Shown in photo: Hulk Gamma Grip, Age of Ulton Costume, Captain America Shield
In anticipation for “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” three joyfully-geeky dads discuss how they’re sharing The Avengers with their kids…
This post is sponsored by Target.
It’s never been easier to be a superhero fan. Capes and cowls are EVERYWHERE nowadays – at the multiplex, on Netflix, at the mall — which is fantastic, if you’re a mild-mannered parent who loves occasionally geeking out and playing Earth’s mightiest heroes with your kids. In the olden days, you had to fly out to Comic Con or wait for Halloween to have a decent reason to get your cosplay on. But, now, with Avengers: Age of Ultron opening up at theatres this weekend, you have the perfect socially acceptable reason to dress your family up as gamma-irradiated hulks whenever you want. (Which is awesome.) With this in mind, The Good Men Project teamed up with Target (and their #AvengersatTarget Initiative) to ask three comic fan dads to share how they’re living the Avengers lifestyle with their kids. Granted, none of these guys have access to anything as swank as Tony Stark’s penthouse or Nick Fury’s Helicarrier, but, as you can see from their words and pictures, they all love sharing their geek-tastic passions with the next generation. Here’s what they said:
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Zach Rosenberg You know, I never really grew up with comics. My parents never bought them for me, so my only exposure early on was from a babysitter that collected them. He gave me a couple, but I still didn’t get hooked. I gleaned some comic knowledge in my teen years hanging out with geeks, but it wasn’t until I had a child that I started buying comics. It started when I wanted to get my son something colorful to look at that we could read at bedtime. As a bonus, I picked up a couple comics for myself. That was it; my son and I made the comic store “our thing”. We’d go together and pick out comics, and check out the $300 collectible statues we’d never buy. My son quickly learned every hero’s name and now loves anything Marvel. Between you and me, I’m such a really stuffy adult. Though I masquerade as a “cool” dad on the internet by taking perfectly-framed pictures of my son and I playing video games and nerding out over toys, I’m your average stressed-out adult. I worry about the state of the world. I worry about money. I worry about throwing a football in the house and breaking the TV. We have a room full of toys that there just never seems to be time or space to play with. When Target sent some Avengers dress-up toys to play with, I knew I had let some Captain America shields fly in the house. I had to let my son hit something with the Hulk hands. It was a Fight Club moment actually; I knew I had to tell my son to Hulk SMASH me as hard as he could. So I did:
I got an epic HULK SMASH from my son. Because fatherhood.
A video posted by Zach Rosenberg (@zjrosenberg) on
Shown here: Hulk Gamma Grip, Child’s Hulk Mask
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When I was a kid, reading about superheroes was a real solitary passion of mine. I didn’t have many friends who read comics, so my trips to the local comic book store were self-indulgent experiences. I wasn’t going to the store because of peer pressure or because I thought it would make me look cool. I was there because I loved comics. LOVED them. A giant stack of Spider-Man and X-Men comics – which I’d inherited from a friend’s older brother — turned me into a hardcore Marvel Zombie. I couldn’t get enough of the characters, the story arcs, the artwork. If you think the plots on Game of Thrones are intricate, try 75 YEARS of Marvel history. It was the storytelling goldmine that never stopped giving.
Shown: Captain America Baseball Hat, Avengers Baseball Hat
And now that I’m a dad and Marvel Comics are ubiquitous – thanks to the amazing movie franchise – I find myself in the wonderful position of having opportunity after opportunity to share my treasure trove of secret childhood comics knowledge with my young daughter. When we stroll down the toy aisle together, she points out heroes and asks me about them. I explain that Captain America’s shield is made of a rare mixture of vibranium and adamantium. I try to explain Thor’s history, his rivalry with Loki, Beta Ray Bill, that time he turned into a frog (no, really). She asks me who was the worst Avenger (easy: Dr. Druid) and who is my favorite silly bad-guy (I have a soft-spot for Stilt-Man and Paste-Pot Pete). It might seem trivial, but, being out in public and seeing the Avengers everywhere, it starts these long, languorous conversations that I adore. Stories are told, battles are recounted, my daughter listens with rapt attention. And then we go home and she puts on an Iron Man mask and I turn a Frisbee into a Captain America shield and we make some new memories.
Shown: Iron Man Armor, Iron Man Full Costume Set
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My kids are eagerly awaiting Marvel‘s Age of Ultron. Their latest tech savvy passion is to cosplay as their favorite Avengers, have me photograph them, and then use a comic book app to write, illustrate, and star in their own comics. It’s a great introduction into how comic books are made and a truly fun family activity. My daughter is all about Iron Man and my boy is a loyal Captain America fanboy. So you can see where this Civil War is going! With that in mind, let me present this spiritual prequel to the new Avengers movie — The Yarde kids in “Trouble at Avengers Tower!”
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This post was written in partnership with Avengers for Target
Captain America Shield, Iron Man Full Costume Set, Deluxe Captain America Kids Costume
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