Dear Steemit friends, let me take you deep into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now even if you are not a fan of the Marvel series, I am certain that nearly no matter your geographical location, you have heard of Marvel or at least some of their iconic heroes like Spider-Man. Especially as of late with all of the Hollywood blockbuster feature films. I have been a fan of Marvel since I was a little girl reading the comic books that were available at my local corner shop in Singapore for one dollar. Today I am taking you into GOMA, Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art. Brisbane is a metropolitan city in Queensland, Australia, a city that I called home for 14 years. When I heard that the gallery were putting on a special Marvel exhibition, I could not wait to go and check it out. The fangirl in me was so excited, I had been reading about these superheroes for years and had been watching them on the big screen. The thought of being able to see the costumes and the behind-the-scenes of it all was very exciting. I have experience working on movie sets as a hair stylist and special effects make-up artist so the finer details of it all truly interests me.

This exhibition was actually the world's largest Marvel exhibition to ever be held inside an art gallery. I must admit I was a little surprised at the choice of location but the intimate setting really added an exclusive feel to the whole exhibition. We are always looking for more things to do, places to go and things to discover and an art gallery is a great option that unfortunately gets overlooked. Excluding the Marvel exhibition, GOMA houses a Collection of over 17,000 works of historical, modern and contemporary art. It also stages a dynamic program of Australian and international exhibitions from local and foreign artists. One of the most impressive aspects of this gallery is the Australian Cinémathèque, the only dedicated cinema facility in an Australian museum. Don't you worry about not having any snacks to enjoy the movies as GOMA operates its own retail store and cafes in which the proceeds go to supporting the Gallery.

To find me, look for my Chihuahua's face

GOMA Marvel Exhibition

Marvel began in 1939 as Timely Comics, and by the early 1950s had become Atlas Comics. The official Marvel era began in 1961, the year that the company created The Fantastic Four a superhero team designed by Stan Lee. Marvel has created household names such as Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, Wolverine and the X-Men. Most of Marvel's characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with most locations mirroring real-life places such as New York City.

The exhibition takes you on a journey from Marvel's humble comic strip beginnings to the present day cinematic universe. The exhibition is set up like a walk through taking you from room to room and from one character to the next. The exhibition's main focus is on the costumes and props used in the recent Marvel movies.

"I have always tried to have a message, not to be a preacher, but a message that shows it's better to be a good guy than a bad guy, and I try to make it clear that doing the right thing is more attractive than not. " ~ Stan Lee

Captain America

We all have our favourites and one of my favourite Marvel Characters is Captain America. He first appeared in March 1941 in a self-titled comic. Captain America was designed as a patriotic supersoldier who fought in World War II. His comics were distributed to American soldiers fighting overseas at the time and proved as an effective moral booster.
The character wears a patriotic red, white and blue costume and has a nearly indestructible shield which he throws as a projectile. Captain America is the alter ego of Steve Rogers, a physically weak young man enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum to aid the United States in World War II. Close to the end of the war, he became trapped in ice, however, survived in suspended animation until he was revived in the present day. Although Captain America often struggles to maintain his ideals as a man out of his time, he remains a respected figure becoming a member of the Avengers. The exhibition showcased the different outfits worn by Chris Evans the actor who portrayed Captain America in the recent movies and also his military motorcycle which I thought was particularly cool.

" I guess one person can make a difference." ~ Stan Lee

The Avengers

The Avengers made their debut in September 1963 . The Avengers is the revamped version of a previous superhero team called the All-Winners Squad, I don't know about you but thank goodness for the change. Imagine going to see All-Winners Squad End Game at the cinema. It doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it? The original team consisted of Ant-Man, the Wasp, the Hulk, Iron Man and Thor, which is interesting considering Captain America is called The First Avenger. The exhibition has each Character's back story mounted on the wall next to their respective costume. There were also large television screens in each room showing clips from the movies.

"I'm just somebody who tries to write things that entertain people. And if I can do it in a way that makes them prefer to emulate the good guy than the bad guy, I'm happy." ~ Stan Lee

Ironman

Iron Man aka Tony Stark made his comic book debut in March 1963. He is an extremely wealthy American business magnate, playboy, and ingenious scientist who suffers a life-threatening chest injury during a kidnapping. When his captors attempt to force him to build a weapon of mass destruction for them, he instead creates a powered suit of armor to escape captivity. When Tony returns to New York he further develops and enhances his suit. He uses the suit and all his successive versions to protect the world as Iron Man. In the exhibition several versions or rather "Mark's" of Iron Man's suits were on display. It was very interesting to be able to look at the suits up close and in person. They actually vary quite a lot in design from Mark 1 to Mark 42. The exhibition housed just a handful of those different designs and I mean he did blow most of his suits up in a fireworks display for Pepper Potts. Pepper Potts is Tony Stark's love interest, assistant and part-time side kick. I would absolutely love to try on one of those suits of armour, I mean come on, who wouldn't?

"I think people have always loved things that are bigger than life, things that are imaginative." ~ Stan Lee

Thor

Thor is a big part of the Marvel Universe. I am not exactly sure how the Norse God of Thunder in ancient mythology became a superhero but somehow he did. It seems strange that children today will know Thor as Marvel's version rather than the one from Norse mythology. Thor possesses an enchanted hammer, Mjolnir, and it grants him the ability to fly and manipulate the weather. He lives on Asgard with his mischievous brother Loki and father Odin. Thor of course appearing in ancient books long before his comic book debut in August 1962. I have to say the Asgardian room in the exhibition was my favourite, it was so elaborate and featured the throne in all its grandeur and elegance. The Asgardian costumes are so elegant, I definitely want a gown or two for myself.

Guardians of the Galaxy

After exiting the throne room of Asgard, it is very hard to compete. Luckily for me, my favourite Marvel Character was in the next room, Rocket Racoon. Rocket is an ass-kicking, spaceship flying Racoon who is a member of The Guardians of the Galaxy. The other members are Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax and Groot, together they form an alliance to protect the universe and also steal things along the way. The Guardians are a fairly recent addition to the Marvel Universe but in my opinion the best. They are comical and unique providing very relatable characters not to mention fuzzily cute. Unfortunately the exhibition didn't have much on the Guardians but they did show exactly how Rocket and Groot were animated with interactive tabs that allowed you to re-enact creating them from scratch yourself. The interaction was great and the best interaction was yet to come. At the very end of the exhibition there were virtual reality head sets and motion sensors set up so you could feel like you were actually one of the Marvel superheroes. I, of course lined up behind all the children for my turn to be Rocket and dance to pop music. It was so much fun, the only embarrassing thing was that everyone walking past could see me dancing.

"If you are interested in what you do, that keeps you going" ~ Stan Lee

Antman

"Achilles, without his heel, you wouldn't even know his name today." ~ Stan Lee

Doctor Strange

" When you work with people whom you like and you admire because they're so good at what they do, it doesn't feel like work. It's like you're playing." ~ Stan Lee

A very close second best part of the exhibition was the massive bed from Thor- Ragnorok. The bed appears in the movie as the incredible Hulk's bed. The detail on the bed was amazing and I cannot even describe to you how big it was, I think a triple king would be close. I really just wanted to jump into it but I wasn't allowed to, definitely contemplated breaking into the exhibition at night to have a snooze though, I mean, look at it.

Weapons

Falcon

Just before the dancing virtual reality and sad exit to this amazing interactive exhibition, tucked away in the corner was Falcon's mechanical wings. It was in a silly place for such an awesome piece of mechanics, I nearly missed it. Falcon aka Sam Wilson, Captain America's friend and military ally first appeared in September 1969. He was the first African-American superhero without Black in his name. His mechanical wings are very intricate and have hundreds of individual metal feathers connecting it into a full wingspan rather than just long solid metal wings. I did not realise from seeing him in the movies that his wings were that intricate, truly an under-glorified piece of mechanics. They are incredible.

Thanos

Thanos, almost everyone knows that name now and the all mighty infinity gauntlet. Sadly, the infinity gauntlet and none of the stones were presented at the exhibition. I suppose the organisers couldn't take the risk of some lunatic using it and wiping out 50% of the world's population. If that last sentence made no sense to you then I have one question for you, where have you been? One, go see infinity wars and two, go see Endgame. Thanos made his comic book debut in February 1973. Thanos is one of the most powerful villains in the Marvel Universe and has clashed with almost every single marvel hero and let's just say also clashed with 50% of the world's population. To be honest and without being biased, Thanos is one of the best villains period. I get his point and he doesn't seek power for himself just for the cause or in his words, "The good of all", "A chance to survive and restart". Obviously only speaking in the realms of the Marvel Universe and on that note the time at the exhibition comes to an end.

Thank You Stan Lee December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018

Stan Lee

" I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: entertainment is one of the most important things in people's lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you're able to entertain people, you're doing a good thing." ~ Stan Lee

I hope you have enjoyed my blog on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thank you for reading and I look forward to sharing more adventures with you, until next time, Vegoutt Everybody!