Back on October 21, Marvel Studios announced that the first trailer for their Phase Two adventure Avengers: Age of Ultron would debut during the October 28 episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC. Just one day later, the full trailer leaked online, which lead to Marvel officially releasing the footage shortly thereafter. Today, The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Marvel has issued a subpoena to Google, in order to find the identity of whoever leaked the trailer early.
Court documents reveal that an individual using the name "John Gazelle" posted the trailer on a Google Drive account. Marvel's parent company Disney sent Google a takedown notice on October 22, pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, asking them to take down the file. Marvel is now seeking the IP address associated with that individual's YouTube and Google accounts in this subpoena.
The exact nature of the uploaded file isn't detailed in the court documents, but the trailer did leak early, along with a scene featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans.
After Marvel released the official trailer, the studio announced that it was viewed a whopping 34.3 million times in the first 24 hours, shattering the previous record of 20 million views held by last year's Iron Man 3.
Since Avengers: Age of Ultron doesn't hit theaters until next May, it seems unlikely that this early trailer leak will hinder its box office performance, but there have been leaks that have affected a movie's overall gross. While X-Men Origins: Wolverine still performed well after the film leaked early, The Expendables 3 was released online before its theatrical debut, which may have been one of the reasons why it came in far below Lionsgate's expectations.
Take a look at the full subpoena below.