Everybody loves the MCU. Okay I know I’ll get a lot of flack for saying that but let’s just be real for a second. Even if you can’t stand the MCU, you have to admit that Marvel has been and is going to be (for the lack of a better term) the talk of the town. This is especially true with the excitement coming from release of Black Panther and the upcoming release of Avengers: Infinity War Part 1. Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 & 2 are supposed to be the final chapter in Phase One of the MCU. It’s going to be big daddy of all of the Avengers movies, of all the the past Marvel movies. It is going to be epic(hopefully). But for me it will be a little bittersweet.
For me it will be the end of my childhood. I was about 10 years old when I saw Iron Man. I grew up with these movies and in away they grew up with me. They’ve seen me succeed, make mistakes and grow as a person. I’ve seen them succeed, make mistakes and grow as a movie franchise. Over the years I’ve fallen in love with these characters and they kinda became a part of my family–a part of me, if that makes sense. These movies impacted me in a such a way that while I was into comics long before Iron Man came out, I also doubt I would have been as interested in or invested into Marvel as I am now nor made the friends did growing up bonding over our love for the movies and the comics. I’ll even go as far and say that the movies increased my love for comics as a whole and was part of the reason I wanted to be a graphic artist growing up.
And don’t get me wrong, I am stoked for the Phase Two movies that will come out after Infinity War but I still feel sad about this first part ending. It’s like growing up and going to school with your childhood friends and graduating. You know your going to have to go your separate ways and while you can try and stay in contact with each other…but for one reason or another, it won’t be the same. However in the end you know that those friendships were worth it and even if they don’t stand the test of time, you have memories to go back on. So with that said, come forth Infinity War and Phase Two. May you both be amazing and inspire the next generation of comic book lovers the way you inspired me.
This franchise has been going on for so long now. I honestly won’t be surprised if this series is still going 50 years from now. Disney owns your childhood now along with everything else.