In 1963 the superhero world changed forever. The first-ever Avenger comic, Avengers #1, came out and created one of the most loyal and biggest fan bases ever.(Marvel.com n.d.) With new comics coming out year after year and the Avenger fan base constantly growing, they expanded into the cinematic universe in 2008 with the movie Iron Man (Marvel.com n.d.). With the move of going into the cinematic universe, the Avenger fandom grew faster than any fandom ever. What makes Avenger fans so different from any other superhero fandom?
The Traditions
With the comics and the movies being around for nearly 65 years, the fandom of the Avengers have built tons of traditions over the years. The main tradition of Avengers fans is the San Diego Comic-Con, that is the super bowl of all comic-cons. Fans will travel thousands of miles to spend 4 days going to attend different avenger booths and see others role play costumes. With Marvel studios being involved with their fan base, they have also taken a tradition that is for the fans, they release a big project each year for the comic con. This past year, they announced that Robert Downey Jr will be returning back into the universe. The fans erupted as if they had just won a Super bowl or if they had just won the lottery. With fans giving these reactions, it shows how passionate they are for this franchise, and how these comic movies mean a lot more than just any other movie. Another tradition that Avenger fans take much pride in is a premier for any Avenger movie. The average movie lover might wait for the movie to become available on on-demand, DVD, or a streaming service. Not Avenger fans, they need to see the movie in theater. An example of how important it is to see the movie on the big screen, according to Digital Trend (Orlando 2024), the latest Avenger movie, Avengers: Endgame, did 357 million USD on opening weekend of the film. Which puts it as one of the highest opening weekends ever. The Avenger fandom is very passionate about their movies, also it shows that the fandom is very deep in population.
Fan Accounts
Superhero characters being fictional, fans have taken action and have created social media accounts acting as the superhero. With Ironman alone, if you were to search up "IronMan" on Instagram for example, over 25 accounts popup instantly, from fans creating a social media page for him. Fans role-play as the characters online to feel like a part of the Avengers franchise, to try and bring this character to life. With this just being one character, the fandom of the Avengers has created over thousands of fan accounts, of trying to bring the character to life, or just giving updates on when the next show or movie coming to the big screen, and they just be creating memes for the Avengers. For example, this Instagram account, Marvel Post, has over 150,000 followers, and post daily clips from the movies for fans to watch. With this just being one fan account, there are tens of thousands of more accounts that post daily with Avenger Content.
Figure 1, Fan-made Groot Costume(Rplay Avengers)
Role play
Avengers fans take their costumes very seriously, fans will spend thousands of dollars and hours on end on their role play costume. If you click this link, Role play Comic con San Diego , it will take you to some of the most detailed costumes I have ever seen. This Groot costume, seen as in figure 1, is from a comic con in San Diego. With this costume being hand made, hours of hard work to wear at a comic con for 12 hours. The most common made costume would be Iron Man. His costume is the hardest to make due to the technology. Fans have attempted to make the Iron man suit identical. This youtuber has spent hours on end trying to master the Ironman suit, with spending thousands of dollars as well in the process. In the you tube video below, Alex Lab goes through the process of recreating the suit. The passion from these fans, in my opinion, is unmatched by any other movie based franchise, or maybe any regular franchise in the world.
Personal Fandom
The Avengers have been around my whole life. I have admired them, and followed them since I have been alive. I get involved in the fandom by following all Avenger accounts for each individual super hero, watching each movie close to 2-3 times in release date and in chronological order. Then my favorite memory about being apart of the fandom is when I went to the San Diego Comic-Con for all the Avenger booths. I made and wore 4 costumes on each of the different days. I own tons of Avengers Merchandise, as well as memorabilia.
References
(Did not have time to cite, will cite)
1. Orlando, A. (2024, July 29). MCU’s 5 biggest opening weekends ever, ranked. Digital Trends. https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/mcus-5-biggest-opening-weekends-ever-ranked
2. Hashimoto, M. (2024, November 30). “marvel rivals” launch trailer features Chrissy Costanza from against the current. Marvel. https://www.marvel.com/articles/games/marvel-rivals-launch-trailer-features-chrissy-costanza-from-against-the-current
3. R/playavengers - new costumes ideas for Marvel’s avengers. (n.d.). https://www.reddit.com/r/PlayAvengers/comments/iuzvkp/new_costumes_ideas_for_marvels_avengers/
4. Marvel’s the Avengers. Rotten Tomatoes. (2012, May 4). https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/marvels_the_avengers
No comments:
Post a Comment