So. You may have heard — a major blockbuster film came out a few weeks ago.
Wait, let me back-up …
Last summer, Spencer moved to Austin and a few weeks after he and I met he texted me asking if I wanted to go to a Marvel movie marathon at the IMAX here. It’s the largest screen in Texas, and for the 10th anniversary of the launch of the MCU they were showing all 20 movies in 5 days.
I’m pretty sure he didn’t expect me to say yes.
But, you know me … I am interested in all the things. And if he loved these movies enough to do this big investment, I wanted to see what it was all about. I didn’t end up going to all 20 movies, but I saw enough to get the appeal of this whole thing.
And, especially from a writer’s point of view, I am totally in love with the idea of interconnected series and franchises and storylines.
So, last fall I watched all the Marvel movies. In March we went to see Captain Marvel, and then the big culminating film–Endgame–was slated for the end of April.
{Fun side note: I spent almost an hour on the morning of my birthday searching for Endgame tickets because it sold out so quickly everywhere in the city! Before I met Spencer I literally would never have guessed it was such a big deal}
We watched all 21 (now) movies again in the 2 weeks leading up to Endgame, then saw that movie twice in less than 24-hours. And I cried and cried and cried. And we talked about character arcs and read box office updates and discussed possible plot holes and on and on and on and on…
I have thoughts …
It’s been really fun to be THIS into a fandom.
I never thought I’d be a superhero fan.
Actually, I still don’t think I’m a superhero fan. But the scope and storytelling of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is totally worth my time and I’m really glad Spencer introduced me to it. I now own a Captain Marvel jacket, and Captain America pajama pants. I guess that makes me an actual fan.And, of course to be fair, it’s Spencer who is heavily into the fandom and I’m just tagging along. But it’s so interesting to watch. And I’m invested in all the theories and intricacies. I’m looking forward to news about what comes next. I zero in on headlines about what is going on now. I’m in it.
The huge overarching storytelling via multiple series is brilliant.
I love that viewers can get plenty out of just watching one character’s trilogy, but if they watch another characters there’s a new perspective. I have an author friend who uses this model for his fantasy world and I think it’s genius. Totally going to use it for inspiration for my secret pen name world. I am just such a fan of plotting and planning story in advance, that all the effort and forethought that have gone into these MCU movies is so great.
I love story.
Every other movie or so when we were doing the re-watch, there would be a moment when one or the other of us will say ‘this is the 50% turning point, right?’ … we can just tell because of what is happening in the story. We can discuss the triumphs or failures of various character arcs. For example, I think Thor’s story in Endgame is brilliant and it is one of my absolute favorite things about that movie. And anyone who tells you otherwise is … well, don’t listen to them.
Anyway … TL;DR the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now part of my life and I regret nothing.
I read a lot of books. But watching movies allows me to take in a lot of story in a shorter amount of time.