So we have about a month to wait until Avengers: Age of Ultron gets to the screen. For many of us, this is the most highly anticipated film of the year, so we have been susceptible to fan sites and movie news pages and online columnists who have been writing about it incessantly. If we’re honest with ourselves, most has been speculation.

But how much guessing, assuming, wish-fulfilling, and gossip from “inside sources” is too much?

I think we can safely say we are there, or at least very close, on this film. Who dies? Who doesn’t? What surprises can be made less surprising? Which minutia can be studied as closely as possible cures for cancer? We’ve seen all of this over the last several months.

We’ve been Soupied.

Allow me to explain. I have this brother who was nicknamed Soupy when we were kids (after Soupy Sales), and when we came of movie going age, he had an occasional tendency to spoil endings and story surprises and plot twists through sheer enthusiasm for sharing what he knew about pop culture. Legend has it that he spoke loudly about the end of Jaws as he exited the theater, and did the same with the parental plot twist in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, infuriating people lined up to see the next showing.

And I have been feeling Soupied by all the speculation about Quicksilver and Hawkeye and Captain Marvel and Spider-Man and Thor’s bathing anguish and Cap’s broken shield and what about The Vision and who that girl is by the lake and who the unnamed guest is at the Avengers party and whether there’s a Hulk/Black Widow relationship happening and whether Hulk is sent into space at the end and whether Black Panther shows up and…

It is exhausting.

And I probably just Soupied a few of you. Mea culpa, mea culpa.

Hard to resist,  I admit. Every one of those questions are intriguing and fun and fire me up, but also raise three concerns for me:

1) Are we building up expectations for this film to such a ridiculous degree that they cannot possibly be met, thereby ruining a potentially great MCU experience?

2) Are we actually right about some of these speculations and spoiling the movie for ourselves?

3) Are we creating so many questions to answer during the film that we will be checking off answers instead of immersing ourselves in the story/film experience?

These are basically variations on the same concern: are ruining Avengers: Age of Ultron?

I am not talking box office because I think it will do very well globally, hopefully exceeding the first film. 

I am talking about allowing the magic to happen, experiencing the spell, living the adventure. Will we be too mired in what we’ve read and discussed endlessly to sit back, munch the popcorn, and be amazed?

I have faith in Joss Whedon’s abilities as a spell caster, and am so predisposed to enjoy this film it would take a lot for me not to be thrilled and go multiple times. But I admit to being such a fan that I am concerned about tripping myself up. 

So I am going to avoid any further discussion or articles or speculation about this film for the remaining days.

Well, I am going to try.

Who am I kidding? Even this blog undermines my efforts, so I may be Soupifying myself with each tap of the keyboard here.

I can’t resist. Let me know what you think. Have we been Soupied? Is there such a thing as too much prefilm speculation?



</ Ryan is author of City of Woe, available on Kindle and in print. For more info, click here.<