The Poster Memorabilia blog

When We Thought The Avengers Was for Infinity

April 2018, the purple carpet on Hollywood Boulevard, and a lost voice for a poster full of Avengers.

By an anonymous Hollywood insider

There was a point in time when I thought the MCU would truly take over the entertainment industry. They did dominate the box office for a while, almost an entire decade, but the franchise has since lost its luster. It never felt the same after it peaked with Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.

I'm sure Marvel films still earn a lot at the box office today, but you really had to be there from 2018 to 2019. Everything the franchise had been producing and releasing led up to those films, and the entire world was excited to see how it would end.

“You really had to be there from 2018 to 2019.”

The Avengers were also the most popular, both the cast and their characters. Though they didn't win big at the Academy Awards or any similar prestigious awarding body, they still had pop culture in a chokehold. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and others were the era's top-grossing stars.

Their fame and success were so great that I really thought they'd stay at the top forever. I expected them to be the most popular actors for at least the next twenty to thirty years, the way Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Meryl Streep are still beloved today.

That's why I worked hard to get their autographs the night Avengers: Infinity War premiered in LA. I wanted to capture the moment forever, and the best way I could think of was to have them sign the movie poster. It was perfect to have them write on the poster of their most successful movie to date.

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Technically, they're still pretty successful, and the MCU is still going strong, but that time was something else. And as sad as I am to admit it, the cast aren't the box office draws they once were. They've remained popular, sure, but not at the same level as that peak.

Still, at least that moment is frozen in time on my autographed poster. I can't even tell you how crazy that night was. Everyone was screaming as each cast member appeared on the purple carpet. I woke up with laryngitis the next morning. I destroyed my vocal cords screaming for their autographs.

It may seem like I got their autographs easily since almost all of them signed my poster, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Sure, I met all these celebrities and got them to sign it, but it came at the expense of my voice and, for a minute, my comfort.

The fan pit on Hollywood Boulevard that night was so packed that I got squeezed more times than I can count. I was at the very front, so as fans behind me pushed toward their favorite celebrities, I took the brunt of it.

The one star who wasn't there was Chris Evans. He was starring on Broadway in Lobby Hero at the time, and his theater schedule wouldn't let him fly out — he even tweeted an apology to fans the next day. I was bummed in the moment, but it was the only autograph I didn't get that night, and I finally got it at the Endgame premiere a year later. So all's well that ends well.

What I am bummed about is how the MCU lost its magic over the years. It was a whole lot of things: many of the cast went on to do other things, people got tired of superhero movies, and the ever-constant desire for new faces keeps the cycle turning. It's sad to see it lose its glory, but at least I got to witness it firsthand.

Some things you watch. This one you keep.

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