I’m massive comic book fan. When I was a kid, I used to obsessively collect and play with these Spiderman toys that my parents got me for my birthday and Christmas. They were jewels in my life and, to this day, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a good time pretending to be Peter Parker.

My brother got me into the heavier stuff though. He had a real passion for DC – Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman. I remember he customised his whole team on MADDEN and renamed the players as the alter egos of all these comic book characters; Bruce Wayne was the captain with Clarke Kent running plays as the quarterback.

So I’m grateful, each and every day, that I get to see these characters in real life on a screen. We live in such a great time in film and television with most of these art forms not only providing great entertainment but also having profound effects on the societies we live in.

Think about how we acknowledge strangers. For the most part, one can judge a person based on the TV shows they binge – Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Mindhunter and Stranger Things. The creative expression and art that is the visual medium of film has never been so enticing and has never had so much variety. There is literally a show out there for everyone. And the people that gather around these stories create communities that people cherish.

So this morning I wake up and I do my usual check over. Scan my Instagram for anything new and check my facebook messages as well as all the memes I’ve been tagged in. I look at a couple of cute puppy videos and then I switch it to Youtube. And then that’s when I see it.

Number 1, trending worldwide with millions of views already.

Avengers: Infinity War.

You have to understand that I loved extraordinary people when I was growing up – they were my idols, fictional or otherwise. I loved athletes and heroes that could do more than the average person. Whether that be with superpowers or not, the idea of being super was, like for many young boys and girls, an awesome dream that captured my life

Now as of late, the flow of superhero movies haven’t been amazing. More specifically with the DC movie range. Batman vs Superman was ok. But from what I hear and what I’ve seen of Justice league, it was about the same as well. The game has changed and now storytelling through heroes requires so much more than cool costumes with awesome visual effects. The acting, the story and the aesthetic of the films are all massive components that each need to be hit precisely.

In my opinion, Wonder Woman was one of the only films this year, and in a while, that was actually revolutionary.
We’re talking about the first female superhero movie. Not only did it live up to the hype, but it broke boundaries and shared and visited so many contextually relevant social issues that connected with so many people all over the world.
In a time where women were not treated equally, the idea of a woman who chose to fight, despite being oppressed, gave life to a whole new world in where simple comic book heroes can now delve.

So when you see the trailer for the new Avengers movie, you can’t help but be curious as to what might be in store. And truth be told, it probably doesn’t have the same social commentary but it does what comic books have always done for kids like me; it gives us an escape.
The clashing of worlds and the melding of so many complex characters, each of which brings their own personalities, are revolutionary in itself.

There’s this scene in the new trailer where Peter Parker’s spidey senses go off. The hairs on his arm all raise up as an imminent threat arrives.
That’s when the goosebumps kick in.
Your brain automatically goes back to all those times you were a kid. Where Spiderman was up against something just out of his reach. A situation where he had to go beyond his superpowers to fight the bad guy and how he did so despite the odds.

It went beyond entertainment, and instead preached more about character.

Comic book movies are a lot more than box office smashes. They’re a light in a world for many young and now older people who continue to live their lives in wonder. So there’s no confusion when movies like this are a big deal, we need them more than anything.

So you can’t deny the hype around this movie, and I will not apologise for how excited I am. My childhood, just like many others’, is about to become more of a reality than we’ve ever imagined.