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Thank you, Marvel.
Ten years ago, there was an idea. An arrogant billionaire could overcome his ego and fight tyranny in an iron suit. This man wasn’t just Tony Stark and he wasn’t just Iron Man. The egotistical billionaire was everybody who ever needed redemption. Iron Man not only started a shared universe of films like no other, he gave audiences someone to look up to. There was an idea that this man could be one of the centerpieces of a much larger picture. Then came the domino effect.
Superhero movies released rapidly over the next ten years. From icons of the past like Thor, Captain America and The Hulk to characters many fans have never heard of before like The Guardians of the Galaxy, each film made us care about characters we would have never thought twice about. Given, not every Marvel film has been the best, but even the greatest dynasties have their down-moments. However, we knew it when The Avengers released and we know it now. We will look back at this collection of films and know it stands right next to Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and James Bond as one of the greatest film franchises of all time.
Movies are two-hour vacations. They take you to another place where your problems don’t exist. A good movie distracts you for two hours from homework, job problems, money issues, etc. A great movie changes your perspective because great films have characters that audiences can relate to. For the two hours we sit in that theater or stream it on Netflix, we become that character. They give us advice on our relationships and problems and they motivate us to do something we would not have done had we not seen that film. That’s the beauty of Marvel, it has given us a multitude of characters to relate to and fall in love with.
Marvel gave us the kid with a heart of gold that wanted nothing but to stop the bullies. He taught us that it didn’t matter if you were a super-soldier or not. What mattered was what kind of person you were at the end of the day. Because even the strongest men wouldn’t jump on a grenade and even the strongest men wouldn’t stand up when they saw a situation heading south. Captain America taught us to believe in people, and he’d be there ’til the end of the line.
Marvel gave us the kid trying to find his place among the big boys while balancing his school works, friends and family. He taught us that it’s not about fitting in with everybody else. What matters is being yourself and doing the right thing. In one film, Spider-Man has showed us the meaning of being yourself.
Marvel gave us the king. He showed us that it’s important to respect tradition, but sometimes, tradition can be wrong. Black Panther taught us that we need to share our resources with the world because the only way we’re going to help each other get better is together.
This is for Marvel and all its executives, directors, actors, writers, fans, etc. Marvel has given us every kind of character there is. It has shown us every kind of personal vendetta, every kind of internal problem and it has shown us how to overcome these things with nothing but perspective. We may not all have vibranium suits or mystical hammers, but we all have what it takes to do what our heroes would do. This franchise has taken us on a ten year journey. It made us fall in love and broke our hearts all at the same time. If movies are vacations, Marvel has given us nineteen vacations in ten years. So this is to Marvel and Infinity War, thank you for the journey and excelsior!
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