I think it's safe to say that I'm a huge Marvel fanboy. Throughout the years, I have learned to love every character from Marvel's vast catalog of heroes and villains (minus Sentry). These characters have have really made an impact in my life and affected the choices I have made because I aspired to be like them. They built up my childhood, made me who I am, and now, finally, the ultimate team up movie of my favorite characters is hitting the silver screen after several, long awaited years. I would like to share with you all why The Avengers will be more than just "a popcorn movie," like many believe, and how it will impact my life, personally. In order to understand this, I'll need to tell you all a story:
I remember a day in the late 1990's when I was five or six, shopping with my family. (At this point in my childhood I didn't care about superheroes or comic books. Frankly, I thought they were stupid.) As we were walking up and down the isles, I stumbled upon a Hot Wheels box set which featured many cars with Marvel superhero decals painted on the sides. I recognized most of the characters: Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America, The Thing, etc. One specific car, however, caught my eye. On this car was painted the iron avenger labeled "Iron Man." I had never heard of him in my life. Well, he looked pretty cool and all, and I really wanted to know more about him. I set the box down and upon leaving the store, I saw the same Iron Man character in one of the stuffed animal claw machines that rips you off. That day, I decided to find out just who this guy was. This is where it all started.
Soon after this, I bought my very first Iron Man comic book. Many more came after that. I basically began worshiping this character. Before long, I purchased my first Marvel encyclopedia so I could figure out more characters who fought alongside Iron Man and those who opposed him. After that I began to fall in love with Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and The Avengers. I tried my hardest as a kid to find out more about these characters, what they were like, their foes, their team-ups, their origin stories, etc. Soon it came to the point that I began to look up to these fictional characters as real heroes, and I had striven to be like them.
Now, as my childhood passed, my love for the Marvel universe hadn't. Granted I didn't look up to them as I had when I was a wee lad, but they still had a special place in my heart where I would never forget them. There were times when I would ask, "What would [Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Spider-Man, etc.] do?" At times I would actually find myself looking up to Captain America the most, rather than Iron Man. Sometimes I wonder if the whole reason I tried and became a good person was because of the star-spangled man. I don't think I would have started working out either if it weren't for his fictional example. Surprisingly, my love for these characters didn't give me flack at school. In fact, people loved me for it, especially in high school. I was one of the most popular kids in school, subsequently I was a student body officer at one point. I would have never imagined how well I am treated, even though I wore superhero shirts everyday, drew detailed pictures of a super hero battle, and so forth. I would have imagined that the stereotype for someone like me would have been beaten up constantly, but, surprisingly, I was loved by people for who I was, I got dozens of hot dates, I partied with the "cool kids" . . . I did everything that society had dubbed someone like me couldn't do, and I can't help but wonder if was all thanks to the examples these fictional heroes have given me.
Now, by this point you're probably wondering to yourself: "What the junk does this have to do with The Avengers?!" Let me get to that now.
As I have stated above, I am a huge Marvel fanboy and will be until the day I die. These heroes have made a rather unbelievable impact on my life throughout the years. One aspect that helped me grow closer to these characters were the movies. Granted, before Marvel was it's own production company, it didn't put out the greatest movies: Blade/good, Blade 2/good, Blade Trinity/bad, Ghost Rider/bad, Daredevil/bad, Elektra/bad, X-Men/good, X-Men 2/good, X-Men 3/bad, Wolverine/very bad, Fantastic Four/bad, Fantastic Four 2/bad, Spider-Man/good, Spider-Man 2/very good, Spider-Man 3/bad, Man Thing/bad, The Punisher/good, Hulk/bad . . . you get the idea. These movies didn't appeal to what my childhood had come to love (minus the good movies). Then, in 2008, Marvel Studios finally released an Iron Man movie. Was it good? YES! Soon after came The Incredible Hulk/good, Iron Man 2/good (face it people, it wasn't a bad movie whatsoever), Thor/good, and Captain America/good. These movies have been everything my childhood had hoped and dreamed for. They were great movies.
Now, in two months The Avengers comes out. Never, in my life, had I imagined Hollywood would be able to pull this movie off. I had dreamed for years of a movie like this and now it's finally happening. This movie is my childhood. It holds the key that will allow me to remember what it was like to be a kid. This is why it will impact me so much. Never has a movie got me this excited (besides Iron Man) that I act like a skiddish little boy. This is the movie of my dreams. These characters who I have loved, who have been examples to me, who fueled my imagination are finally teaming up in one big movie. Will it be a popcorn movie? Certainly not. I don't even think I'll buy popcorn when I see this. This has never been done before. It will be completely new to see. The characters have already been set up, and all Whedon has to do is make a good movie with a good story. I trust that he will really knock this one out of the park. I trust that he will be able to make a movie that impacts me enough to transform me into a kid again. Until that day, I cannot wait to see The Avengers assemble on the silver screen.