Chapter 836: This Is a Big Business

"Taking out a Japanese machine gunner with a single shot from eight hundred li away! This is just one example of Sky Eye's formidable combat record!"

"But Sky Eye's fighting style is too strange. No matter the battle, Sky Eye just sits at home and shoots. Seeing this kind of nine-to-five, clock-in-clock-out combat style, the leaders can't help but wonder if the kid got in through connections. They don't dare say anything, but they never give him the time of day, either. It's actually pretty pitiful..."

Reading this, Duke couldn't hold back his laughter, though Tina Fey and Scarlett beside him had no idea what he found so funny.

Shaking his head at the two curious women, Duke kept reading.

"Sixth, Rope Witch."

"Once, when my grandfather was infiltrating a Japanese stronghold, he discovered a woman tied up in a variety of intricate knots, and he couldn't help but be deeply impressed by the Japanese military's bondage culture. But what he never expected was that the moment the Japanese soldiers approached her, the ropes suddenly vanished, and then—bam, crash, bang!—the Japanese troops were all killed!"

"My grandfather only learned later that her name was Rope Witch. She was a mutant, and her superpower was influencing people's minds, making everyone who saw her believe her body was bound in ropes... For some reason, after she joined the Avengers, the leaders were especially keen on dropping by to check on her, with or without an actual reason..."

"Her background was a military secret because she was Japanese. Out of a spirit of humanitarianism, she specifically came to China to fight the Japanese devils. Her mother was supposedly named Mutou Ran."

"Seventh, Feiyin."

"A young volunteer who came down from Mount Wutai to fight the devils, possessing peerless lightness kung fu that let him scale walls and fly over rooftops. When he had nothing to do, he loved to bounce around everywhere for fun. He was the most annoying member of the Avengers. From two li away, the Japanese devils would see something floating back and forth, and they would immediately know he had arrived."

"Feiyin's most outstanding combat achievement was riding a bicycle into the sky and intercepting a Japanese armored train..."

Looking at these character profiles he still vaguely remembered, Duke couldn't help but think back to that era of the Anti-Japanese War when bizarre heroes flew all over the sky. Were there even enough Japanese devils for them to kill?

With so many heroic figures, there naturally had to be villains.

"The greatest enemies of the Red Avengers are, of course, the Japanese devils. As long as we maintain a patriotic heart that squarely faces history and never forgets our national humiliation, I firmly believe the countless Japanese devils in Hengdian will one day be completely wiped out by justice!"

"The future is bright, but the road is arduous. The Red Avengers experienced countless grueling battles. Now, I will tell you about a Japanese commander my grandfather was quite familiar with. His name was: Ao-what-the-fucking-crap-is-this-bullshit. Because yelling such a long name on the battlefield wasted too much time, regardless of whether it was our army, the Nationalist army, the Japanese army, or the puppet army, everyone actually just called him by his nickname—Ao Crap."

"In terms of personal strength, Ao Crap was actually complete trash. However, he had a massive squad backing him up in the form of countless little buddies. For example, there was a flashy driver and bodyguard who drove a Volkswagen convertible. For example, there were lackeys equipped with anti-materiel sniper rifles, M4 assault rifles, and even laser-guided shoulder-fired rocket launchers..."

"No matter how strong the Red Avengers' individual combat capabilities were, no matter how badass they were, they couldn't beat the rogue human-wave tactics of Ao Crap and his little buddies wielding so many advanced weapons. Therefore, the Red Avengers also needed a relatively advanced hero to help them."

"Thus, the Illusion was born."

"Captain China provided psychological support, Steel Cannon Hero offered his gun, and the God of War brought out his blade. Sky Eye granted him vision, and the Shaolin Giant taught him the groin-kicking technique. Rope Witch bound him entirely in ropes, and then my grandfather made him read Feiyin's instructional textbooks for two nights."

"That was how the Illusion was born!"

"How powerful was the Illusion? He could cling to the wings of an airplane and throw grenades downward (courtesy of Steel Cannon Hero's firepower, Sky Eye's vision, and Feiyin's lightness kung fu...)"

"He could charge the front lines shouldering a massive red flag, hoisting explosive satchels, and wielding a broadsword (courtesy of the Shaolin Giant's courage, the God of War's domineering aura, and Captain China's spirit...)"

"Most importantly, the Illusion's full-body rope bondage outfit looked so devastatingly handsome that it rocked the Jing-Ji-Lu-Yu-Shaan-Gan-Ning Region. Countless people from the northeast and southwest went mad trying to catch a glimpse of his figure, flooding into Shaanxi."

"Although the Red Avengers were powerful, the enemy's strength was exceptionally formidable. In order to win the war as soon as possible, our army decided to search for the legendary ultimate weapon—the Infinite Crotch!"

"Does a supreme skill like hiding a grenade in one's crotch even need an introduction? The only thing that needs clarification is that a single grenade hidden in the crotch can blow up a Japanese pillbox. If one could hide six different grenades, they would gain supreme explosive power... However, I don't actually know exactly how massive the explosion would be. According to my grandfather, the Infinite Crotch capable of holding six grenades has since been lost to time..."

By the time Duke returned to Los Angeles from Shanghai, the second-weekend box office figures for The Avengers had been delivered to his hands.

The opening weekend box office for The Avengers had been far too terrifying, reaching a height never before achieved in cinematic history. It was fundamentally impossible to maintain only a minor drop in its second weekend, especially with the presence of a highly competitive film like Fast and Furious 5.

Due to a severe lack of female viewers, Fast and Furious 5 suffered a classic case of starting high and dropping fast. The film raked in a hefty $48.65 million on Friday, but slumped to $29.27 million on Saturday, and fell again on Sunday, harvesting only $23.89 million.

Over its three-day opening weekend, Fast and Furious 5 claimed $101.81 million in North America!

Even though it only took second place on last week's North American box office charts, such a result was still remarkably brilliant.

Duke vaguely remembered that only the latter two installments of this franchise had opening weekend box offices around the $100 million mark in North America. Vin Diesel had still played a massive role.

However, Vin Diesel hadn't exploded in popularity the way Heath Ledger had. The comprehensive suppression from The Avengers, from its marketing down to its screenings, was absolutely crucial.

During its second weekend, The Avengers didn't produce any dazzling single-day results over $40 million, but it performed quite stably. Following $38.77 million on Friday and $39.16 million on Saturday, it pulled in another $33.84 million on Sunday.

Across the three days of its second weekend, The Avengers raked in $111.77 million in North America, also setting a new North American cinematic record for second-weekend box office.

The film's cumulative North American box office also reached $461.74 million, marking a new record in North American cinema history for the fastest film to break the $400 million and $450 million marks.

In terms of global box office, it took The Avengers a mere ten days to shatter records and cross the $1 billion threshold, pulling in a staggering $1,178.99 million. Moreover, its insane momentum showed no signs of stopping.

Similarly, in the global market, Fast and Furious 5 was completely suppressed by The Avengers, collecting around $320 million at the box office during its opening weekend across nearly a hundred countries and regions, including North America.

Such a result was outstanding enough. As to whether David Ellison would be satisfied, that was not something Duke cared about at all. After returning to North America, he held back-to-back meetings with the top executives of the Marvel Company and Warner Brothers to discuss how to continue expanding the revenue of the Marvel Series with their next installment.

Superhero movies adapted from comic books were not merely a handful of films, but a massive cultural and creative industry that integrated the virtual with the physical. This was not only a triumphant hymn for popular culture but also a victory for highly developed, pervasive capital operations.

From the silver screen to the Mobile Phone screen, from T-shirts to rice cookers, whether virtual or physical, omnipotent superheroes permeated today's global village.

In fact, this was a big business!

The current frenzy for superhero movies might also have something to do with humanity's love for stories of good versus evil, but the appetite Duke and other film companies had for high returns was undoubtedly insatiable.

As everyone knew, superhero movies didn't just sell movie tickets; they brought in all sorts of revenue streams, such as pay television, toys, video games, overseas distribution rights, and so on.

The Avengers made people incredibly excited. How could they not be? Film fans and audiences all over the world had been bombarded by this movie years in advance.

As Duke told Forbes magazine after returning to Los Angeles: "Ever since 2006, every Marvel movie was produced specifically for this super blockbuster."

Then, there were the 24/7 advertisements every day, as well as Marvel's "partnership" relationships with various companies, including Walmart, which was currently selling around 600 types of "Avengers" merchandise, Acura cars, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Hasbro toys, Target department stores...

Audiences simply couldn't escape.

In the first decade or so of the new century, Hollywood had produced over sixty true superhero movies. They accounted for less than one percent of Hollywood's total production, yet their market share exceeded ten percent.

Take the currently screening The Avengers as an example. This super "superhero movie," gathering six comic book heroes, had not only conquered over $1.1 billion at the global box office but had also directly earned $1.2 billion through toys and other licensed merchandise, as well as the sale of television broadcast rights and internet copyrights!

This actually reflected the greatest significance of superhero movies. They were not only films but also the most vivid and effective commercials, capable of driving a long chain of derivative industries like comics, action figures, toys, stationery, video games, theme parks, daily necessities, and brand endorsements.

Looking at it from another angle, it wasn't hard to understand why investors who would never get up early without profit, like Duke and Warner Brothers, would spend massive sums to produce and distribute superhero movies. Even if they occasionally showed a "loss" when calculating the box office gains and losses, they remained tireless, happily shooting one after another.

Through special franchise development via "image licensing," without costing the producers and distributors too many resources, related industries would naturally deliver astronomical licensing fees.

Therefore, when George Lucas was producing the Star Wars Prequel trilogy, he had bluntly stated, "I don't care about the box office at all."

Only by integrating theatrical box office, television broadcasts, DVDs and Blu-ray discs, soundtracks, video on demand, and the licensing and development of derivative products like toys and video games could the true and complete performance of a Hollywood commercial film be reflected.

If one solely looked at the box office to estimate the value of Hollywood companies and their systems, it would be an absolute joke.