Avatar (2009)

Last Halloween, I went to costume party at a local bar. I decided to forego a costume and just dress up in a way that made me feel good. I wore my favorite button-up shirt, put gel in my hair, added my favorite accessories. As I looked in the mirror I felt confident in my chubby, queer body - I felt handsome.

That night, someone very earnestly came up to me and said that I had "the best Pat costume" they'd ever seen. They were, of course, talking about the character of Pat, from the 90s SNL bits "It's Pat". The person who told me this was trying to give me a compliment. They didn't realize that it could be misconstrued as an insult, that the queer community has a complicated relationship with Pat's depiction of androgyny. That's part of why I think this documentary, We Are Pat (2025), is so important.

After the onslaught of comments on Thor: Love and Thunder, Marvel’s next film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has become the main focus of fans. Obviously, being made after the death of Chadwick Boseman will be a hard but exciting ride for this Marvel entry.

Ever since its predecessor was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, the question will be raised of whether or not this film will turn the same trick. It’s very rare for Marvel movies to pull a feat like this off, but it’s not impossible. If Martin Scorsese is right about Marvel films, they are not "cinema" and are only to be viewed as amusement park rides. However, it seems that Black Panther has elevated the genre to a higher echelon than that of children’s entertainment.

Nevertheless, can the Black Panther sequel garner the same success and score a nod for Best Picture?

Disclaimer: This article reflects the views of the author.

Author: Nathanael Molnár, originally published [4/26/2020]

It was Friday, April 26th, 2019. I was sitting in the AMC Dolby Theater, my friends on either side of me. Everyone in the theater was buzzing, excited. A couple of people walked in with light-up arc reactors pinned to their chests. The lights came down, and the iconic Marvel Studios theme blasted through the theater. The audience cheered; everyone was giddy and ready for what we had all been patiently waiting for since May 2nd, 2008. Avengers: Endgame, the fulfillment of the promise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It’s strange to think that Endgame came out a full year ago. I’ve been a fan of the MCU from the very beginning. As a life-long comic book fan, following the unfolding and the blossoming of this entire cinematic universe has been truly magical. It’s something that I’m still surprised we get to see and enjoy. I believe the MCU redefined the comic book movie genre. Comic book movies existed before the MCU and were successful before it. However, under the meticulous leadership of Kevin Feige, the MCU gave us something radically different (current list of all MCU films 2021).

It brought to life the long-form storytelling of comic books, the character arcs that span years, and the meshing of different worlds. In the medium of film, the MCU captured the feeling of reading comic books spanning decades, following characters in their own stories, and then following them into their larger team-ups. Sure, there were the X-Men movies that revitalized the genre when Batman & Robin had essentially killed it. Spider-Man brought whimsy back into the genre, and Batman Begins established realism. It was the MCU that brought consistent continuity, long-form story arcs, and a balance of bombastic spectacle action and genuine character growth and development.

As successful as the MCU became, as popular as The Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy or Black Panther became, the entirety of this 22 movie experiment hinged on its conclusion. If the MCU didn’t deliver a satisfying conclusion to what this entire thing had been building towards, everyone would have walked away disappointed. Sure, we would still revere the individual films we loved, but the MCU as a whole would have far less significance if Endgame had dropped the ball. On April 26th, 2019, Endgame not only did not drop the ball, but it delivered for fans so much that it went on to become the highest grossing movie of all time!