Is it a spoiler to reveal that something won’t happen in a story? Tom Brevoort has done that very thing in a recent interview, and the fans aren’t too happy. Click through for the revelation of the non-event, and the surprising reaction.At the end of an interview with the Midtown Comics blog, Brevoort offered one thing that he wouldn’t say “Wait and see” about, when it comes to Marvel’s big 2012 event:
I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by letting people know definitively that Jean Grey does not come back during AVENGERS VS X-MEN.
The reaction on Brevoort’s Formspring page? Surprisingly upset:
“Even if you don’t think it’s a spoiler, didn’t you just lose some sales by telling Jean Grey fans she’s not coming back in AvX? That means they won’t buy the series now. Even if they were disappointed, you still want their money right?”
“Can’t you get in trouble with Nick Lowe or some other editors for divulging that Jean Grey isn’t coming back? That was a burning question that so many fans had been asking. You kind of just ruined it for them.”
“I really hope you’re lying about the Jean Grey spoiler. That is a spoiler to many fans who still associate the Phoenix with Jean Grey. Why would you be so callous about something a lot of fans obviously care about?”
Firstly, is this really a spoiler? It’s something that’s not going to happen… Yes, it’s also a final answer on an element of the story that’s been somewhat teased, but almost in a throwaway way (It’s been “Is Hope the new Phoenix?” in the actual event so far, not “Is Hope actually Jean Grey resurrected?” – that ship sailed awhile ago – or “Is the Phoenix coming back to resurrect Jean Grey?” after all). Secondly, even those who don’t think that Brevoort’s revelation is spoilerish seem to be disappointed:
“Hm, so no reboot and no Jean Grey in AvX. Don’t you fear many readers might become pre-disappointed with the outcome now and drop out?”
“No Jean Grey in AVX, huh? Not surprising. Having her around would clash with the narrative and continuity of AVX. So as it stands in this story, the Phoenix has been gone since Jean Grey killed herself on the moon and now it is back?”
“It just feels wrong that Jean won’t at least have an appearance in AvX. I know its being swept under the rug for the crossover, but she is a big part of the Phoenix mythos. And Hope has red hair and green eyes. I can’t see how Jean can be avoidable.”
The irony of this whole thing? If Jean was coming back, an equal amount of people would be likely upset that this was another case where “Dead Is Dead” wasn’t being applied. Some days, you just can’t win…
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April 27th, 2012 at 8:39 am
Yes, it’s a spoiler.
April 27th, 2012 at 9:11 am
The man is an idiot.
April 27th, 2012 at 9:31 am
Of course it’s a spoiler. Anything that gives away an aspect of the story that people are wondering about, whether it’s saying that it does or does not happen, is a spoiler.
April 27th, 2012 at 9:36 am
It is a spoiler — it’d be not different than saying ‘all the mutants come back at the end’ or ‘Cap dies’ or whatever. I understand the importance of managing fans expectations, but come on …
April 27th, 2012 at 9:44 am
there has been at least one scientific study concluding that knowing spoilers can actually increase one’s enjoyment of material. face it, most stories told these days, regardless of medium, can be distilled to a couple of lines of plot. apocalypse now: a soldier is order to travel up a river to kill a rogue officer. he does. the godfather: a son returns from war and takes over the family business when his brother and father are killed. that’s not what i’m interested in. i’m interested in how the story is told.
in fact there are movies that actually work better when one has already seen the movie and knows all the “spoilers.” like psycho, for example. all of norman bates’ dialog works better if you know he’s his mother.
April 27th, 2012 at 10:18 am
>The irony of this whole thing? If Jean was coming back, an equal amount of people would be likely upset that this was another case where “Dead Is Dead” wasn’t being applied. Some days, you just can’t win…
The author obviously doesn’t understand the nature of The Phoenix or it’s use in mythology.
April 27th, 2012 at 10:19 am
The overwhelmingly majority of people who submit questions to Mr. Brevoort’s formspring are disconcertingly insane and their families should probably be notified. Until yesterday, it seemed the THOR/HULK people were leading the crazy charge, but now the JEAN GREY lunatics are gaining steam.
One hopes that when this all blows over the ONE MORE DAY psychopaths will get back into the action. Because those people are a TRIP.
April 27th, 2012 at 10:34 am
@jon Not really. Jean and the Phoenix are not one in the same, so Jean can actually die and stay dead.
April 27th, 2012 at 11:12 am
Breevort could also be lying just to mess with people. Which is exactly what I would do if I were him.
April 27th, 2012 at 11:33 am
Most of the people that send messages to Tom Brevoort are quite insulting and I’m surprised he puts up with it.
I hope he closes his account like Dan Slott did. I think Marvel creators open themselves up to fanboy nonsense a little too much.
April 27th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
It was interesting to see last week’s Wolverine and the X-Men acknowledging that post-Jean Phoenix encounters did indeed occur.
April 27th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
I don’t agree with Tom’s thought process on this, but at least be respectful to the guy.
Personally, I wish Marvel (and other companies/creators) felt comfortable enough to just let a story tell itself, instead of spelling everything out for us in the previews and interviews.
Granted, AvsX isn’t a story I was planning to purchase anyways. Jean Grey’s possibility of being in it or not doesn’t really change that for me either way. But if I was being told similar leads of, say, Court of Owls, which I am enjoying so far, I’d be a little bummed out by it.
April 27th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
>If Jean was coming back, an equal amount of people would be >likely upset that this was another case where “Dead Is Dead” >wasn’t being applied.
LOL! Not only that, if Breevort had simply kept his mouth shut until the end of the series we would have had to listen to all the whining about “Marvel ripped us off! We only bought it ’cause we thought Jean was coming back! Why did they lead us on?! We want our money back!”
April 27th, 2012 at 4:08 pm
The real story here is that anyone still pays a lick of attention to anything that Breevort says.
April 28th, 2012 at 6:52 am
I realize no one’s paying any attention to me, but i’ll say it again, spoilers don’t matter. i mean, if you’re relatively new to comics or even not so relatively new, i don’t think you’d enjoy “the killing joke” any less know [spoilers!] joker shoots barbara gordon and paralyses her. or that the dark phoenix saga ends with jean sacrificing herself. heck, whether they realize it or not, most people are exposed to the end of “casablanca” before they see the film. never once heard anyone complain that the film was spoiled by that.
April 28th, 2012 at 8:44 am
It is a spoiler and no, it doesn’t ruin the story for me.
Tom Brevoort is an idiot though.
April 28th, 2012 at 11:38 am
I think it’s okay when he’s managing expectations. If there was a rumor that stated Spiderman was going to be in the Avengers movie, and some people were going to see the movie solely because of Spiderman…I think it would be shady if the marketing people said, “You know…it is possible. Spiderman could be in this” just to get the money.
He’s managing the expectations. If you’re a Jean Grey fan and you’ll read anything only because it’s got Jean Grey in it, then this isn’t for you.
May 1st, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Right, like with Bucky, Captain America, Cable, Human Torch, and Thor dead really meant dead. Oh, I guess sticking to dead means dead does not apply to them.