Marvel Fan Tries to Watch Avengers: Endgame Five Times in a Row to Prove Economic Principle of Diminishing Returns

How many times can you see Avengers: Endgame, in a row, before it starts to become… not worth it? That’s the basic premise of a recent video from the YouTube channel Market Power, which saw its host attempt to watch the film five times over the course of 24 hours. Why? In order to prove the economic principle of diminishing returns.

So, did host Craig Palsson, an assistant professor at Utah State University, prove his theory? The 12-minute video seems to answer this with an unequivocal yes, yes he did. To start off, he doesn’t even end up making it to the fifth showing. You can watch the video for yourself above.

To explain, the principle of diminishing returns basically states that the output of any given action will not increase proportionate with the input if only one variable changes. This is a simplification, but think of it like adding fertilizer to a garden. If all you’re doing is adding more fertilizer, it’s going to be less and less effective the more you add — even if you’re adding the same amount each time.

For the purposes of Palsson’s experiment, though he’s seeing Endgame more times, the enjoyment and benefit of doing so is not increasing by the same amount. His “output” here is most significant from the first showing, with his returns diminishing from there on out. Sounds like a successful experiment to us.

Avengers: Endgame serves as the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, which began with 2008’s Iron Man, which starred Robert Downey Jr. in the titular role. This section of the MCU has recently been dubbed the Infinity Saga, which makes sense as it largely concerns the Infinity Stones and the acquisition of them by the Mad Titan, Thanos, as portrayed by Josh Brolin.

Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel are now in theaters. Spider-Man: Far From Home, the next official entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is set to release on July 4th. Everything beyond that is still in limbo.

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