By Vanessa Rupertus
Elm Staff Writer
Even if you aren’t familiar with the Marvel Universe, you’ve likely heard of the final installment in the Avengers’ story, “Avengers: Endgame,” and know of the scramble to grab a few tickets for the Apr. 26 premiere.
It might still come as a shock, however, to learn just how far some super-fans will go to snag a ticket.
“Avengers: Endgame” has already sold five times as many tickets as the previous installment, “Avengers: Infinity War,” in the first week of sales.
Scalpers hope to take advantage of the high demand by securing tickets on the opening night of the movie and then selling them on various bidding sites for over $10k a ticket.
One scalper has two tickets for a theater in Reno, Nevada listed on eBay at a minimum bid of $15k, with a max payment of $25k.
The Avengers are a superhero team consisting of humans, mutants, androids, aliens, supernatural beings, and even former villains.
In the Marvel world, they’re the best of the best, and, once assembled, are able to go toe-to-toe with “foes that no single superhero can withstand.”
Their most recent foe was Thanos, who successfully wiped out half the population of the universe by using the Infinity Gauntlet, a golden gauntlet that holds the infinity stones, which are gems that each hold a different characteristic of existence.
This led to many of the Avengers crumbling to dust, but those remaining aren’t ready to give up all hope.
Fans of the series refuse to give up either, desperate to see their favorite heroes such as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans) return to the screen, and hoping that those who faded away in the snap will be restored to fight once more.
It may sound absurd, but fans are actually buying up these tickets, wildly inflated price and all.
One person bought two tickets at a New York City movie theater for just under $5k, while another “lucky” customer bought two, also in NYC, for just under $10k.
Theaters can’t even accommodate the projected turnout. Some theaters are now opening at 4:00am to fit in another viewing of the movie and rake in more ticket sales.
Naturally, students at Washington College, who have tuition and student loans to worry about, were aghast that anyone was willing to spend so much on a single movie ticket. The movie will end up on TV eventually, right?
Sophomore Tamia Williams, in accordance with what seemed like the general consensus, said, “I think that it’s okay to really love something, and if you have money I guess spend it how you want, but I would not recommend.”
While most will probably forgo the steep prices for “Endgame,” fans desperate to view the final installment as soon as it comes out will gladly risk an empty wallet for this one-of-a-kind movie-going experience.