The Avengers Motion Picture Experience That Changed My Life

Editor's Note (I know there isn't an editor, I just wanted to say that): Most of this write-up is me gushing over superheroes and their importance to me. Sure I talk about the Avengers movie, but I also talk about the comic book Avengers that were important to me. So if you don't care about that (why should you?) then this will just end up sounding like a fanboy getting too excited over some dumb movie. Actually, yeah that's what this write-up is, a 19 year old who channeled his 11 year old self and let him loose at the keyboard to get excited about the Avengers. Sorry. 


Editor's Note 2 (*giggle* it entertains me to say): This is pretty stream of consciousness. Sorry about that. This blog post specifically could have benefitted from an editor. 


Editor's Note 3 (come on now): Oh and if you haven't seen the movie yet I do talk about it so there are some spoilers. So read at your own risk.

The Avengers!!!!!

In March of 2004 something truly life altering happened. Marvel comics decided to do a promotional stunt and sell the newest issue of the Avengers for fifty cents. A lot of people probably saw through this promo stunt, but little 11 year-old Alex drank that Kool-Aid so fast. Little 11 year-old Alex had his father buy that issue of Avengers because it was fifty cents. Fifty cents! How cool is that? All the other comics cost three dollars. Some comic fans might know that this issue was written by Chuck Austen. In most comic circles it is pretty clear that he isn't the best writer, but I'll be honest, I don't remember what happened in the issue. I do remember that this issue caused me to put Avengers on my pull list and since that day I have read a new issue of Avengers every month.

Avengers #77, or the catalyst

Avengers #77 (or 492 depending on what numbering you want to go by... yeah it's stupid) caused me to follow the Avengers through a Disassembly, a New era, a House of M, a Civil War, when they turned Mighty, a Secret Invasion, a Dark Reign, when they turned Dark, a Siege, and when they split up again but came back the next month New and Adjectiveless. I still read the Avengers and until recently I thought from time to time what it would look like for these characters to be on the big screen. Then I remembered that no movie studio would be dumb enough to pump so much money into such a movie with little to no big name characters. Then early this month I was forced to eat my hat.

The Avengers I grew up with were not the Avengers seen in this movie. The Avengers I grew up with were a ragtag group of heroes who were always on the run. Captain America, Thor, and Hawkeye were dead, they were fighting Iron Man and his team of Mighty Avengers, and the Hulk was off in space somewhere. However I did read some older issues from before I started following the Avengers like I was getting paid for it. But those issues were not my Avengers. My Avengers would, and always will be, Luke Cage, Spider-man, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Iron Fist and Doctor Strange; and whoever else showed up. I grew up with these characters and they grew as a team with me.

New Avengers #37, or my team

That isn't to say I did not enjoy this movie. Oh no, the complete opposite happened. I saw this movie three times in theaters. I could not get enough of this movie. I have loved these characters for my entire life and then seeing them on the big screen instead of being static drawings on a page was mind blowing. I used to act out comic books with my action figures, and as I grew older and realized how expensive movies were to make, I thought my little action figure creations would be the closest thing I ever got to a live action team-up movie. It feels like Joss Whedon and the rest of the crew on this movie somehow looked into my head, saw my dreams and said, "Oh, yeah. We can make that a reality. Come out on May 4th, 2012."

I had already seen Iron Man repulsor blast some bad guys, I had already seen Hulk SMASH, I had already seen Thor hurl his hammer, and I had already seen Captain America defy gravity with his shield in live action. I had seen all these characters before do what they do best, beat the bad guys. But what this movie did that none of the preceding movies had done was have it being done all at the same time under one roof. In this movie I not only saw Iron Man repulsor blast bad guys and Captain America defy gravity with his shield, I also saw Captain America ricochet Iron Man's repulsor blasts with his shield to defeat bad guys. I not only saw Thor hurl his hammer at bad guys and Hulk SMASH, I saw Thor hammer in a piece of alien worm armor that Hulk had just SMASHed into the alien worm's back.

If I was going into this movie with no knowledge of the characters or the universe they came from. I think I would still be excited. I'm almost positive that in all of movie history there has never been something like this done. Marvel Studios has been building to the Avengers since 2008's Iron Man. For 5 years Marvel Studios has been putting out movies for their different characters with the intent to have a movie where all these characters come together. That is so ballsy. The idea to spend millions of dollars producing these movies in hopes to produce another one that will cost even more millions of dollars is insane to me.

The Avengers were brought together Earth's mightiest heroes to defeat the foe that no single hero could. That foe was Loki and his army of alien known as the Chitarui (but I will just call them aliens or the aliens, or something to that degree because that word is dumb). Loki gets his hands on the Tesseract (another dumb word, but so is Cosmic Cube...) and starts to break everything. Loki has the power to control people's minds and takes control of Hawkeye and Erik Selvig who is the lead scientist for SHIELD in regards to the Tesseract. After getting away with the Tesseract Loki and his newly formed group start to build a gateway to bring the Aliens to earth. This forces the team of misfits to band together to save the earth.

Before the final battle started Tony Stark confronts Loki in his newly build Stark Tower. Loki has taken over the tower and is using it to house the device to open the portal to the aliens' world. Stark tells Loki that he isn't going to win, there is no way that he wins. Which is completely right. The good guys always win, the good guys always repulsor blast, or defy gravity with their shield, or hurl their hammer, or SMASH the bad guys. You knew the Avengers were going to come out on top. They were going to defeat Loki without question. When the Hulk defeated the first alien worm and Loki called the rest of the aliens in, it looked bleak, they might not win, then I remembered that they were the Avengers. They were the good guys and the good guys always win. Iron Man just told me!

The Avengers obviously win. Loki never stood a chance. The good guys always win. The bad guys might have the leg up, they might have all the space worms and aliens, but the good guys have the conviction. The good guys are fighting because the earth needs the protection. I knew going in the Avengers were going to win. I know going into any movie that the good guys are going to win, but that isn't the reason I saw this movie. I saw this movie because 11 year old Alex demanded we go see this movie. 11 year old Alex was bouncing off the walls to see all the repulsoring, throwing, hurling, and SMASHing he had only seen in the comics.

So did this movie deliver? Did they succeed in their experiment? Well if you look at the box office reports I think they did. This movie grossed a billion dollars quicker than any movie in history or something. I don't really care about how much money it made, I just want to see if this movie is creating a new generation of Avengers fans. Sitting in this movie my mind changed from the 19 year old college freshman to an 11 year old kid who just bought that fifty cent issue of Avengers. I wanted this movie to create more 11 year old kids who are going to sit in their room playing with their action figures reenacting their favorite scenes from this movie. I wanted this movie to create a new generation that fall in love with the repulsoring, shield throwing, hammer hurling, and SMASHing I saw in this movie.

This was the perfect superhero movie. This was the perfect team movie. This was the perfect movie for a 19 year old child hiding behind his beard. I saw this movie three times in theaters and each time I would get goosebumps when the Helicarrier lifted out of the water, I would get goosebumps when Captain America threw his shield at Iron Man and Thor to stop them from fighting, I would get goosebumps when Thor would hit Hulk across the jaw with his hammer, I would get goosebumps when Captain America and Iron Man fought aliens together, I got goosebumps when Thor and Hulk defeated a giant space worm together. I probably had goosebumps the entire time. But none more than when Hulk caught the falling Iron Man and then slowed himself down by sliding down a building in Manhattan.

Maybe not everyone liked this movie, some people probably hated it. That's their opinion and they are free to have it. Me on the other hand, I loved this movie. I loved the experience I had all three times in the theater. I love comic books and this movie got me excited to read comic books again. This movie showed me everything I liked about comic books and why they've been so important to me my entire life. This movie showed me why I can still get excited about repulsor blasting, shield throwing, hammer hurling, and SMASHing, because it's a getaway. It is a getaway from the trials and worries of life and gateway into a world of superheroes.

I love this movie so much.



I don't own those pictures