Here\u2019s something else from the past, for those interested. First, I\u2019ll post here two very rough drafts that I wrote up back in May. The second one of these has a pretty obvious error that I\u2019ll leave in, untouched, because I think that it\u2019s telling and interesting nevertheless. Then, I\u2019ll close with some additional factoids and insights.<\/p>\n
——————————————<\/p>\n
An Examined Life<\/b><\/p>\n
I did it, I think. I think I finally figured myself out.<\/p>\n
I think that this\u2026 stuff, this reality bending thing I do, might have been going on now for 3 decades, at least. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m noticing now that the celebrity culture of today looks weirdly close in some ways to the fantasies I had as a kid about the Greek Gods. I mean, they\u2019re even starting to look<\/i> the same, now. <\/p>\n
Scarily enough, I think that I might have been \u201cmolding\u201d things for a long, long time now. Perhaps much longer than I had even realized. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve not seen the comic book movies. I mean, movies like the Avengers, Thor, The X-Men, Iron Man, Spider-Man, etc. I\u2019ve not seen a single one of them except for the first Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie, way back then, but I have a very, very scary hunch that they might be similar in form and content to the Marvel-based fantasy world I created as a little kid about those characters. I got this idea from reading synopses of the films on Wikipedia. I mean, I don\u2019t really know, and I hope<\/i> that that isn\u2019t true, I really do, but if it is\u2026 I wouldn\u2019t know what to think.<\/p>\n
My Marvel fantasies were based primarily on the 80\u2019s comics. The ones I got from my mom\u2019s co-worker. I got boxes and boxes of old comics from him\u2026 mostly Marvel, but a few DC. I bought some comics of my own, like the Guardians of the Galaxy<\/i> and X-Men<\/i> comics of the 90\u2019s, but I couldn\u2019t afford to buy too much that was new. So I read used comics, mostly. Back in grade school I made a huge, elaborate fantasy world off of the 80\u2019s Marvel Universe that might<\/i> be similar to the one currently popular w\/ other people. Might<\/i>. I wouldn\u2019t know, since I\u2019ve made it a point to avoid it.<\/p>\n
If it is\u2026 IDK. I could think it a coincidence. I mean, it could easily be. How many kids had those same fantasies about those characters when they were young, back then? Maybe millions, or tens of millions. Surely the directors and producers of the films did too, right? So, it would likely be a coincidence. But\u2026 maybe not. What if it\u2019s just a little too<\/i> coincidental? As in, coincidental down to details? And I mean this seriously, guys. Those synopses are freaking me the hell out right now. What am I supposed to think, then?<\/p>\n
I probably shouldn\u2019t see those movies, maybe.<\/p>\n
An Examined Life, Part II<\/b><\/p>\n
My powers, like the rest of me, must have developed in fits and starts. As in, some years they might have grown a lot, in others, not so much, and in some they might have actually regressed through disuse.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think it realistic at all that the \u201cMarvel Universe\u201d film fad could be a complete fabrication of my 12 year old brain. I was too young then, and too weak, to have done such a thing. And that was a long time ago, way, way before anyone thought that a live action Thor was a good idea.<\/p>\n
However- there are coincidences, here, that are just too interesting for comfort. A few of the storylines and plots of the Marvel movies that Wikipedia provides are indeed quite similar to what I thought about, back then. The Iron Man<\/i> and Avengers<\/i> movies in particular seem alarming. <\/p>\n
But\u2026 there are glaring differences, too. Some of my primary fantasies never made it to the silver screen. Like the ones I had of Hercules (the Marvel character), Groo the Wanderer, and ROM the Spaceknight. I had every issue ever printed of ROM, ever, including the annuals, and a huge, corresponding fantasy world of him as well, but there\u2019s no film of him anywhere. And of course there\u2019s nothing of Groo. And I had never even heard<\/i> of Deadpool.<\/p>\n
But still, the similarities are there. I still find it hard to believe that Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man became movies at all, let alone hits. And that Infinity Gauntlet and possibly, maybe even Secret Wars are apparently going to be filmed. That\u2019s weird, and it does make me wonder.<\/p>\n
What I think now is this: if I did indeed have any influence over the Marvel craze, it was in pushing over the first domino. If I did do anything (and again this is a big<\/i> if), it was in getting the ball rolling.<\/p>\n
In this scenario, in pouring my psychic energy into Marvel-based fantasies back then, I opened the door, somehow, to the general movie universe becoming real in the first place. So in reading and re-reading my copies of Secret Wars and Infinity Gauntlet, and inadvertently focusing my fledgling powers on those characters and what a movie of those comics would be like, I started a chain reaction that snowballed into what could be their actual creation.<\/p>\n
Both Secret Wars and Infinity Gauntlet were big with me, back then. I even had most of the crossovers and follow up issues, like the Adam the Worlock series that followed up Infinity Gauntlet. I don\u2019t remember much of the Crossovers, unfortunately, except for that cool Hulk one with the cultists during Infinity Gauntlet, and the Secret Wars II Thor crossover issue with Kurse. And the Cloak and Dagger one where the Beyonder removed their powers. That one was cool and touching. I think I still have that one, somewhere. The rest, though, I don\u2019t much remember.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019m not alone in this, of course. There must have been other kids with some amount of psychic power thinking these things, too. So, maybe it was a group of us, and not just me. That is very possible If not likely.<\/p>\n
I certainly hope so. My first thought in regards to the Marvel movies was that they were popular because they weren\u2019t<\/i> about me. As in, they were popular because they were the peoples\u2019 refuge from my mind control. Granted, of course, my powers did extend to the actors, but not necessarily, I thought, to the plots and characters of comic book movies. So it was a way for common people to escape from me when in the multiplex.<\/p>\n
I certainly don\u2019t begrudge people that, and I didn\u2019t investigate the movies because I somewhat wanted that to be true. <\/p>\n
Anyone that wonders why I wouldn\u2019t want that to be true need only read the Infinity Gauntlet and Secret Wars series themselves. Shades of Doom, here, not wanting to sleep because of his fear that he would inadvertently destroy the universe. Or of Death mistakenly zapping herself back into her shriveled old body.<\/p>\n
Ultimate, Godlike power has major drawbacks. To rule the universe means that you have responsibility for it, too. And that means that you must always be wary of a zillion unrelated things and how they all relate to each other. And that\u2019s not necessarily fun. Or good.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll see what happens with Infinity Gauntlet. <\/p>\n
——————————————<\/p>\n
A lot of insights here. <\/p>\n
I think that for now I\u2019ll focus on the comic book angle.<\/p>\n
Did you spot the mistake in the second post? Obviously, when I wrote these drafts I was under the impression that the Secret Wars<\/i> miniseries that is being talked about was the old one. It isn\u2019t. It\u2019s actually a new miniseries\u2026 also named Secret Wars<\/i>. I don\u2019t write comics, so I\u2019ll leave my opinion of that<\/i> move out of this, I think.<\/p>\n
But- still. It is<\/i> still named Secret Wars<\/i>. And of course the plot is different from the series from my youth, but it does seem similar to other<\/i> fantasies I had back then. So… it\u2019s not exact, but it\u2019s close. Kinda.<\/p>\n
And so is the rest of it. In my old post about the Guardians of the Galaxy<\/i> movie, I remarked this: <\/p>\n
\u201cI will see GOTG though. Yeah, def. It\u2019s just amazing that they made a movie out of it. I don\u2019t care if it\u2019s got different heroes than the ones I grew up with. I don\u2019t care if the movie was made because Hollywood is out of ideas or whatever. I actually used to daydream about what a Guardians movie would be like during those boring math classes. I\u2019m definitely going to watch this at some point. In fact, I\u2019m becoming more and more curious as I type this.\u201d<\/p>\n
This made it seem as though I wasn\u2019t familiar with the characters in the new Galaxy<\/i> team. This isn\u2019t entirely correct. The team itself I wasn\u2019t familiar with, but a few of the characters on the new team I did know about when I was young. Like Rocket Raccoon, for example. I never once read a comic with him in it, but I was aware of him because of a few in-comic ads for his old 4 issue miniseries back in the 80\u2019s. So he had a spot in my fantasy world as well, along with Drax the Destroyer and Gamora, who I learned about in the mid 80\u2019s edition of the Official Marvel Handbook.<\/p>\n
But- Groot, I hadn\u2019t heard of until the movie. Nor Starlord. So, there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n
What worries me, here, are the implications of what I\u2019m thinking about. If my brainstorms here are correct, and if I\u2019m not going off the deep end with the narcissism here, then the Marvel Universe fad could in fact be my primary vehicle for mind control over the masses. As in\u2026 it could well be my Trojan Horse. My way of softening them up for the kill, which comes in the form of other movies and TV shows. So, it wouldn\u2019t be the masses\u2019 escape from me, after all. Then\u2026 perhaps there is<\/i> no escape from me, for them. <\/p>\n
Scary thought. Truly. Let\u2019s hope it\u2019s wrong. But if it isn\u2019t\u2026 then I\u2019ll accept it, and so, I guess, will everyone else. Because that\u2019s just how things are destined to be.<\/p>\n
At any rate, the vampire and I need to talk, someday, about this. Not now, though.<\/p>\n
I think I\u2019ll close this post with a thought to one of Dr. Strange\u2019s most memorable moments, and the one most poignant to what I\u2019m feeling now. It was in one of those old \u201cWhat If?\u201d comics.<\/p>\n
In it, Galactus (I think) used the Ultimate Nullifier to wipe out the universe. All that was left of creation was Strange, the Silver Surfer, and Phoenix. They find each other in the void, and after talking about their situation, eventually Phoenix and the Surfer depart to find their own paths in the emptiness.<\/p>\n
Strange, though, stays put. As the universe\u2019s most powerful wizard, he feels a duty to protect it even if it is now empty and dead, forever. Even if it will never again be threatened by anything. So, he does\u2026 for all eternity. Alone.<\/p>\n
That\u2026 can\u2019t be my fate. And it won\u2019t be.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll not go out like that- alone, the most powerful and untouchable being out there. <\/p>\n
That isn\u2019t the right way to live, I think.<\/p>\n
And it won\u2019t be mine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here\u2019s something else from the past, for those interested. First, I\u2019ll post here two very rough drafts that I wrote up back in May. The second one of these has a pretty obvious error that I\u2019ll leave in, untouched, because I think that it\u2019s telling and interesting nevertheless. Then, I\u2019ll close with some additional factoids […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2204"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2204"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2212,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2204\/revisions\/2212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighinide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}