Today we all went to see Marvel Universe Live: Age of Heroes.  Ben and Jack attended two or three years ago when Sam was too young (I cannot find record of it in my blog, so I don’t know exactly when).  This year we toyed with the thought of going.  The kids were begging when they saw ads.  Ben and I LOVE the MCU and love hokey theme-park-like shows.  I priced out tickets and with fees we decided it was just too much.  Then we got a 20% discount mailer, probably for having attended previously.  Damn those marketing geniuses!

This time we all went together.  The kids saw a summary video online so they knew a bit of what to expect.  It was a completely different show than the one seen before: now 25 Marvel characters and a new plot.  Bright and early, Captain America, Spider-Man, Loki, and Squirrel Girl trekked to the Pepsi Center.

Grumblings about performances in stadium arenas in general aside, this was a great show.  The writing was great, very true to character for each hero.  It did a great job of keeping the story clear for little kids.  I found myself leaning over to tell Sam “Uh oh, who’s that villain?” or “He’s going to punch the dragon!” or “The volcano’s about the explode!” to keep Sam engaged.  But almost every time the script said the same thing before or after me!

The theatrics were great too.  Not only were the aerial work and stunt fighting great, with plenty of flips and spins, but there was a surprising amount of variety to the scenes.  There were ribbon aerialists and Chinese Dragon dancers, real fireworks and explosions onstage, motorcycle stunt work, and even fire juggling and dancing.  I only wish we were sitting a little closer so we could see the costumes better.

Jack spent most of the show either narrating his emotions to me, or explaining all the puns to me.  “Mom!  Spider-Man said Lizard isn’t too smart, but he IS smart because he’s a scientist!” That sort of thing.

Sam was “a mix of wonder and fear” in Ben’s words.

They laughed a lot and both talked afterward about the part where Rocket Raccoon gets called a rodent and freaks out on  . . . who was it?  Nebula?  I can’t remember.  But Rocket went into a frenzied fighting rage that had the boys rolling in their seats.

Hulk was the final reveal ,of course.  Sam was very concerned in Act 1 that Loki had blocked his neural network so Banner couldn’t get angry and turn into Hulk.  When they finally broke that and Hulk emerged, well, see for yourself:

The show ended with all heroes posed and Spidey swinging out over the audience.  Perfect.