Emily Willen

You can really pick this apart if you're into philosophy or analyzing stories.

Loved and grew up with the movie. Although there are nostalgic scenes in the show, there's too much whiny teen-drama, which is uncharacteristic of the original (and to be honest, no one likes the bratty hero in any fantasy franchise...)...It's like watching a modern Disney-teen movie, but with Willow stuck in the middle of it. I usually push through bad shows in case they happen to get better (I got through episode 4), but this is the first I just can not do. At least we still have the movie. -Written by a queer

I finally got to see End Game yesterday; particularly because it was always sold out in previous attempts to see it, lack of time, etc... I decided to go see it yesterday in honor of my dad... It was...most difficult to watch as it overwhelmed me with intense emotions... A few times I had to almost leave the theater... But even though it was very hard for me to sit through, I feel it was the perfect movie to watch on the first Father's Day I do not have my dad... I find it interesting that many people close to me didn't realize it would affect me so strongly... So let me go back to the correlation between Marvel & my dad... Very few may know my dad was severely abused while growing up. I'm not talking about just beatings... I'm talking about gruesome, graphic, behavior you only read about in horror stories... My dad once cried to me that he didn't know how to be a father because he associated fatherly things with going sailing, then being thrown overboard in mid-winter while the boat left him there, or helping his dad be a guinea pig for corrosive chemical concoctions... Most summers, he was locked away in the basement, because he didn't want to be dealt with... All summer... He would stash things throughout the basement so he could survive, food for sustenance but also comics to keep him sane (if you've been to my house, the house my dad grew up in, the house my dad gave me with no ties whatsoever, you'll know it's built strangely with secret passages & compartments all over. In the basement bathroom alone, there are 3 places in the wall you can stash goods)... My dad would read these comics to not just pass the time, but he also used as lessons. To most, Marvel is just something cool or has a good storyline; To my dad, it was a foundation of morals. Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in a sense, were my dad's father figures. My dad once told me, sometime when I was in middle school, that when he was reading these comics alone in the basement he concluded that if there were villains in the world (aka, my grandfather) there must be heroes out there as well; it ultimately formed my dad to be the wonderful person he turned out to be, in wanting to choose the side of goodness. My father not once hit me, but more then that, he faced his fears to do things he associated as "fatherly" like taking me to an amusement park for my 10th birthday (where he, I later found out, was terrified of since his dad would pay workers to leave him on rides for hours as my grandpa abandoned him). My dad taught me the importance of integrity, to help anyone & everyone in need, honesty, compassion in all situations, empathy, and all other things we associate with heroes. After his passing, so many people have been reaching out to me confirming that he had helped them so much, which is more than just words to me for this reason. So to me, Marvel is a symbol that represents the good and wholeness in my dad. It represents hope given to a small helpless child, who literally had heroes rescue him from a life of abuse... Spider Man, "the kid that grew up in Forest Hills" (where my dad grew up) represented my dad... Tony stark reading a bedtime story represented my dad... That the movie contained so many fatherly elements from multiple characters, & the Avengers assembling... It was like the movie was speaking directly to me, like when they would mention things like moving forward for the greater good... The fact that it is the final chapter of the Marvel series also is significant, and that it's title is in fact "End Game". This isn't just a story, it's a symbol that has a ripple effect to do good in the world... It represents my dad, who was & will always be my hero.... I would like to sincerely thank every single person that contributed to this film, as they did a phenomenal job in capturing that element, & allowed me this gift to honor my dad in the most heartfelt way. Thank you.