Marvel: A 10 Year Relationship

For 10 years, Marvel Entertainment, a subsidy of Marvel Comics and the Walt Disney Company has entertained millions of people around the world with the tales, trials, conflicts, and adventures of Marvel Universe’s plethora of characters. Ranging from wall crawling Spiderman, to warrior king Black Panther, to a gamma ray raging beast named the Hulk, people have been putting their money up front to disappear from reality to enter a realm of childhood imagination. I remember the first time I saw a Marvel film.

In 2008, actor Robert Downey Jr. took the identity of Tony Stark; a billion dollar playboy genius who only really cared about his ego and selling his super tech weapons. It is only until a piece of shrapnel from one of his own weapon shot by terrorists, makes him come to terms of how his legacy will be viewed by humanity. By using his incredible brain and the tech he uses in his garage, Stark develops a suit of pure metal and takes on the mantle of Iron Man. When I first saw Iron Man in 2008, I was blown away. Not only had I never really heard of Iron Man, I was impressed by the character development of Tony’s journey of leaving his corrupted past behind. I think that’s what got audiences everywhere really committed to Marvel. Actual characters, with actual problems everyday people deal with.

Before Iron Man, the character of Iron Man was not viewed as one of the best characters Marvel Comics really had. In the comics, Tony Stark was a bit of an alcoholic and was a jerk inside and outside of the suit. Marvel films were not that strong at the time either. After the horrible mishap of films such as Spider-Man 3, The Fantastic 4, and X-Men: The Last Stand it looked like Marvel just didn’t have the most creative material it could take from its comics. After Iron Man, it was a different ballgame. Not only did the film change the character of Iron Man in the comics, it turned the tables on motion picture history. The film also left some impression of how the war on terror had affected American culture.

I like to think Marvel sort of helped America get back on its feet following the aftermath of 9/11. Though I was only 2 when the Twin Towers collapsed, the following years after the attack were very noticeable from my point of view. Though I can’t truly remember the contents of what my life was before 9/11, I can vaguely recall how everything seemed happy and joyful. I know, I was just a baby then, everything was happy and innocent to me, but I could tell the shift of how people talked to each other afterwards. Voices sounded more somber, less cheerful, and a little hollow. The rebuilding of American society gradually came back the only way people could really recover. Watch TV and movies. Entering a world of entertainment and laughter helped get people smiling again and it was with the efforts of shows and films such as, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Office, and Iron Man that got people back on their feet.

Following the success of Iron Man, films such as Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, and eventually, Marvel’s The Avengers not only brought comic fans, but everyday people together as one. Sure, people have their favorite super heroes. I happen to like Captain America and Spider-Man. If you want to talk DC, I craze about Batman. The thing is, Marvel movies have a way to bring subtle but important issues to the screen. Issues such as PTSD (Iron Man 3), rights to secrecy (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), race (Black Panther), growing up as a teenager (Spider-Man: Homecoming), have all found their way into these films. Sure, you can argue to me how even without Marvel films, the public would learn how to move on, but when it comes to comic book superheroes, no matter what race, creed, political stance you have, everyone reads their favorite character. Everyone wants to escape to a world where good beats evil.