LIHUE — Kauai High school students Brent Torres, William Quetula and Cole Chihara went straight from class to Kukui Grove Cinema on Friday and got a spot in the quickly moving line for the 2:30 showing of “Avengers: Endgame.”
They had to make it to the first showing on Kauai because they’d missed the rest of the nation’s Thursday premier and people have been talking.
“Spoilers. There’s been spoilers everywhere because it came out yesterday,” Chihara said, with Torres and Quetula nodding in agreement. “We gotta see it. We’ve been waiting since Ironman in 2008.”
Torres corrected him. They’d been waiting since “The Hulk”, which premiered in June 2003. Chihara maintained that The Hulk doesn’t count.
“We got a difference of opinion on that,” Torres said.
“Avengers: Endgame” brings together Ironman and Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, War Machine, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and Spiderman — just to name a few Marvel heroes — in a final effort to save the universe.
It follows the 2018 “Avengers: Infinity War” and is Marvel Studio’s conclusion to 22 films, according to IMDB.
“Avengers: Endgame” is just as star-studded as it is peppered with superheroes, too. Gracing the silver screen are the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, and Paul Rudd. Already, it’s shattering records with box office numbers, reportedly bringing in around $150 million in sales on opening day in the U.S.
Chihara, Torres and Quetula were among more than 50 people in line at Kukui Grove on Friday. Standing closer to the front of the line were Tonja Kane and Preston Garcia, both from Kapaa.
They arrived about half an hour before the doors opened and about an hour before “Avengers: Endgame” started screening.
“It’s really cool to see all the comic book characters up on screen that I’ve known from when I was a kid,” Kane said. “We haven’t been waiting long, either.”
A little further down, North Carolina visitors Johnny and June Sullivan were waiting their turn to get a couple tickets for the show. They had to see it because there was someone waiting to discuss it back home.
“My grandson, he’s staying up late tonight so we can talk about it when we’re done watching it,” Johnny Sullivan said. “He cried after he saw it yesterday.”
He showed off a photo of the North Carolina family in front of the theater just before seeing the movie Friday. The Sullivan crew is decked out in Marvel gear in the photo. On Kauai, Johnny represented the family with a Marvel T-shirt of his own.
“She’s (June) seen all the movies, too. I bring her with me every time,” Johnny said.
June said she doesn’t mind — she actually likes them.
“I like the message,” she said. “Guardians of the Galaxy. I liked that one.”
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Jessica Else, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or jelse@thegardenisland.com.
