In the latest example of MCU fandom being taken to questionable extremes, one South Korean soldier reportedly went AWOL so he could catch Avengers: Endgame in theaters.
According to WowTV (via Kotaku), eighteen troops from the Republic of Korea Air Force 20th Fighter Wing left their base earlier this week for public service duty, before one of them went missing. In their search for the man, the military police tracked down a taxi driver, who said that he dropped the soldier off at a movie theater. Sure enough, the troop was inside the cinema watching the Avengers: Infinity War sequel, and was arrested as he was leaving. Well, at least he got to see the whole thing.
After his arrest, the soldier offered the following confession:
“I wanted to see the Avengers movie so I ran away from the site while we were standing by.”
According to a South Korean military spokesperson, the incident has prompted an investigation. The spokesperson added:
“We will enforce our training so the soldiers assigned to public welfare activity can focus on their mission.”
While you can expect Endgame to remain in theaters for quite some time, those who are keen to go in fresh should probably hurry to the cinema in the next couple of days. According to co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo, the spoiler ban officially lifts on Monday, meaning that social media will soon be flooded with revealing comments and memes.
That being said, given the movie’s staggering box office figures, there are already a huge number of people out there who know the full story. At the time of writing, the global gross of Avengers: Endgame sits at a phenomenal $1.664 million, making it the sixth biggest film of all time. You could imagine the number would be a lot lower, however, if everyone had to risk arrest to attend their screening. But then again, some Marvel fans are just that dedicated.
