An Unreal & Dangerous World

Movie review of Infinity War and Endgame in the Avengers series
Elizabeth A. Lozowski

A whole world of superheros who become real to the modern audience

The ever popular superhero franchise, Avengers, has just recently come to a climax with some of its latest films Infinity War and Endgame. These movies have been very successful. Avengers: Infinity War became one of the highest-grossing films shortly after it was released into theaters in April 2018; and Avengers: Endgame, released in April 2019, set worldwide records, topping Infinity War and Avatar as the new highest grossing film.

These statistics demonstrate just how popular these movies are and why it is so important to analyze them.

In this series of articles, I will analyze the aspects of the Avengers movies that promote the Revolution in the tendencies and ideas. I will start with Avengers: Infinity War and conclude with Avengers: Endgame. I hope to outline some guidelines by which all of the other Avengers movies can be analyzed.

Dangers of modern films

Before beginning my analysis, I would like to say a few words on the dangers that Avengers movies pose to persons of all ages, especially the youth.

Parents should not let their children watch these movies. They change how a person views the world, thinks and, ultimately, believes. And once he becomes enmeshed in the Marvel World, it is very difficult to leave.

Children enraptured with superheoes & their powers, imitate them in costume & action

I speak from experience. Although I believed in my Catholic Faith and knew that these movies were not real, I felt a strange attraction to them that invited me to live in a different reality – the Marvel Universe or the Marvel World. After watching these films, I lost interest in the spiritual life and the true supernatural battle that persists daily. All I wanted to do was watch and re-watch the movies.

The Marvel Universe seems to be designed to replace the real world with an imaginary world that is more exciting. It is a world without God, a world that is ugly, but that still strangely captures the hearts and minds of the viewers.

Entering a false reality

Modern movies like these force the viewer to enter the world of the movie almost immediately upon the start of the film. The viewer does not have time to establish a psychological distance between himself and the movie; he is instantly immersed in a new world. He becomes part of the movie, and the characters on screen become his friends.

Entering fully into an artificial world

When a person opens his soul like this without resisting or distancing himself from the movie, it is an experience very similar to the New Age meditation. In fact, I have come to believe that modern movies are made for this purpose: for a person to lose his identity completely, so that he no longer feels grounded in reality.

With this, he opens himself to all influences, including the diabolical. He becomes integrated in a greater whole and abandons his guard against the Devil, leaving his soul susceptible to possession or Gnostic influences.

Now, I realize that it is possible to watch modern movies while still maintaining a psychological distance, but I do not believe that most people are capable of this. The Revolution inculcated in the modern generation a spirit that constantly seeks new sensations. Modern movies nourish this tendency that can only be satisfied by chasing after fantastic impressions and extravagances. They should not be watched for mere entertainment.

As soon as a person views the Avengers movies as entertainment, he begins to accept the bad tendencies and ideas present in the films. Entertainment should be innocent, good and wholesome, without twisting reality or becoming a form of escapism.

In contrast to a desire for intense action and wild aspirations, the serious Catholic cultivates a calm tranquility so he can analyze and judge the reality around him; thus, he should avoid these excesses that disturb his equilibrium, unbalance his judgment and upset his contemplative attitude toward the world.

The problem with superheroes

Next, I would like to point out the danger of the superhero. This modern craze for superheroes seems to me to be a scheme to subvert the admiration every Catholic should have for the supernatural, a real world of Angels and Saints.

Dr. Strange & the Scarlet Witch are models to open souls to the occult; below, no place for real heroes like St. Anthony, tempted by devils int he desert

In contrast to the Catholic heroes of the past whom God allowed to work miracles because of their great virtue, the superheroes are common, often unvirtuous, people who happen to have some extraordinary powers. These powers are given to them through experiments, knowledge or extra-terrestrial experiences: powers that they attain without God.

It is important to note that if a person were in fact to attain such powers, they would come from the Devil and not from God. Thus, a different world of the preternatural and the occult opens to susceptible young minds.

The occult influence is quite evident with the many superheroes who have powers of witches and wizards. There is, for example, a character in Avengers called the Scarlet Witch, a sorceress with powers to alter reality, and the character Doctor Strange finds his powers by visiting an Eastern monastery where he discovers the “Mystic Arts” from an occult woman called the “Ancient One.”

Consequently, it is easy to see how idealizing superheroes is very dangerous for children, who enter the Marvel World and begin to dream about wielding the powers of their favorite superheroes.

In addition to these occult ties, superheroes, ridden with vices and faults like the average person, encourage people to remain their mediocre selves. The practice of virtue, self-mortification, and heroic sacrifice of a Saint pale next to a superhero who performs impossible feats without having to give up the disordered pleasures of the modern world.

Thus, the Marvel Universe makes no demand for a change of life. Rather, it encourages people to “live” in a false reality where the superhero is the ideal. The Saints are forgotten, the fight between the angels and devils is ignored, and normal life becomes a boredom that can only be escaped by being immersed in movies. Despair and hatred of the world God created are the end result of this cult of superheroes and this fascination for the Marvel Universe.

Impossible fictional fight scenes that become real in the minds of youth

Continued

Share

Follow us

Posted September 27, 2019

______________________