When I was 6 years old, all I ever wanted to watch was Batman on television. From the animated series and classic films, I couldn’t get enough of the Dark Knight and his many trips into Gotham City, ridding it of villains like the Joker or Penguin.
It was about 10 years later when Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight masterpiece took me back to my days as a spunky young blonde bouncing around with the action figures, vehicles, and comic books. As crazy as it sounds, it was a rather emotional day for me. I remember some tears as the Warner Brothers logo hit the screen.
My love for caped crusaders didn’t stop with Bruce Wayne’s alter ego. I quickly transitioned to Spiderman when Toby McGuire swung across the screen as Peter Parker and helped relaunch the Marvel series, which eventually lead to the multi-million dollar launch of every superhero movie they could possibly dream up. I have had opening night tickets to the Avengers, Captain America, Thor, Ironman, and all their concurring sequels. I own collector popcorn buckets and soda cups. I have no shame in my t-shirt or extensive Blu-Ray collection. In fact, I often find myself just wanting more.
If that wasn’t enough to convince you…my boyfriend put me on speakerphone to name off the alter-egos of several Marvel and D.C. heroes while at a trivia night— just to prove to the host that my cell phone service was the only thing that slowed down my answer. Had I been in the room for the tournament that evening, we would have won on that alone.
So for those of you who may not be familiar, here is a list of my favorite super-heroes that you may have never heard of…
1. Hawkeye
(Image courtesy of Comicvine)
As portrayed by the handsome Jeremy Renner in the first and second Avengers films, as well as cameo appearances in Thor and Captian America: Civil War, Hawkeye is an arrow slinging sharp-shooter employed as a special agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. He is completely human and therefore doesn’t possess any unusual superpowers. He is considered to be at the highest level of physical conditioning as humanly possible. Making him quick, lethal, and silent. More often than not, he is the calmest and the most sensible of a group.
2. Black Panther
(Image courtesy of Gamespot)
Making his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War; Black Panther is the alter ego of a king and protector of a fictitious African nation. He gets his powers from being the descendant of a Panther God that is believed to have protective powers over his kingdom and country. He is resistant to any other magical powers possessed by superheroes and carries the unique and powerful abilities of smell and strength. Black Panther is actually set to receive his own film in 2018.
3. Star-Lord
(Image courtesy of EW.com)
In Guardians of the Galaxy, not only did you dance to the infectious throwback soundtrack the whole way through the film, you most likely connected to Chris Pratt’s incredible portrayal of Star-Lord, a space criminal turned policeman. He is a master of weaponry and close combat. He finds himself in the middle of an intergalactic power struggle and revenge war between two royal families. His story will continue as Guardians will be weaved into the rest of the Marvel Movie Universe.
4. Nightwing
(Image courtesy of Pinterest)
As Batman trained Robin, many suffered unfortunate tragedies that caused them to separate from their crime-fighting careers. Nightwing progressed to be a more elusive and mysterious maturity of Dick Grayson, an orphan that was once Robin and mentored by the Dark Knight. Nightwing is much like Batman in that he doesn’t kill and his only power comes from his close combat training and gadgets of assorted varieties. He is later portrayed as a leader in the spin-off show, Young Justice, featured on Cartoon Network.
5. Ant-Man
(Image courtesy of Wired.com)
Portrayed by Paul Rudd, Ant-Man got his own feature length film in 2015 and skyrocketed to the spotlight of the superhero world. As a rather low-key comic book icon in the Marvel universe, many were not sure how he would be received. With the superhuman ability to change the size of his body and lift incredible weights. Ant-Man channels his bug like powers to assist many of the heroes on several excursions. The best example of this can be seen in the battle scene of Captain America: Civil War.
While you may not see a signal for Ant-Man or Star-Lord anytime soon, it can’t hurt to know who they are as they begin to join our all time favorites like Captain America and Tony Stark as they continue the pursuit to a peaceful universe, no matter what it takes.