'Avengers: Endgame' Finds Anime Rival With 'Detective Conan' Film Challenge

After ten years of build-up, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be bringing the huge Infinity Saga [...]

By Nick Valdez

After ten years of build-up, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be bringing the huge Infinity Saga to an end with Avengers: Endgame. It's undoubtedly going to be one of the biggest films of the year, and will most likely dominate over the theaters for quite a while after its initial release. It could be tough for any film releasing during this time to get attention, but one anime film will be taking it head on.

The next film in the Detective Conan franchise, The Fist of Blue Sapphire, shared a new Tweet cheekily challenging Avengers: Endgame with a slick new poster taking cues from Avengers: Endgame's poster style. Check it out below.

Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire will be launching in Japan on April 12, and considering Avengers: Endgame will also be releasing during the Golden Week holiday in Japan, the film is cheekily "challenging" the film. It's more of a good natured rib than an official challenge, but now fans are wondering just how these two films will stack against one another.

Though it may not seem like a Detective Conan film could outperform a film like Avengers: Endgame, the franchise actually already proved it could do just that with Infinity War. Detective Conan's last film effort, Zero the Enforcer, released around the same window as Infinity War in 2018 and actually manage to take the top spot in the Japanese box office over its opening weekend. Outperforming Infinity War, Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer netted $12.1 million USD in comparison to Infinity War's $9 million USD.

Featuring the return of the fan-favorite character Kaito-Kid, Detective Conan: The Fist of the Blue Sapphire is the 23rd film in the franchise scheduled to open April 12 in Japan. Centering on a new murder case at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore (which makes it the first adventure in Singapore for the franchise), Kaito-Kid is trying to steal the titular "Blue Sapphire" gem for himself and ends up bringing Conan into the fray. Avengers: Endgame opens in theaters on Aprll 26th.

As for Detective Conan, (known as Case Closed in the United States) the series was originally created by Gosho Aoyama in 1994 for Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday. The story follows high schooler detective Jimmy Fudo who works with the police to solve cases. When investigating a crime syndicate known as the Black Organization, he was poisoned. But inside of killing him, the poison reverts him to a child. Using his new childhood alias Conan and keeping his true identity a secret, he vows to solve more cases and eventually put a stop to the crimes of the Black Organization.

The manga has sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and has been adapted into an anime series, films, OVAs, video games, and even had a crossover with another famous series, Lupin III. The anime was licensed as Case Closed in the United States due to copyright issues, and Funimation first launched the anime adaptation on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block with Westernized names but ended its run due to low ratings. The series is currently available on streaming platforms Crunchyroll and FunimationNOW.

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