Those that know me know I am a cinephile. I love going to the theater to watch a movie. A film on the big screen, my way too large for one person bucket of popcorn, and my equally large Coke Zero that will be downed before the opening credits is a form of self-care. I love movies.

I keep track of everything I watch on the Letterboxd app (link), and awards season is must-see television. I make Oscars predictions every year, and for the first time in 2019, I got every category right (I get a pass on sound editing/mixing and makeup). I saw 27 films (in a theater) during the 2019 calendar year. Before the pandemic, I saw The Song of Names and Emma before everything shut down. (There was also a special screening of Doctor Who, but we’ll reserve my love for The Doctor for another time). My all-time top three includes The Wizard of Oz, which terrified me as a child; It’s A Wonderful Life, which I can no longer watch alone because it makes me cry; and the greatest superhero movie of all time, Captain America: The Winter Solider (this is a fact that is not debatable).

If the random superhero movie in my top three didn’t tip my hand, there’s one movie franchise that holds a special place in my heart above all others – Marvel. I love the Avengers. I saw Avengers: Endgame in the theater (no kidding) four times, and I cried every single time. It also gave us the two greatest cinematic moments ever (you know which two I’m talking about. I still get chills when I see that hammer and hear those words).

Before I saw Endgame in the theater a third time, I watched all the Marvel movies chronologically by the movie timeline (not the release date), including the original Hulk movie (never again). I highly recommend it. The actors aren’t the only talented people working in the film industry. The writers that managed to intertwine so many different stories, timelines, and personalities made everything make sense. That’s why you should watch them in chronological order. It will literally blow your mind.

The thing about the Avengers is sure, they’re a quirky bunch of people that have extraordinary talent (yes, even Black Widow. Give Natasha some credit. Her instincts saved Steve, and she is an assassin after all), but they function a lot like we all do in our own relationships. We hang out and eat shawarma at bodegas on the corner. We’ve all got a work wife like Pepper or work husband like War Machine telling us what a bad idea that crazy concept we just came up with is (in their defense, Tony was going to do whatever he wanted. He was Tony Stark, after all). And, I hope we all have that friend that no matter the time that’s passed (even if you have been frozen in ice for almost 70 years), they’re with you until the end of the line.

This pandemic has tested all of us in ways we never imagined. These last few months have been very up and down for me. Some days are better than others, and if I’m being honest, the bad days outnumbered the good for me in 2020. But that’s ok because I’ve got my own team of Avengers that have been there for me no matter what. I’ve known some of them for 20 years, others for just four, but when I sat down to publish a good riddance Instagram Story about 2020, I shared photos of me with some of them through the years. So, in honor of the people that keep me sane, give me a shoulder to cry on, and send me a text just to say hi, here’s an ode to my Avengers. You know who you are, and I wouldn’t be where I am without you.

After all, just like Nick Fury, I still believe in heroes.