Spoilers be damned, a local Philippine cable station has invited the fury of theatres and fans by airing a pirated version of Avengers: Endgame just one day after the film premiered in the country.
The act was highly unappreciated by Teatro de Dapitan, a local movie theatre authorised to show screenings of the film. The operators are now in the process of suing Orient Cable and Telecommunications Inc, the station which aired the pirated film.
According to Philippine News Agency, the act drew the ire of many fans on social media anticipating the release of the biggest blockbuster out there right now. Because, you know, a grainy, probably torrented version of Endgame isn’t how most fans wanted to experience end of a decade’s worth of Marvel films.
It’s unclear how many people actually saw the pirated version. Orient Cable serves the Dipolog region in the Zamboanga del Norte province of the Philippines, which has a population of about 130,000 according to a 2015 census.
Still, the cable station clearly knew the jig was up as it reportedly pulled the pirated film in favour of another old but pirated version of Captain Barbell, a Filipino superhero film from the ‘70s.
The fact that this happened, however, shouldn’t come as a surprise. Crappy cam versions of Endgame began popping up on the internet as soon as the credits started rolling on international premieres, while a spoiler-heavy chunk of the film made the rounds on social media more than a week before the April 26 release date.
Right now, it’s also not clear if Marvel is aware this has even occurred, or if it’s planning to assemble its own team of super lawyers to rain fire and fury on Orient Cable. Gizmodo reached out to Marvel but did not immediately receive a response.