It's sophomore year of high school. My best friend invites me to see “The Avengers” and I’m not excited at all. The trailers bored me, the characters confused me, and I thought it was for boys. I go into it wanting to hate it, wanting to not get it, wanting all these things but getting something entirely different instead.
A few weeks later: I’m sitting outside on a random sidewalk in Cary, North Carolina, waiting for Robert Downey Jr. to walk by as he films “Iron Man 3” and running around the set like a crazy woman. Then immediately after we wait for hours and hear nothing but a rumor the Iron Man suits were in the building across from us, we go and see “The Avengers” for the third time at the theater next door.
Flash forward four years and I’m waiting in line for the midnight premiere of "Civil War" with that same friend who helped create the addiction. Then flash forward a few more minutes to when we were sitting in our chairs shaking as the Marvel logo appeared.
Here’s the thing: I’m a huge nerd. But here’s the other thing: Comic books aren’t just for nerds anymore. Or should I say nerds aren’t just for nerds anymore. Pretty sure the rise of geek culture is the best thing that ever happened to me. I once got complimented eight different times during the day for wearing a Marvel skirt. An actual skirt with comic books on it. What has the world come to?
And trust me, it’s not the compliments that cause me to love Marvel. It’s not the beautiful actors the play the iconic characters. It’s not even the chill I get when I see that logo or hear that score. Because of that damn company I want to become a film director. Because of that day in the moldy, popcorn-encrusted theater, I want to spend my life making movies and changing people’s perspective on the world so that maybe one day they can see Iron Man flying through the sky, too.
There’s so much hope in knowing that we could live in a world where we’d have constant protectors flying through the sky, whether that be a billionaire playboy philanthropist or just a kid from Brooklyn.
And in a world as screwed up as ours, we could all use a little hope. #TeamCap
