Modern Mythology Endgame

Let's talk about AVENGERS: ENDGAME. And super-heroes in general and how they've fully integrated themselves into mainstream culture instead of being just "kid's stuff". (SPOILER-FREE)

First of all, AVENGERS INFINITY WAR/ENDGAME is the culmination of ten years of film world-building from MARVEL STUDIOS...in effect creating a cinematic version of their comic MARVEL UNIVERSE story by story, movie by movie...It began with IRON MAN and then regular releases followed, got the heroes together, build a modern epic all leading up to THIS...an epic that fires on all cylinders...emotional, mythic, and with a sense of cosmic wonder. Here's the list if you're interested..........https://www.cineworld.co.uk/blog/marvel-avengers-infinity-war-movie-countdown

The result is that super-hero movies/comics/stories seem to be considered an actual literary/cinematic GENRE now. Like The Western has become. Or The Detective Story. The Romance. Many of these genres have lofty literary examples. And now the spandex-wearing crowd has found their way to telling Grander Truths that every human finds relatable. Doing the right thing. Fighting adversity. Seeing something through even though you'd rather being doing something else. Just being decent. Or trying to be. And super-hero tales are adaptable. They are part soap-opera, spy-thriller, action, horror, romance, coming of age...depends on the creativity of writers and editors.

So now you have these movies which are an quite an achievement. (If you've been following every one and saw the payoff of ENDGAME, you'll know what I'm talking about.) You have a phalanx of comic-related material on television. THE ARROWVERSE on the CW, Marvel related stuff on ABC, FREEFORM, NETFLIX, and FX...There are also collected graphic novels in every brick and mortar bookstore that you can pick up that collect certain runs of a character and/or a creative team (writer/artist) that defined them for that run. Easy example: Frank Miller's DAREDEVIL...pretty much what the entire Netflix DD series is based on.

I suppose my point is this: Super-heroes and their tales have grown up to meet adult sensibilities. The general public has been introduced to the sense of wonder and empowerment that super-hero stories are so very capable of conveying if they're done well. And even if they're not done well, they still can be fun. (SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE, anyone?) The general public also now enjoys high fantasy thanks to GAME OF THRONES which would not have been possible without Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS movies. The geeks have fully taken over. But fantasy is not my forte so I'm bringing it back to super-heroes...

If this uniquely American genre has ever interested you but you don't know where to start or what to read...ask a friend who's into the stuff. For my own part, I recommend WATCHMEN. It's standalone, self-contained. You also could do far worse than picking up a Frank Miller DAREDEVIL trade paperback. PREACHER is a fun Tarantino mash-up of genres with some great dialogue(not spandex-based but still worth a look...) A personal favorite of mine is ANIMAL MAN...whereupon my favorite comic-writer GRANT MORRISON took a forgotten B-list hero and turned him into a meta-commentary on super-heroes in itself.  Even smashed the fictional fourth-wall into smithereens(ever see a comic character after chewing some peyote look up through the comic panel right at you, the reader, and saying "I CAN SEE YOU!"?) ...and did I mention a buttload of time-travel?

So go see IRON MAN. That's a good entry point too.

EXCELSIOR!