Story Time: Marvel Fans Unite

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January 20, 2022

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been big into any fandoms or franchises. Sure, I’ve read the Harry Potter books and know my house, but I couldn’t tell you the names of some of the lesser characters. I’ve only read the Hobbit from the Lord of the Rings books, only read the first Percy Jackson, I chuckle at jokes about Disney adults, and I’ve seen Marvel movies here and there. I might get some heat for this one, but the only Star Wars movie I’ve seen is Rogue One. (I was rather confused because I spent the first half of the movie thinking Storm Troopers were good and wondering if this was one of those movies where we were supposed to be rooting for the bad guys.) So, yeah, other than the two months in 7^th grade that I ran a fan page for a Disney Channel band, I’ve never really been part of a fandom.

With that context, it’s safe to say I was rather surprised when Marvel Trivia night rolled around last semester. One of my tasks in the weeks leading up was to write the questions that would be asked. After a solid two days of searching Wikipedia, taking Buzzfeed quizzes, and scrolling through some obscure fan sites; I had my list of 75 questions ready to go…. Only for half of them to be changed because they were too easy. In the weeks leading up, I swore that the revised list of questions were way too hard; there was no way anyone would know such obscure information about these movies (especially about StanLee cameos).

I was very wrong.

I realized just how wrong I was while some staff members and I were grading the first round of answers. Not only were people getting 8-9 of the 10 questions in the round, but A LOT of people were getting 9 or even 10 right. We ended up having more than a few tie breakers that night.

But honestly, I’ve never been so glad to be wrong. It was so fun to watch people get so excited about something. The room was packed, people dressed up, they reacted to the different clips we played, they got excited when they figured out the answer to an extra hard question. It was such a cool experience to be in a room that had so much energy about one thing. A room where strangers became really united by their common interest. So before you make a tik tok mocking Disney adults or comment about people dressed up outside of movie theatres, try to be glad for this group of people that get to experience something that truly brings them joy. And I still might not be part of a fandom myself, but I have truly learned to appreciate them and the comradery they offer. May we all find our “Marvel”.

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