Marvel issues subpoenas over Quantumania leak

Marvel is turning greener than the Hulk as they launch their search to who is behind the leak of major details about their latest MCU entry, Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania. Marvel has had no problems tracking down the sources, either, zeroing in on Reddit and Google, where a 63-page dialogue transcript was posted a month before the movie’s release.

According to Variety, Marvel “asked the court to issue a subpoena to compel Reddit to identify the person or group responsible for sharing dialogue from Quantumania to the r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers subreddit “on or about” Jan. 20, 2023.” The subreddit in question has since been shut down. Further, Marvel’s search over the leak will see them requesting “all Identifying Information for the user ‘u/MSSmods’” and “any other user(s) responsible for posting, editing, and/or maintaining the content.”

However, Reddit isn’t just going to fork over information to Marvel about the leak, with a representative saying, “Reddit is committed to protecting our users’ privacy. We have rigorous processes in place to assess legal requests and object when appropriate.” It has been pointed out that the 63 pages in question weren’t technically posted on Reddit; instead, users there were linked to a Google Doc due to Reddit’s character limit (oh, they’ve got a character limit, all right…). As such, Google will also be facing a subpoena.

The subpoenas are being filed under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), an act launched in the early days of the internet “which amended U.S. copyright law to address important parts of the relationship between copyright and the internet.”

Marvel has encountered some of their actors engaging in plot and character leaks before–like Mark Ruffalo spoiling the end of Avengers: Infinity War and Owen Wilson being put under watch by the studio over Loki–but this case of legal action against companies and citizens shows that Marvel is looking to snap the issue into oblivion. This will surely be a case that Marvel will stay on top of, fans will keep an eye on and Reddit users will have their fun with.

What do you think will come of Marvel’s subpoena over the Quantumania leak? Do you think this will set a precedent for how major studios go about spoilers? Let us know in the comments section below.