There’s A Massive CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER Spoiler Out There

The closer a film gets to its release, the harder it may be for folks who don’t want to know about key plot twists to keep from getting spoiled. Advertisements often get criticized for giving away big moments in an effort to get audiences into theaters and as buzz builds in the week or two before a film’s opening weekend reviews may also give away story points that some ticket buyers would rather discover in the context of the film itself.

Well, there’s a massive spoiler for April’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier that has surfaced over the last day or so and even just trying to draw a comparison to some other film’s plot point could possibly give things away. But if you can remember the brouhaha that erupted when a soundtrack listing spoiled a major moment in Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace weeks before the film was released, you may have an idea as to what size of spoiler we are dealing with. And ironically enough, this spoiler also comes from the soundtrack list for the film.

If you don’t want to know what that spoiler is, you should click away now as we will be mentioning it in a moment.

Now juggling how information about your film is released to the public can be tricky. Look at how how Paramount and J J Abrams handled the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch’s character’s identity in Star Trek Into Darkness and how Abrams later admitted that it was perhaps a mistake.

Seriously, you should duck out now if you don’t want to know.

Last chance.

OK, if you’re still with us, the spoiler comes in the form of a track on the soundtrack listing titled “Alexander Pierce is the Red Skull.” Pearce is one of the members of the World Security Council who seem to be the folks behind the spy organization SHIELD. The fact that Pearce is being played by none other than Robert Redford makes this exceptionally juicy.

Now for some comics fans, this might not come as much as a surprise and the possibility of this has been discussed in certain online forums before today. The Red Skull has a habit of disguising himself and infiltrating various organizations. It is something he did in the original Winter Soldier storyline from the comic and the person he was impersonating has a name similar to Redford’s character.

Now some have pointed out that the entire track listing could be a hoax or intentionally mislabeled, noting that there are several tracks that take their names from Police Academy movies – Mission To Moscow, City Under Siege and Back In Training. So perhaps we should take this news with just a grain of salt.

We’ll find out the truth when Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens on April 4.