when do you think you'll grow out of it?

"What makes Superman a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and the maturity to use the power wisely."

-Christopher Reeve

I absolutely LOVE superheros. When a new Marvel movie comes out I'm one of the first people there to
see it, oohing and ahhing through out the entire thing.

I'll spend MONTHS trying to work out in my mind how it's possible that Howard Stark be Tony Stark's
father, when Howard was in his mid 20's in the 1940's and Tony is in his late 30's during present times.

as soon as this

starts playing at the beginning of each Marvel movie, I'm already emotionally invested in the story that's about to take place.

I will cry in the middle of a crowded theater over the now strained relationship between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes.

However whenever I express this love of superheros to people the response I usually get is;

"so... when do you think you're gonna grow out of it?"

Uh.. well... hopefully never?????

I hope I never stop caring about nerdy nobodies who turn into New York's one and only friendly neighborhood Spider-man! Or troubled Norse gods who would take over entire planets if only to prove themselves to their adoptive father (you knew you weren't getting out of this without a Loki reference right?)!

This question of "when do you think you'll grow out of it" has sparked more questions in my mind about our societies view of maturity, and how to be honest, I think it's bit skewed. These thoughts have also been brought up by being told on numerous occasions that I will "grow into" things such as wanting diamonds for my birthday, or caring about what's really in fashion, even though I'm already almost 20 years old.

To me, maturity has little to nothing to do with the fact that I like superheros at 19 years old or that I would rather receive Season 9 of Supernatural on DVD than diamond earrings on my birthday. To me maturity has very little do with what you like or what you wear and more to do with how you handle certain situations.

How well do you handle things not working out the way you wanted them to?

How strong is your work ethic?

How often do you talk about people behind their backs?

How often do you think about what other people might think of your new haircut?

How self aware are you?

These are just some of the many factors I feel contribute more to the maturity of a person than whether or not they would sell their left leg to go to comic-con so they can dress as wolverine in a conference center and have Hugh Jackman sign their home made claws.

Who's to say that the person who would sell their right arm to get tickets to the super bowl is any more mature than the person mentioned above?

Maturity has to do with the complexity and depth of a person and how aware of this complexity and depth the person is. The mature person also has to consider how their own complexity and depth effects that of those around them. Imagining all people complexly, you must ask, "if I say and do this thing... how will it hurt or help the people around me?".

A week or two ago I took my little brother to go see "The Amazing Spider-Man 2". Sitting next to me was an elderly couple, by themselves, no grandchildren or children in sight. The couple stayed through the credits, letting me know that this was not the first time they had gone to a Marvel movie together, and were aware of the classic Marvel post credits extra scene.

While sitting next this elderly couple during the sneak peek preview for "X-Men: Days of Future Past" that rolled after the Spider-Man credits I couldn't help but think;

"I wonder when they'll grow out of it?"

-Ellen