what was going on. Luckily, that's not all there is to it.

* In ''[[Star Wars]] Episode 2: [[Attack of the Clones]]'', Count Dooku's effectiveness as a mysterious villain (as parodied in a [http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Site/ThumbnailEpisodeII02 Thumbnail Theatre]) would undoubtedly have been more effective if his action figure packaging hadn't given away the fact that he was a Sith Lord months before the movie was released.

** Even if you never saw anything that gave away his Sith Lord status, the movie still did a horrible job of hiding it.

* ''[[Meet the Parents]]'' would have been lot funnier if the trailer hadn't given away that the girl's father isn't really a retired florist but actually an ex-interrogator for the CIA.

* A cross between this and [[Never Trust a Trailer]]; everything from the trailers to the box art of ''[[Jason X]]'' market Jason's futuristic upgrades which he only gets within the last 15 minutes of the movie.

* A trailer for ''[[The Incredible Hulk (Film)|The Incredible Hulk]]'' shows [[Robert Downey Jr]] appearing as [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]]. This is ''the last scene in the movie''.

** And you can tell too, the last shot of Norton doing the green eye thing is clearly meant to be the the last thing you see before the credits roll. Then they roll [[The Stinger]] and it breaks the whole mood.

*** For ''[[Iron Man (Film)|Iron Man]] 2'', the briefcase armour was supposed to be an nod to the fandom, if they'd been paying attention to it. Otherwise, it's just a mysterious briefcase, right up until it opens up.

** Speaking of ''[[Iron Man]]'' and ''Hulk'', several websites involving both movies and comics include a article which spoiled the ending to ''[[Captain America the First Avenger]]'' {{spoiler|which involves Cap in modern-day New York with Nick Fury along with a teaser to the next Marvel Cinematic Film ''[[The Avengers (Film)|The Avengers]]''}} so if you've seen the spoiler then you don't have to stay during the credits. You can thank the Internet for ruining the moment we've been waiting for.

* The trailer for ''[[First Daughter]]'' spoils the true identity of {{spoiler|the boyfriend}}, a surprise twist revealed very late in the movie.

* The trailers for ''[[Fantastic Four (Film)|Fantastic Four]]: Rise of the Silver Surfer'' {{spoiler|reveal the plot point that the team exchanges powers, and shows the climax where they combine all their powers into Human Torch}}.

* In ''[[A Nightmare On Elm Street]]'' only 4 characters are killed; the trailer shows all of the deaths and the order they happen.

* The trailer for [[Woody Allen]]'s ''[[Whatever Works]]'' shows {{spoiler|Boris's second suicide attempt}}, which occurs near the end of the movie.

** Not the only Arnie movie to be spoilt either. ''[[Total Recall]]'''s main trailer is pretty much the majority of the movie, especially the best parts {{spoiler|("Consider that a divorce!")}}. The trailers for ''Eraser'' give away {{spoiler|that James Caan is the villain.}}

* It was bad enough that ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' had trailers that showed off the impressive special effects in the film, spoiling key moments in the film. There were also special programs that gave away the rest of the special effects, so by the time you made it to the theater, the only part you hadn't seen was the character development.

* In the first few seconds of the ''[[Five Hundred Days of Summer (Film)|Five Hundred Days of Summer]]'' teaser trailer, you'll see that Summer is clearly wearing a wedding ring, not necessarily a spoiler but with the narration claiming "This is not a Love Story", it gives you a pretty big hint that the two {{spoiler|will not end up together.}}

** The film's opening shows Tom and Summer holding hands, so showing her hand with a ring on it doesn't show any more than the first couple of minutes, and the audience doesn't know that {{spoiler|Tom's not her fiance.}}

* Before ''[[Black Swan (Film)|Black Swan]]'' won an Oscar, the trailers and TV spots for the film show {{spoiler|Nina's [[Nightmare Fuel|disturbing]] swan morph.}}

* Most of the footage for the theatrical trailer of ''[[The Last Starfighter]]'' comes from the last half hour of the movie.

* The "shocking" revelation that {{spoiler|they're all not on Earth, but another planet}} on ''Predators'' might have been more surprising if it hadn't been seen in EVERY theatrical trailer and TV spot.

* Go watch the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP2V4mt4XWQ trailer] to ''[[Letters to Juliet]]'', and you already could probably write a synopsis of the entire film.

* While not spoiling any plot points, and anyone who's read up on the movie should see this coming, but the trailer for ''[[The Expendables]]'' shows {{spoiler|clips from the meeting between Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Willis.}} A good way to get people to see the movie, but it's similar to the above Transformers example.

* ''[[Chicken Run (Animation)|Chicken Run]]'': As shown in one of the TV commercials, the chickens manage to escape {{spoiler|by making their own pedal powered plane!}}

** While the theatrical trailer manages to cover up the {{spoiler|chickens' plane}}, it completely spoils the big reveal of the {{spoiler|pie machine}}. And then there's a DVD trailer that's pretty much the ''ending of the movie and nothing else.''

* Even worse than that is ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit''. If you pay close attention to the TV commercials you can clearly see that the clothes the were-rabbit rips off are {{spoiler|Wallace's signature green vest and white sleeves,}} giving away that {{spoiler|he's the Were-Rabbit.}} And for those who didn't pick up on this, one commercial begins with {{spoiler|the voiceover saying "What started as a little mistake..." with footage of the Mind Manipulator accident, which immediately cuts to the transformation while the voiceover says "...became a BIG problem!"}} This trope at its finest.

* The trailer for the 1987 movie ''[[The Gate]]'' included every single special effect in the entire film except one.

* ''[[Solanin]]'''s trailer spoils {{spoiler|Taneda's death and Meiko taking his place in the band.}} Which is kind of the whole plot.

* The poster for ''[[Airheads]]'' reveals that {{spoiler|Chazz, Rex, and Pip are ultimately arrested and sent to prison}}.

* The advertisings for [[The Film of the Book]] of ''[[Inhabited Island (Literature)|Inhabited Island]]'' by the [[Strugatsky Brothers]] spoils ''every'' major plot point. One trailer even reveals that {{spoiler|[[The Hero]] and the [[Big Bad]] turns out to be on the same side}}, what was supposed to be a [[Twist Ending]].

** You thought ''that'' was bad? Just wait until you see the theatrical trailer for Part 2! It shows two of the most important parts of the battle of Hogwarts. {{spoiler|The first, though only a flash, is Ron visibly cradling Fred's dead body. The second Lupin and Tonks hold hands before what is most likely their death, and the third is Molly and Bellatrix fighting.}} Might as well spoil the fact that {{spoiler|Snape loved Lily}}.

*** Not to mention a lot of the scenes from said trailer show Harry {{spoiler|after his death and resurrection, removing the dramatic tension leading up to his death}}.

* The trailer for ''[[The Kite Runner]]'' bizarrely chooses to focus on the last third of the movie and reveals that {{spoiler|Hassan dies}} and makes it seem like the whole movie is about {{spoiler|Amir trying to save Hassan's son}}, even though most of the movie is about their childhood friendship.

* Bizarrely subverted in that the DVD cover of ''[[He Loves Me He Loves Me Not]]'' looks [[Romantic Comedy|good enough at first glance]], but on closer inspection {{spoiler|all the review quotes seem to be describing a [[Psychological Thriller]]}}, mirroring the plot of the film.

* Averted and lampshaded in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j063r4O33OE the trailer] for the 1947 film ''The Bishop' s Wife'', in which actors [[David Niven]], Loretta Young, and [[Cary Grant]] all appear as themselves on the MGM backlot, deciding not to film a trailer because they don't want a trailer to give away the film's surprises.

* ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Film)|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' had most plot points which were intended to be a big twist end up getting spoiled by the trailer. The worst offender is probably Dorian Gray's immortality and Mina Harker's vampirism, both of which were clearly intended to be a surprise to the audience, but both of which were shamelessly spoiled by every single trailer.

* ''[[The Seventh Seal]]'' had part of its resolution narrated in the trailer: the reason for the spilled chess pieces.

* Both the poster and the DVD/VHS cover art for ''[[The Hudsucker Proxy]]'' spoil one of the funniest jokes in the movie.

* All trailers for ''[[Prometheus (Film)|Prometheus]]'' show things that happen in the last 10 minutes into the film. The same is true for one of the international posters advertising the film. {{spoiler|Namely, that titular ship Prometheus crashes into the alien vessel.}}

 

 

** The blurbs on the omnibus editions of [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Miles Vorkosigan]] books are particularly bad, although the task is made harder by the blurb needing to be for at least two books at once.

** Many editions of ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Twilight]]'' mention in the blurb that {{spoiler|Edward's a vampire}}, thereby robbing the first ''two hundred'' pages of any sense of mystery. Of course, if this hadn't been spoiled it would have been a pretty bad case of {{spoiler|[[Genre Shift]] with a mystery romance novel suddenly including vampires. Imagine how that felt to the eight people in the world who didn't know about this beforehand.}}

*** The text on the inside front of the hardback edition's dust jacket is somewhat longer, but still amounts to that.

*** This troper wasn't so lucky. The inside cover of his cover mentioned that Harry was on a quest to find {{spoiler|Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes}}, spoiling a plot point ''the entire 6th book was leading up towards.''

** Nearly all Italian editions of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' have an Introduction by [[El Ã]]©mire Zolla (Italian literary critic, essayist and philosopher). Initially it looks just like it is, i.e., a preface, comparing Tolkien's masterpiece to other famous works of the past... but at a certain point it starts talking about the plot, and before you can realize, in about 10 (TEN!) pages it has summarized the whole book, revealing the main plot twists (e.g. Gandalf's {{spoiler|death and rebirth}}) and the twisted ending - you know, the one that's not in [[Peter Jackson]]'s film (Saruman {{spoiler|attacking the Shire}})).

* One particular edition of ''[[Gone With the Wind]]'' summarised the events right up to the very last chapter, ending by saying: {{spoiler|"When their daughter dies, Rhett leaves his Scarlett forever."}}

** Related are all these teachers who, when assigning their students novels for mandatory reading, casually spoil everything about the plot , because Lord forbid the students actually derive ''pleasure'' from reading.

* Averted, apparently by accident, on the back covers of some of the Harper Torch-published ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' paperbacks, where it's obvious that [[Cowboy Bebop At His Computer|whoever wrote the blurb had never read the books.]]

*** On the newer additions of the book, the back cover is more vague about what happens. It's obviously something tragic, but they don't tell you what. The copyright page spoiler is still there, though.

* The blurb of ''[[Came Back to Show You I Could Fly]]'' reveals that {{spoiler|Angie is on drugs}}, a fact which is not revealed in-story until almost 85% of the way through.

* Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth novel ''[[Cachalot]]'' is set on a world almost entirely covered by ocean, a planet to which all terrestrial cetaceans have been transplanted after they've been administered a serum which makes them as intelligent as, or more intelligent, than humans. The plot opens with the mysterious destruction of several human habitats and the arrival of a team of specialist investigators who attempt to discover what has happened. Possible candidates are the highly intelligent but aloof toothed whales, the dumb but inoffensive baleen whales, or some indigenous but unknown form of life. Except... the cover of the first UK paperback edition clearly showed {{spoiler|a bunch of baleen whales smashing up a town.}} Cheers, cover artist.

* If you skim the back of any ''[[Warrior Cats|Warriors]]'' from the end of the first series on before reading the rest, you know there's a cat named Firestar. After learning the naming conventions, it's pretty obvious who's going to become leader and in which book as well...

** Also, they often tease a "special guest" showing up in the next episode and vainly attempt to edit around the actual person to keep it a surprise. This often fails (IE, Matt Hughes being clearly seen sitting on a bench in the background in one teaser).

* During the last season of ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'', the teaser at the end of each episode showed ''the very last scene of the following episode''. Technically, this may have been more misdirection than spoiler, though, as the final scene of each episode was usually unrelated to the main action of the story, and was ''itself a lead-in for the following episode''. Which is to say, that after the final scene foreshadowed the next episode, the [[On the Next]] teaser that followed showed you what amounted to ''a teaser for the episode two weeks down the line''.

** Likewise the "later tonight" promos in their Sunday night cartoon block tend to show the best [[Orphaned Punchline|punch lines]] from the forthcoming shows, which would've been funnier if you had seen them [[It Makes Sense in Context|in context for]] the first time.

** In the Season Four finale of ''[[So You Think You Can Dance]]'', the show cut to commercial before announcing whether the winner was Joshua Allen or Stephen "Twitch" Bass. During the commercial break, a promo for FOX News at 9 advertised a story about "So You Think You Can Dance champion Joshua Allen." No prizes for guessing who was crowned the Season Four winner when the show resumed...

* The trailers in the later seasons of ''[[Robot Wars (TV)|Robot Wars]]'' often showed footage from non-preliminary battles.

* Mere minutes after the last episode of ''[[Life On Mars]]'' had finished on BBC One, fellow BBC channel BBC Three's ''60 Seconds'' (presumably attempting to encourage viewers to watch the episode) announced that the final episode had been shown and, in under ten seconds, spoiled that {{spoiler|Sam had been revived in the present and jumped to an apparent death to return to the '70s}}. It was followed by an (unscripted, one imagines) apology for those that had recorded the episode to watch later.

** Seriously, just about every episode does this now. Recently examples include spoiling the funniest (in an episode which wasn't especially funny to begin with), and 'climactic' scene in "iSpace Out".

** "iGot A Hot Room" spoiled in the trailers that it was Carly's birthday, that Spencer burns down the room trying to do something nice for her, that Carly is upset at it, that Carly has a job as part of the episode, that Spencer rushes to re-do the room as a surprise with Freddie and Sam, the fact that Carly loves the new room, and what the new room itself looked like.

** "iCan't Take It" aired ''nine'' minutes of sneak peeks for a 22 minute show, including spoiling the big secret about Sam's misdeed to Freddie, and the ending where Freddie saves their relationship and Freddie kisses Sam again.

** Worst of all, they revealed Sam's mother, resident [[Memetic Badass|Chuck Norris of bad parenting,]] who they spent ''seasons'' hyping up, '''[[Anticlimax|IN THE ADVERTISEMENT.]]'''

* A similar scenario arised in a ''[[True Jackson VP (TV)|True Jackson VP]]'' special. The trailers posed the question of whether True and Jimmy will become a couple or not {{spoiler|while almost simultaneously showing the two kissing, which happens mere seconds before the episode ends.}}

* [[Nickelodeon]] is just plain terrible at making trailers. The hour-long special ''[[Big Time Rush (TV)|Big Time Concert]]'' showed various clips of the boys {{spoiler|back in Minnesota, which implied that they had failed in some way and returned home.}} Worse than that were the clips of {{spoiler|the guys reuniting happily, followed by a detailed sequence of them getting kidnapped by Hawk moments before their show, escaping via Carlos's... bravery, and performing at their concert.}} Let's hope the channel never picks up a mystery series, since every trailer would reveal the culprit-of-the-day.

* [[Network Ten]] purposely ruined the shocking twist in the finale of the third season of ''[[The OC]]'' for Australian viewers. Instead of letting us think she was getting [[Put On a Bus]] ten decided to start showing ads three weeks before the finale saying " {{spoiler|MARISSA... WILL... DIE}}".

* [[VH 1]] spoiled a match in ''[[The World Series Of Pop Culture]]'' this way: One of the semifinal matches spilled over into the final episode...and the preview trailer for the finale spoiled who wins that semifinal match. Oops...

* ''[[Glee (TV)|Glee]]'' did this in a season 2 episode, showing {{spoiler|Kurt, who has been at a rival school for ten episodes,}} standing at the top of a staircase yelling {{spoiler|"Kurt Hummel's back at [[Mc Kinley]]!"}}

* In the Season 2 episode of ''[[Leverage (TV)|Leverage]]'' that introduced Tara Cole, {{spoiler|she was posing as their client's uptight lawyer to "audition" as a stand-in grifter for Sophie - a fact she didn't reveal to the team (or the audience) until the end.}} Unfortunately, that was given away in one of the promos that aired just prior to the actual reveal in the last segment.

* In recent years, ''[[Wheel of Fortune (TV)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' (of all shows!) is guilty of this. The show uploads a preview of next week's shows on Sony's website every weekend. Nearly every preview shows contestants landing on or picking up prizes, the $10,000 side of the Mystery Wedge, or the Million Dollar Wedge. Occasionally, similar previews air on TV.

** On October 13, 2010, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLXGIf7lTE8 one preview] that aired near the end of the show was devoted entirely to a woman picking up the Million Dollar Wedge, complete with suspenseful music and an announcer hinting viewers that she would win the grand prize. When the episode in particular aired, [[Never Trust a Trailer|she lost the wedge to a Bankrupt]].

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' had [[On the Next]] trailers that were notorious for this. The one for "Phases" revealed who the werewolf was, and the one for "Innocence" revealed that Angel had lost his soul.

* PBS' trailer for the newest adaptation of ''[[Great Expectations]]'' gives away {{spoiler|how Miss Havisham dies}}, even though the official website goes out of its way to stick "Spoiler Warning" on the production designer's discussion of that event.

* The intro sequence for ''[[Boktai (Video Game)|Lunar Knights]]'' is actually a montage of all of the cut-scenes in the game.

* The trailer for ''[[Super Robot Wars (Video Game)|Super Robot Wars]] Original Generation Gaiden'' shows [[Super Robot Wars Reversal|Fiona Guredan]] alive, and with her final [[Humongous Mecha]]. This ruins the suspense of if she survived the malfunctioning Time Flow engine when her mecha was badly damaged..

** In actuality, the whole bonus segment in ''Original Generations'' were like an interactive trailer for ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Original Generation Gaiden'', thus the main story of the bonus sections got carried over to the Gaiden. {{spoiler|Including the death of [[Player Punch|Lamia Loveless]]. Her [[Brainwashed and Crazy|rebirth in different circumstances]] was still well hidden in the commercial videos. As well as the inclusion of the Cry Wolves of the MX series and [[Back From the Dead|the return]] [[Heel Face Turn|and redemption]] of both Axel Almer and Alfimi.}}

* The trailers for ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'' gave away things like the true intentions of the Order of the Sword, the failure of an attempted [[Shoot the Dog]], and the continued importance of the demonic katana Yamato. They didn't succeed in spoiling everything, but there was something of an [[Internet Backdraft]] regarding the final trailer.

{{quote| '''Narrator''': Will Professor Chaos succeed? Which boy will replace Kenny? Which adult cast member will [[Tonight Someone Dies|die]]? These questions will be answered... {{spoiler|right now. No, Tweek, and Ms. Choksondik.}}}}

** Though that may have been intended as a parody for the (in)famous "Who is Eric Cartman's real father?" 2-parter, since a ''lot'' of fans were ticked off when they got the Terrance & Phillip special after waiting for a month, instead of the continuing story.

** As if that wasn't enough, one of said ads actually showed a clip of Kim being shocked by Eric while he had an evil look on his face, which would pretty much give away that {{spoiler|he's really working for Drakken}}.

* Nickelodeon showed various commercials of scenes leading up to the release of [[The Movie]] of ''[[Hey Arnold]]''. One of these completely spoiled that Helga finally confesses her love for Arnold. (They didn't show how he reacted to it, though.)