Marvel or Star Wars?
Spoilers!
Last year brought the end of two eras.
The conclusion of the comic book franchise spanning 10 years and 20+ films, and of the saga in the galaxy far, far away.
One grossed to become the top box office film in history, and the other didn’t break the top 30.
One brought its arc to a celebratory finish, and the other ended in a whimper.
And that got me thinking: would it have been better the other way around?
Would I sacrifice the glory of Avengers: Endgame to have an incredible ninth installment in the Skywalker Saga?
To be honest, I was never strongly attached to Star Wars. I watched them as a kid, but it’s become increasingly clear to me that I have no meaningful memories of a lot of the movies from my childhood. There are a few I can remember. Toy Story 3. Back to the Future. I can remember The Terminal, Hotwheels: Acceleracers, Up, Meet the Robinsons, Harry Potter. But Star Wars has fallen into the other category. It was part of the nerd pop culture, and I kind of identified with it by default, in a way. But I didn’t hold a personal connection to it like I do with the films I still remember today.
With Marvel, I remember walking into the middle of Iron Man 2 on my parents’ TV and just getting hooked. I was old enough to appreciate the films more. I think I was around 14. It was like my consciousness was finally waking up. I could say that I liked them for a stronger reason than that it was just the thing to identify with. I genuinely enjoyed them. Back when Netflix had them all, I binged all of the Marvel movies. I can still remember watching Captain America: The First Avenger, watching the credits roll, and thinking how great of a movie it was. At that point, Marvel had me.
Star Wars is to my parents what Marvel is to me. My dad was the one to show me the galaxy far, far away, and I’ll always have that. But I won’t have the great trilogy that he grew up with. I won’t have that theater experience.
I won’t have “No, I am your father.”
I won’t have Return of the Jedi.
But I have the Avengers Initiative.
I have “On your left.”
I won’t have Luke, but I have Cap dual-wielding his Shield and Mjolnir. I’ll have the most epic battle of all battles, a 40-minute extravaganza that felt like it ended in a snap.
I have “I am Iron Man.”
I don’t know what Star Wars’ sequel trilogy could have been. But whatever the possibilities are, I don’t think it would affect me as much as Marvel has. It wouldn’t have the same impact.
For that, I’m satisfied with the way things went.
Of course, I’d prefer to have it both ways, but if I have to choose one, I’m glad it’s the one we got.
