Even the Avengers can’t get out of this one.
Marvel Studios has been fined $160,000 for covering the downtown Gaslamp Quarter archway with an advertisement during San Diego Comic-Con International. The studio and its advertising partner, Los Angeles-based Elevue Outdoor, covered the arch as a promotion for the upcoming film, “Avengers: Doomsday.”
City officials said they were informed by Elevue Outdoor more than a week before the installation about their plans. Yet San Diego code enforcement officials told them not to proceed because of concerns about safety and fears it could disrupt the flow of people during the year’s biggest event. The advertiser went ahead anyway.
“The contractor knowingly created a safety risk and refused to address it and was cited and fined accordingly,” San Diego spokesperson Richard Berg.
It’s unclear who is responsible for the fine — Marvel or Elvue — although it’s hard to imagine the Disney-owned studio would not see the cost as worth it. The advertisement likely appeared in thousands of photos and videos outside the convention throughout the July event. Marvel and Elevue did not respond to requests for comment.
For those not from San Diego, the fine requires some context. The city has waged a long-running battle against outdoor advertising since the 1970s, which is why there are no billboards near the convention center. Advertisers have instead wrapped hotels and other buildings during Comic-Con.
The city does fine hotels for the wraps but it is usually a slap on the wrist. City inspectors can fine hotels and businesses up to $10,000 a day, but such high sanctions are rare. It is more common for the city to give out warnings or a $1,000-per-day citation. It issued $19,000 in citations last year to hotels and downtown buildings, and $22,500 in 2024.
Outside of the Gaslamp arch, San Diego issued $48,500 in fines for hotel and building wraps this year, more than double the previous year. All fines were $500- to $1,000-a-day, so there wasn’t a change in the usual operating procedure but there did appear to be more of an effort to make sure every building wrap got a fine. City officials declined to say if its current budget crisis had anything to do with its stepped up code enforcement.
Outside of Marvel, the biggest single fine went to the building housing Lou & Mickey’s restaurant and the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter. The fine was $7,000 for a wrap that promoted AMC’s long-running zombie show “The Walking Dead” and another for a new show called “Yaga” from Canadian streamer Crave.
Not all of the building wraps are illegal. The Port of San Diego allows building wraps on land it controls west of Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway, but that often leaves space for just two to three advertisements. That compares to 25 to 30 building wraps in and around the Gaslamp every year.
San Diego’s Gaslamp archway, which weighs six tons, was built and installed in 1990. It is often one of the most iconic places for photos in downtown. Curiously, a smaller advertisement made it onto the arch last year and escaped a fine. A comparatively tiny display for the DreamWorks Pictures animated film, “Bad Guys 2,” was placed on the side of the arch, near the center, but didn’t completely obstruct it like the one for “Avengers.”
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The “Avengers” advertisement went beyond the DreamWorks sign: It completely covered the arch with a green and black sign — similar to the colors of villain Dr. Doom — that lighted up at night. It also covered the narrow, metal pillars that hold up the arch with black, Roman-style columns that slightly reduced walking space on Fifth Avenue.
At least some of the concern from city officials stems from a fear the display could fall off the arch and cause an injury.
“The city wants Comic-Con to be a fun and safe event for all attendees and has a responsibility to ensure temporary additions in the public right-of-way are installed safely,” said Berg.
San Diego code enforcement did give Marvel a few chances to reverse course. Its first fine was for $10,000 on the Tuesday before Comic-Con, with a warning that fines could increase. It was fined $10,000 again on Wednesday. The fine was increased to $20,000 on Thursday (Comic-Con’s first official night), $30,000 on Friday, $40,000 on Saturday and $50,000 on Sunday.
Marvel’s Avengers films have been some of the highest-grossing movies of all time, so the fine may seem like small potatoes. Box Office Mojo said “Avengers: Endgame” was the second-highest-grossing movie of all time at $2.8 billion, behind only “Avatar” at 2.9 billion. Other Avengers films on the list include “Infinity War” (No. 7) at $2 billion; “The Avengers” (No. 14) at $1.5 billion; and “Age of Ultron” (No. 20) at $1.4 billion.
Marvel Studios also went all out inside Comic-Con this year, likely spending considerably more than the fine, bringing a star-studded cast to Hall H and giving all of the roughly 7,000-person crowd a Dr. Doom costume. Stars from the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday” film in San Diego included Robert Downey, Jr., Vanessa Kirby, Chris Evans, Paul Rudd, Rebecca Romijn and Kelsey Grammer.
Carl Winston, founding director of the Payne School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at San Diego State University, said it is likely worth it for Disney to pay a $160,000 fine for advertising but questioned why the city felt the need to issue the fines at all. Over the years, several business leaders have also questioned the city’s policy and suggested scrapping it.
“The downside is San Diego is being known as the city that chases its customers away,” Winston said. “You’d think (the city) would want to cooperate with such a great partner as Comic-Con and its stakeholders. This feels more adversarial than collaborative.”