How much longer will Marvel Studios have the Infinity War cast pretend about the obvious?

Even though Infinity War has been out for some time, the cast and producers are still pretending like some of the characters won’t come back. Why?

This is getting old, Marvel Studios. We’re over a month out of Avengers: Infinity War (though it honestly feels like a whole year), and the Avengers castmates are still being very aloof about what happens to their characters in the future.

Granted, of course, they are trying to keep spoilers at bay. And we know that the Russo brothers have gone through some extreme lengths to hide the spoilers, even from the cast (see: fake scripts for most of the cast). But at some point, you have to admit that things are being taken a little too seriously.

Take, for example, a recent interview with Doctor Strange’s Benedict Cumberbatch with Deadline. When asked if Cumberbatch would come back to play the role of Doctor Strange in other movies, he replied saying the following:

"That’s all kind of lined up as far as I’m aware, but who knows? I mean, you know, the problem is, how does he get out of where he’s at. But that’s the only thing. I’m bits of dust at the moment as far as I understand. So you really have to ask (Marvel Studios president) Kevin Feige. But as far as wanting to do it, yeah, I would love to go back into that role."

It’s sort of an eye-roll moment, not because Cumberbatch gave that response but because Cumberbatch had to give that response. Do we really think that one of the MCU’s newest characters would be completely gone after appearing in one solo movie an one Avengers movie? (Okay, and one post-credits scene.) It doesn’t sound very likely. So why pretend like Strange will be dust forever?

Rather than letting these actors play coy, couldn’t we at least give them the freedom to say, “Yes, I’m coming back; you just have to wait to see how.”? That especially goes for people with planned sequels like Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther.

The Guardians cast has been a bit lax recently about their return for the next movie. But shouldn’t that information be packaged as a “given” instead of a “spoiler”? It would make things much easier for everyone.

For some of the old cast, though, it might still be good that they are sworn to secrecy. An “I can’t tell you what’s next for me,” from Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans especially is totally fair. Some have been doing this thing for practically 10 years, and we know there’s not a ton more to expect from them after this.

But for the remaining cast that got snapped away by Thanos on that fateful day, we say to Kevin Feige, the Russo brothers, and all others: let them speak. Why have them play this game, when we know Avengers 4 will be all about bringing them back?

We’re guessing by the time we finally get a trailer for Avengers 4, the cast can say a little bit more. But let’s be honest, just like this last press tour for Infinity War, we probably won’t get much out of them next year, either.