MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And now for the biggest news of the week, the year, maybe the decade, at least for fans of Marvel's "Avengers" movies. The last installment of the franchise is in theaters now. And fans are flocking to see how it all comes out. Will Thanos get away with disappearing half the population of the universe? Which of our favorite superheroes will show up and save the day? Well, we promise not to give away any spoilers but we did want to talk to a super fan about all the excitement. So we've called Tony Mitchell, or as he's known on Twitter, Nem: The Infinity Watcher. And he got that name by watching Marvel's "Infinity War" - get this - 103 times. And Tony Mitchell, Nem, thanks so much for talking with us.
TONY MITCHELL: Thank you for having me.
MARTIN: OK. We did the math, not our strongest subject, but we came up...
MITCHELL: OK.
MARTIN: ...With 274 hours and 40 minutes. That's how much time you spent watching and re-watching "Infinity War." Sound right?
MITCHELL: That is absolutely correct. And that's also including the credits and end credits scene.
MARTIN: Yeah. I mean, of course.
MITCHELL: You got to.
MARTIN: But, you know - but I do want to ask, why?
MITCHELL: Why? Well, that is the quintessential question, is it? Obviously, I'm a huge Marvel fan. I've grown up reading the comic books. I watched the cartoons in the '90s. But the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it really hit home for me when "Iron Man" came out in 2008. It was a game-changer for superhero movies. It was different. It was exciting. So I just kept watching them as the years went by, started getting invested into the characters and the backstories and the lore.
And when "Infinity War" came out, I was just blown away. It was brilliant, the storytelling. The visuals were stunning. The movie itself was bold, the way they ended it. So it just all came to a reckoning on this movie. And I just thought it was brilliantly done.
MARTIN: And was it like a personal quest for yourself to see it that many times? Or was it just something that once you started, it just became a thing?
MITCHELL: Well, what happened was after, like, maybe my sixth or seventh time watching it in the theater, I just asked myself, I wonder if this is, like, a thing that anybody else has done. I just wondered if it was a world record. And I went and looked it up. And there's actually a category for watching the same film in the theater the most times. But there was no one holding that record. So when I contacted, you know, Guinness and asked them what I needed to do, they just told me just hit an astronomical number, and we'll give you the record.
MARTIN: OK, so there it is.
MITCHELL: So - yeah.
MARTIN: So 103. OK. So, you know, drum roll please, "Endgame." Don't ruin it for the people who haven't yet gotten to see it. But love it, don't love it? Is it how you thought it would end? Or what's your take on it?
MITCHELL: Well, I love it, obviously. I've already seen it twice. I've already got my tickets for tonight. And I've got four more days of tickets. So I'm going to be watching it a lot. Not going after the record again, just to throw that out there. That's a one time, one-and-done thing. "Avengers: Endgame" is definitely - it's amazing. You know, it's - I would say it's just - it's a satisfying payoff to what happened over the last 10 years.
MARTIN: Did you cry? Tell the truth. Did you cry?
MITCHELL: I didn't cry, no.
MARTIN: You didn't?
MITCHELL: Everybody else in the theater did. I didn't.
MARTIN: Oh, yeah, right.
MITCHELL: Every single person cried except for me.
MARTIN: Oh, yeah, because they were only slicing onions for you?
MITCHELL: Right, yeah.
MARTIN: Right, next to your seat. OK. That's Tony Mitchell, Nem: the Infinity Watcher, telling us about his love of Marvel. And good luck to you. Thank you so much for joining us.
MITCHELL: Thank you so much for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.