Excelsior!

Recently, I was asked what, in my social feeds, could I not resist clicking on outside of newsy-type articles. It took me a minute, but I admitted sheepishly that I always clicked on Marvel movie news. I probably don’t seem like the type, I suppose, but I love all the Marvel movies. I was probably destined to have boys, who knows.

 

When I was a kid, I was a fan of the X-Men cartoon. The Toby Maguire Spider-Man movies were fine, but I really got into the Marvel movies when they began their ambitious 10-year schedule of films that culminated with Infinity War, which I’m dying to see again because so much happened and I swear I didn’t catch everything in that one viewing. When they started the Marvel schedule of films, it was — in my opinion — the perfect confluence of special effects technology, actors, writers and directors that really made the Marvel Cinematic Universe what it is today.

I didn’t read the comics, so I’m obviously not a hardcore comic book nerd. Maybe I’m not into reading with pictures; the process of reading and keeping up with a story line while also trying to appreciate the accompanying illustrations I’ve found I can really only do for newspaper-length comics, not so much a comic book. But Marvel’s films seem to hew pretty close to the comic book story lines — I’ve occasionally looked details up, and because I read so much about the films, I’ve seen a lot of fans who have read the comics love the films too.

Why do I love the films? I think my explanation included that not only were they entertaining, they were hopeful, fantastical, and represented an ideal that so many people want in reality, but is hard to find. Steve Rogers wanted so badly to help fight for his country, he was willing to subject himself to a German scientist’s experiment and became a great soldier capable of taking leadership over a team of superheroes — but he still holds a torch for the super smart, gorgeous British agent he crushed on as a skinny, sickly kid. Tony Stark grew up spoiled both in money and intellect, but being kidnapped and held hostage not only spurred him to create the Iron Man technology but also to abandon the weapons industry that made him rich and pursue a more noble (but still lucrative) industry like green energy. (Stark also fell in love with his assistant and made her CEO of his multinational company, but she seems to have been seriously underutilized, so at least she got a promotion? and he learned to be a one-woman man? Not great, but actually kind of realistic, except for where she got the promotion.) Peter Quill, kidnapped as a child and taken into the furthest reaches of the galaxy, grows up to be a Ravager (evidently a space mercenary) who can’t remember the name of the female alien he apparently spent the night with on his own ship, but falls in love with a green alien woman who is much more serious, and as strong and smart as he is, and becomes an aptly-named Guardian of the Galaxy.

And let’s not forget the X-Men. I think every kid who has ever felt left out or out of place probably found an X-Men to identify with. I love the truly excellent parallels with the civil rights movement, still so relevant today as it was in the 60s and 70s.

The loss of Stan Lee is truly sad because he had such an impact on the coming-of-age of so many comic book, TV and movie fans, including myself. I adored seeing his cameo in every Marvel movie — I think my favorite was in Big Hero 6. It’s truly sad there won’t be anymore of those, unless they figure out how to get his hologram to work with the films, which doesn’t sound like it’s out of the realm of possibility. But earlier this year, I was really aggrieved to read that he was at the center of a legal back-and-forth for control of him and his estate. Maybe it’s not the most delicate way to say this, but I love old people and I love to talk to them, so reading that someone was trying to take advantage of an icon like Stan Lee was really distressing.

It’s sad he’s gone, but he had a long life and leaves behind a remarkable legacy. I’m sure the legal battle for his estate has only just begun, and I’m glad he doesn’t have to be here for it anymore. Excelsior!