Marvel incurred fines totaling $160,000 to display a lavish Avengers: Doomsday advert during San Diego Comic-Con, following opposition by city officials.
The advert completely covered San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter arch, a location that the city had officially denied due to “concerns about safety and fears it could disrupt the flow of people during the year’s biggest event,” according to the San Diego Union-Tribune (thanks, Gizmodo).
Instead of removing the advert, however, Marvel and its marketing company Elevue Outdoor continued construction anyway — and racked up daily escalating fines as a result.
“The contractor knowingly created a safety risk and refused to address it, and was cited and fined accordingly,” San Diego spokesperson Richard Berg said.
Avengers: Doomsday signage at Gaslamp Quarter outside Comic Con. #SDCC #SDCC2026 pic.twitter.com/91pSMONKzD
— XMF/the SUPER (@XMenFilms) July 24, 2026
While the city frequently issues these kinds of fines, the $160,000 that Marvel must now pay is extraordinary and a result of it leaving the advert up for six days — by which point it was paying $50,000 a day in damages. Last year, San Diego is reported to have handed out advertising fines of less than $25,000 for the whole of Comic-Con.
But while $160,000 is certainly no small amount of money, it pales in comparison to the amount that Avengers: Doomsday will likely rake in at the box office this December. Disney and Marvel will be feeling extra confident in the blockbuster’s success right now as Spider-Man: Brand New Day sails towards a seemingly-inevitable $2 billion gross.
SDCC itself was relatively light on Avengers: Doomsday news, though fans got confirmation that both Hayley Atwell and Ryan Reynolds will be returning in their roles as Peggy Carter and Deadpool. Other Marvel movie news included the reveal of a Ghost Rider film starring Ryan Reynolds, and the announcement that British actor David Jonsson will star as T’Challa’s son in Black Panther 3.
We also got a better sense of how Marvel’s post-Avengers: Secret Wars release slate currently looks, with Ghost Rider and Black Panther 3 both due in 2028. Disney also has a third Marvel film also slotted in for early in that year, which is widely-expected to be its upcoming X-Men reboot. Indeed, casting details are hotly-anticipated to be revealed this weekend at D23.
Before all that, Avengers: Doomsday will arrive this year on December 18, and I suspect it’ll make back the money spent on that fine.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
