6 Lessons to learn from The Avengers

It’s been more than 10 years since the Marvel Cinematic Universe came into existence, an ambitious and elaborate project that spanned across a decade and 22 movies, beginning with Ironman in 2008 and ending with Avengers: Endgame in 2019. For us muggles who witnessed this epic cinematic event unfold, the Avengers taught us some valuable lessons as we grew up watching out favorite comic book superheroes come to life on the big screen. Here are the lessons which the original Avengers have taught an entire generation of geeks and nerds.
Before you read any further, let us warn you that this article contains some spoilers! So if you haven’t watched Avengers: Endgame, restrain yourselves.

1. Tony Stark/Ironman

From being just a rich playboy to becoming a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, not to mention an overnight expert in nuclear astrophysics, Tony Stark never stopped improving himself and his Ironman suit. He learned from his failures and made the necessary updates so that a problem never presented it twice. To mention a few, he got lost in the desert after escaping his captors, so he added a GPS; he almost froze to death, so he added a body-heating mechanism; he was unable to take proper aim after his sensors were damaged, so he added heat-seeking missiles; he fell from great heights, so he added a parachute.
Take a lesson from Mr. Stark, and never stop adding new skills and abilities to your arsenal of weapons. And just like Tony Stark who made a new suit for Peter Parker, make sure you help others along the way.

2. Bruce Banner/Hulk:

The green monster might be all angry and smashy, but Dr. Banner is just a normal guy who wants to do science in peace. For years, Bruce treated the Hulk, his alter ego because of a gamma exposure as a problem, but as we all saw in Endgame, when he changed his perspective towards the Hulk and started treating him as a cure instead of a disease, he was able to combine his brains and Hulk’s strength and emerge as a better version of himself.
Learn from our angry green friend, and maybe try looking at an issue from a different angle. The solution and the outcome might surprise you.

3. Captain America/Steve Rogers:

The personification of morality, justice and awesome, it was his pure heart which made Steve Rogers, a scrawny little kid from Brooklyn the best candidate for the secret government experiment that would change him into the hero we all know him to be. He struggled with a lot of things- having to sacrifice himself to save the world, adjusting to the world after being comatose for almost 70 years, knowing that his old best friend is an assassin who killed his new best friend’s parents, the list is endless. Yet, he powers through it all without swaying from his ethics and morals, staying true to who he is and what he stands for. And after is done, in the end, he decides to take a step back and grow old peacefully with the love of his life. We can surely inculcate some if not all of his values in our lives- take a stand for what is right, even if you are the only one doing it. Be ready for sacrifice in order to achieve a greater goal. And know when to take a break for some well deserved ‘me time’.

4. Thor Odinson:

A prince. A brother. A superhero. A god. He is everything amazing packed into one. As a character, Thor has had the most tragic story of the lot. He starts off by being declared unworthy by his father, betrayed by his brother- multiple times, losing the one he loved, losing both his father and mother, losing his brother, losing his homeworld of Asgard, and most of all- losing his beloved hammer. As shown in Endgame, Thor becomes depressed at his defeat, taking to alcoholism and being a social recluse. But he is able to rise above his shortcomings, help his team, and finally, pass on the mantle of leader of his people to Valkyrie, who according to him is a better leader for the people of Asgard. He lets go of his leadership saying, “I was being who I was supposed to be. Now I am eager to know who I am”. Take a lesson from the God of Thunder. Because you failed in the past, does not mean you will always fail. You have to try again, and not let your past control your present and future. One of the most iconic scenes from the movie is when Thor is depressed, broken and alcoholic, yet is worthy of wielding Mjolnir, his mystical hammer which acted as a weapon to channel his powers. Just because you are down right now, does not decrease your worth. Believe in yourself, and keep pushing to get back on your feet stronger than before.

5. Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow and Clint Barton/Hawkeye:

These are probably the bravest characters in the entire franchise, running around with gods and superheroes, having nothing but their skill and wit, yet managing to keep up with the team, outsmarting them at times. Both are master spies, so their skill and training are beyond measure. While Black Widow uses her charming looks and manipulation coupled with some impressively ‘shocking’ gadgets to get the job done, Hawkeye prefers to keep his distance, armed with a bow and arrows with a variety of hi-tech tips that act as exploding bombs, grappling hooks, metal melting projectiles, you name it. Both Black Widow and Hawkeye are an integral part of the Avengers and prove to be essential for them to defeat the common adversary in the end.
If you ever feel that your peers are your superiors, remember that these two humans went up against some of the strongest foes and won. It is how you look at yourself that defines your worth. So if you are the Hawkeye or Black Widow to your Avengers, be proud of it. Embrace it, and use it to your advantage.

6. Thanos/The Mad Titan:

Yes, I am including him as well. If you do not know who Thanos is by now, I have nothing to say to you. An ambitious leader from the planet Titan, he is usually known as the Mad Titan due to his practical ideology devoid of emotional distractions. He knows what needs to be done to ensure a long survival of the universe because he has seen first hand what overpopulation did to his home planet. He does succeed in wiping out half of all living creatures across the universe, which included some of the friends of our beloved Avengers, and the rest is history.
What you can learn from Thanos is to wait around and look for alternate solutions and not take any drastic measures that you know will result in a lot of people not being very happy. He was intelligent and hard working. I am pretty sure that had he given things a second thought, he would have come up with a different solution for the issue he set out to fix.

These are the lessons I think everyone should learn from the Avengers. Do you think I missed out on a few? Let us know in the comments.