I saw the Avengers: Infinity War last night and right before that my entire life flashed before my eyes.
When I was nine years old,my dad bought me my first comic book. From that point on I had been a resident in so many collective universes, had visited so many planets and I had learned and grown from so many people. Last night, I became part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, when I was on the purple carpet for Avengers: Infinity War. Let’s go for a ride.
Around the time from when I’m writing this, last week, I was going about my normal day, being a geek and I get a message from a
friend asking what was I doing on a non particular Monday. Something in my body knew exactly what was going to happen, so I freed up my entire day and just like my spirit had told me, I was cordially invited to the Avengers: Infinity War World Premier in Hollywood, CA and the added bonus was that I was requested to arrive in cosplay as one of my favorite MCU characters, the Black Panther.
When I got the lineup of the other cosplayers who were joining in with me, I was delighted to see some familiar names and some people I had been a fan of as well and knew that the night would be even more awesome than I had already thought.
When we had arrived and checked into the event, I was escorted to the VIP area and was delighted to see my name on an assigned seat in a prime area to see all of the arriving stars for photo ops. I hadn’t been this excited to see a movie since Black Panther a few months ago and very soon, I’d be meeting the Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman, himself.
So around 5:30, the stars had begun to arrive, my fellow Avengers and I had begun to assemble and get ready for photos. Before any of the stars of the movie had arrived, however, we were brought in to take pictures with the fans and pose heroically in front of the backdrop that was above the entrance to the theater, it was awesome. The fans loved us, the mainstream media outlets loved us and the chills sent throughout my body were finally under control and we were off to the races.
I just want to say that all of the celebrities present at the event were extremely nice, polite and cordial. Also, when they saw their cosplay doppelganger, the joy that filled their faces was immediately seen. I, myself had only worn my Black Panther helmet for about three pictures because every chance I got, I got one of the actors from the Avengers to sign my helmet, even Chadwick Boseman himself. The experience was absolutely surreal.
More surreal than all of that was the arrival of Stan Lee himself, the architect of the contemporary comic book geek’s fandom came on to the scene. When I was a kid I used to dream of meeting Stan Lee and last night that dream came true.
The Avengers: Infinity War purple carpet was some of the most fun I had in cosplay that didn’t involve a comic convention. I got to hang out with old friends, make some new friends and meet some larger than life individuals who had a serious impact on my life and my fandom. It isn’t every day where not only do you get to meet Angela Bassett, but she then says that you’re too young to have known about her in the Jacksons: An American Dream movie. Look, to have her call me young made me feel amazing inside you guys. From having both Black Panther and Shuri tell me how amazing my cosplay was, to meeting former WWE World Champion, Dave Bautista and taking a selfie with Scarlett Johansson. I could’ve straight up gone home right after all of that. But wait, there’s more.
Right after the purple carpet event was over, we were escorted to our seats in the TCL Chinese Theaters. This was not before our phones were secured away from us to avoid any leaks and were treated to a victory speech of sorts by Robert Downey, Jr and the Russo Brothers. Then the lights went dark and we watched Avengers: Infinity War. Without any spoilers I will say the movie is amazing, filled with surprises and is indeed an emotional roller coaster that will have you on the edge of your seat and begging for more once it’s over. As with any Marvel movie there is a post credit scene so sit tight.
Avengers: Infinity War is released worldwide on April 27, if you don’t have them already, get your tickets RIGHT NOW!!!!
Now, enjoy some of the pictures from the purple carpet!!!!
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