Why do we love superheroes so much? Is is the tights...the capes...the toys...the backstories? I don't guess we will ever really know. All I know for the last 9 years since I have been a Marvel superhero fan, those are the only movies I look forward to and the comics I love to read. But why are they so addicting? How come we have fallen in love with all these different characters...that aren't real, but live in the imagination of our mind and spirit? We may never know the real reason, but I do know that with each hero or villain...inside of us there is that one little trait of our favorite characters that we seem to identify with and almost wish it could be us scaling that mountain, or flying over that horizon or putting the bad guys in their place.

Little boys growing up, always look up to someone. They have that "hero" in their life that makes them want to achieve something greater. They want to grow up to be somebody and make a difference. There has always been "heroes" of some sorts. It goes all the way back to Errol Flynn and Robin Hood, the Three Musketeers and then eventually into the world of "superheroes." That list is too long for this blog. I think back to the WW2 days when Stan Lee created Captain America. I can just imagine every little boy in the world wanting to be Captain America and fight the bad guys and beat up Adolf Hitler and be the hero that everybody looked up to.

There's something about "saving the day." Who doesn't want to do that?! Everybody likes to get the girl, and save the day and be the "hero" and have everybody love them! I think the little kid in us, just longs to be just like our favorite hero. To do what they do...act like they act...live like they live.

I grew up liking Batman, Robin, Superman, The Incredible Hulk, Spiderman, etc etc...it actually was not til 2008 that I even heard of Iron Man believe it or not. I never got into comics when I was little. I read a few, but didn't collect them, and I look back and can say...I HATE IT that I didn't. I missed out on the golden age of comics when heroes were cool...though we are definitely coming into what I call the second golden age of comics. The heroes are cool again! In all my years of pretending to be Batman when I was little, doesn't even compare to all the hype, the dressing up, the cosplay, the toys, the collectibles...nothing compares to now. This is a very cool time to be a comicbook, hero loving, nerd, geek...whatever they call us.

In 2012 when I first saw Iron Man, I was hooked. Watched all of the Marvel Phase 1 movies. One right after the other to prepare for The Avengers. There was something about Tony Stark and Iron Man that captured my attention. It mesmerized me. I was glued to the TV and that still remains one of my favorite movies of all time. Tony's life was changed after being captured by the Ten Rings. He found out his real purpose in life. To help people. He took the tragedy of the cave and turned it into something that would eventually help people. PLUS being a genius, helped him as well. The fact he created his own hero, his own suits, his own legacy....that was something I could identify with. That's what pulled me in. I'm sure we each have our own story of what hero changed us. How we wish we could fly, or bounce bullets off our chest or stand up to a bad guy and say, "NO WAY BUB"

All in all...it's a good time to be a geek. Superheroes will be around for a long time. They're pretty much a way of life. After all, with great power, comes responsibility.