Homo Immortalis

It felt slightly awkward, going back to the movies. After about twenty months, I went to a movie theater to see Eternals, the new Marvel movie. We decided to go to The 400, a tiny, hole in the wall theater in Edgewater. Those theaters have been there since forever and we thought it was not going to be a big deal to go there, given that the movie had premiered on Friday and it was the last show. Wrong. There were too many people there for my comfort (everybody was wearing a mask, mind you) and I got a bout of anxiety at the beginning, TBH. But after more or less thirty movies of the Marvel Universe, we got to see one where the gay subtext became text. Well, that and because I wanted to see Kumail Nanjiani in that uniform. 

The thing is, I tend to go see most superhero movies because as someone who grew up reading comic books, every one of these movies is kind of a celebration of those hours I spent reading about their adventures when I was twelve. My mom had a friend who sold comics and I used to get one every time a new one was available. I was a geeky kid, so sue me. Also, I've always have a weakness for athletic men with superpowers who wear skintight clothing. 

I, contrary to many critics, liked the movie. It was a good reintroduction to a group of superheroes that I had almost forgotten (it's been awhile since I read my last comic book, mind you) and it introduces a whole set of characters that introduces basically the whole Marvel universe. Not an easy task, mind you. Especially taking into account that the average viewer of the Marvel movies is either a die-hard fan of the comics or a fifteen year old with the attention span of a fruit fly on Mountain Dew. The plot needs to cover a lot of terrain and in a little bit more than two hours, it kind of does that. You leave the theater and you have a good idea of what may be coming ahead and how this movie ties with many others in the Marvel universe.

But the thing that most called my attention was the introduction of a gay character in the movie. Phastos, one of the superheroes in the movie, happens to be gay. To be openly gay and to *gasp* have a loving husband and a child. On top of that, the husband seems to be Arabic, so yeah. cue the outrage in Muslim countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar) who refused to show the movie after Disney refused to cut the scenes and the other countries that actually showed the movie but cut out ANY intimacy between characters (the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt). Gotta love it.

I for one, enjoyed having a superhero that kissed his husband before he left to save the world (also, added points for not making him ripped and buffed but smart) and enjoyed the movie as a whole. Well, not every Marvel movie has an Oscar-winning director and a pretty diverse cast of characters telling an origin story. I'm sure it was no easy task. But they did well. It made 71 million in two days in the US and 161+ million worldwide. Not bad for a movie some of the fans were not sure about (well, it had a woman director and a female lead the fanboys could not take that laying down) and many critics decided was too long (have they seen any origin story before??).

So yeah, it was my first outing to a movie theater after the pandemic hit and it was worth it. I even had popcorn. 

XOXO

P.S. Kit Harrington's butt is almost worth the price of the ticket, btw