Times When Celebs Accidentally Revealed Major Spoilers

Leading up to the release of a movie, the actors involved typically go on a promotional tour. They give interviews to talk show hosts and journalists to garner excitement for the film. They might tell stories about making the movie, share updates about their lives, and tease plot points. All things considered, there are very few rules as far as what you can talk about while doing press for a movie. But there is one rule that actors and fans alike know shouldn't be broken: The stars of the movie definitely should not spoil the plot of their movie while promoting it. Come on, who wants to watch the lead actor tell Jimmy Fallon the ending of a highly anticipated blockbuster before it hits theaters? 

Yet, despite the fact that actors are also often required to sign legal non-disclosure agreements to prevent them from spilling key plot points to third parties, they slip up and give up big twists quite often. It seems that superhero franchises are the most likely to be accidentally spoiled by an actor. We're about to detail some of the most memorable times actors revealed major spoilers, so proceed with caution. You've been warned, so don't blame the messenger.

Twitter wasn't around in 1978, but spoilers were — they just didn't spread in a matter of seconds. The late David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope spoiled some paternity results that would be revealed in the subsequent film, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. Per Retroist, he offered up a rather curious remark when speaking to a crowd of Star Wars fans in Berkley, California. "Father can't kill son, son can't kill father," Prowse said. "So, they live again to star in 'Star Wars: IV.'" Bear in mind that this happened two years before Vader's iconic "I am your father" line was said on the big screen. 

Retroist's Vinvectrex remembered reading this story in his hometown's newspaper. "Anyway, my mother was good to keep an eye out for Star Wars news — and when this particular item showed up in our local paper, she cut it out for me," he recalled. "I still have it to this day. And, it was my first introduction to spoilers."

As Gizmodo noted, Prowse probably was only musing about what would happen because "I am your father" wasn't in his version of the script. Rather, they used a placeholder line when filming: "Obi-Wan killed your father." And then, as Gizmodo pointed out, "James Earl Jones' real reveal was dubbed in later." Even so, Star Wars fans in the Berkley area were given a lot to think about for two years.

Sylvester Stalone is of course known for the Rocky film franchise. The first Rocky film premiered in 1976, decades before Twitter was an idea in anyone's mind. The character of Rocky Balboa has lived to see the social media era thanks to spinoff films like Creed. But it seems like no one has given Stallone lessons on what should and should not be shared there.

In December 2014, about a year before Creed came out, the actor tweeted a picture featuring a page of the movie's script and some of his notes. "Where screenwriting is done," Stallone wrote. This might be fine if it were only the title page that Stallone shared with the world — but it wasn't. What he actually tweeted was a snippet from the final pages of the script, and thanks to Twitter detectives, we know it was Adonis Creed's (Michael B. Jordan) final match of the film... so uh, you know, the climax of the whole thing.

Per /Film, the page in the tweeted photo detailed the crowd screaming Creed's name with Rocky telling his student to "Listen to 'em." It also described the final scene of the movie, which featured Rocky and Creed standing on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Spoilers be darned, the movie was a box office success and a sequel hit theaters in 2018. 

Marvel isn't the only cinematic universe susceptible to spoilers. Fans of DC and Batman have to dodge their fair share, too. Strangely enough, though two of the biggest examples are decades apart, both are connected to veteran late-night talk show host David Letterman. While on The Late Show in 1989, Michael Keaton was excited to chat about working with Jack Nicholson, who plays the ultimate villain in the film: the Joker. When describing what makes them foes, Keaton confirmed Letterman's guess that The Joker killed Bruce Wayne's parents. "Yeah, but he doesn't know it 'till later," Keaton said. "I'm kind of blowing the plot, here." If you admit to spilling a plot detail after you've already let the cat out of the bag, it doesn't undo the spoiler, but hey! It's worth a shot. 

Years later, history repeated itself when Anne Hathaway appeared on The Late Show to promote 2012's The Dark Knight Rises. This time, it was Letterman who spilled the beans, and they sure were big ones. "And in the end, Batman is dead," he said (via TV Replay). Hathaway was wise enough to distance herself from the comment. "The wrath that you have just invited onto yourself," she said. "[Christopher Nolan], I had no part in it, I'm sorry." That's a smart lady.

If superhero flicks aren't immune to spoilers, neither are post-apocalyptic action thrillers — and Will Smith proved this while promoting his film I Am Legend in Tokyo in 2007. Reuters reported that he shared so much of the plot of the film, co-producer and co-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman couldn't help but yell, "Don't give away the ending!" Apparently, Goldsman was too late, and the press in the room had to be asked not to reveal the details they just heard in their coverage of the movie. Sure, the movie is based off of a 1954 novel of the same name, and yeah, anyone could've looked up the ending of the book to get an idea as to how the adaptation might end. However, Smith has done the press circuit enough times to know that giving away the ending of a movie is a no-no.

At the time, the journalists honored the requests not to report the details, so no one knows what Smith spoiled. But director Francis Lawrence reportedly told Sci Fi Wire (via Shock Ya!) at the time, "I don't want to actually discuss the ending, just because I don't want, I want people to make up their own minds, but maybe there'll be an alternate version at some point." At the time, it was reported that the ending might've been changed because of Smith's word vomit. Zoinks!