Found Family In The Marvel Movies

“I look around at us, and you know what I see? Losers.” 

Over a little more than a decade and across 23 feature films, the Marvel Cinematic franchise has reinvented the action genre, drawn universal appeal, and made almost 24 billion dollars along the way. 

This unprecedented level of success makes us ask the question, what’s the secret sauce? How did they do what they do? How did Marvel turn comic book characters, which for decades was a niche subculture only of interest to nerds, into the cornerstone of 21st-century pop culture?

Of course, you can’t really attribute their success to any one reason. They definitely benefited from favorable cultural winds that weren’t totally under their control such as the rise of nerd culture. But one powerful reason has to do with the kind of stories that Marvel movies tell. 

Is there a narrative theme that threads through all the Marvel films? It’s hard to imagine that movies about a genius billionaire tech industrialist could have anything in common with Norse gods, Spiderman, or a half-human space mercenary whose dad is a planet. But when you peel away the super-powered characters, witty dialogue, and breathtaking special effects, what you’ll find underneath is a compelling idea. An idea that Marvel has tapped into which is at the core of modern society. 

The media critics at Christ and Pop Culture argue that the common theme that gives Marvel movies their identity is the literary device known as the found family. 

“As disparate as the storylines can be in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe)… the thematic tie that binds them is that these stories are scattered with lost and orphaned people—most of whom go on to become the titular heroes.”

When you start to think about what kind of people the beloved heroes of our favorite movies are, you realize that almost all of them are in some way defined by their unorthodox or broken family life. Spiderman, perhaps the most well-known comic book character of all time, was an orphan raised by his aunt and uncle. Part of his origin story was him inadvertently causing the death of his uncle, which drives the central theme of his character, “with great power comes great responsibility”. Tony Stark, the character who launched the empire, also lost his parents at a very young age. Over the course of the movies, the emptiness of his heart and his longing to find personal meaning and identity drive his actions, simultaneously causing him to do immense good as well as tear apart his close friendships. His story arc finds its apotheosis in the very last movie when, through time traveling shenanigans, he’s able to face his dead dad and share a cathartic hug. 

In an age of liquid modernity and self-fulfilment, it’s no surprise that “choosing your family” is a relevant theme. It places the agency in our own hands. Had a crappy home life? That’s okay, your friends can be there for you in ways that your flesh and blood never were. The found family trope marries our universal desire for belonging with our culture's belief in self-will. We want to know that wherever we go in life and whatever we choose to do, we have the power to also create or find a community which supports us, accepts us and celebrates us. We want to be our own selves but also simultaneously fit somewhere. That's why it's so appealing to believe that family is found. You don't have to just live with the one you've got. 

Nowhere is this thesis more baldly on display than in the franchise that Marvel built out of near-nothing. Peter Quill was a comic book character for whom C-list would have been a generous description, and now he’s a household name. His mom died of cancer and he was kidnapped and raised by rough space mercenaries. In his breakout movie, his identity as a superhero is formed when he partners up with a band of misfit loser outcasts to save the galaxy. Hence the now-famous quote: 

“I look around at us, and you know what I see? Losers. I mean, like, folks who have lost stuff. And we have, man, we have, all of us. Our families, normal lives. Usually life takes more than it gives but not today. Today it's given us something. It has given us a chance.”

Peter Quill’s realization is the heart of the found family trope. “Everything was taken from me. I watched my mom die of cancer, I didn’t know my father, and the Ravagers took me away from my home. But now I have a chance to create my own meaning and form my own community.” And he takes this energy into the final act of the movie, where his merry band of losers saves a planet from annihilation and becomes inseparable brothers-and-sisters in arms along the way.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, the social structures of the United States have been experiencing a dramatic shift. For decades, two-parents households have been in decline. Divorce, remarriage, and cohabitation have been rising in parallel, people are marrying and having children later, and blended families are becoming the norm. There are tremendously complex reasons for these social shifts, but one undeniable outcome is the identity confusion. “Who am I? Who is my village? What is my purpose?” From a moral standpoint, and increasingly common perspective is that flesh and blood don’t matter as much as we think. “My parents have always let me down, but my friends accept me for who I am”. 

Apologies for this gross oversimplification, but my point is to illustrate that the kind of stories that Marvel has chosen to tell are not arbitrary. “I might not be a space pirate or have superpowers, but I get what it’s like to be broken inside, to not have anywhere to belong, and to not have anyone tell me what makes life meaningful.” Furthermore, these heroes give me hope, that in my ordinary life with no galactic villains to defeat, I can still have hope that I’ll belong somewhere. 

One of the aspects of the gospel narrative which we don’t talk about as often is the theme of “adoption”. When Jesus raised us from spiritual deadness, not only were our sins forgiven, but we were adopted into God’s family. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8.14-16,

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

In gospel we experience the found family trope for ourselves, except rather than having to find our identity through our own efforts, God chose us, found us, and brought us into his family through Jesus Christ. “I once was lost, but now I’m found”. Furthermore, this identity is not merely satisfactory, but is of greater worth than anything that we could possibly create for ourselves. We are treasured and valued by the God of the universe! And not only so, but he spared nothing in order to bring us to him. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8.32)

If you resonate with your favorite super powered Marvel heroes, know that you also share in their story. You don’t have to succeed where they succeeded. Not everyone can float adrift in the cosmos and out of sheer coincidence, luck themselves into a merry family of crime fighters. But because of what God has done for us, we have the hope and possibility of belonging to an eternal family.