BY THE TIME Iron Man came out in May 2008, I was already a lost cause.
The Batman movies of the 'gos were fun; Christopher Nolan's 2005 Batman Begins was maybe a masterpiece. But as soon as Iron Man landed, the energy was different and when it ended with Tony Stark proclaiming to the world, "I am Iron Man," it became clear that everything was about to change.
For the next 11 years and 20-plus films, Marvel Studios sat atop Odin's High Seat.
Its movies grossed billions upon billions of dollars, their casts were stacked with Hollywood legends, and people like me (and probably you, too) were invested.
When Spider-Man: Far from Home concluded what Marvel Studios called "The Infinity Saga"-the overarching story of its first 23 movies-it did so with the promise that there was so much more to come.
Then an evil worse than Thanos himself besieged the planet: Covid-19 blacked out theaters and blocked MCU releases for all of 2020. When Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings emerged to lead the "Phase Four" charge in 2021, things were, somehow, off. The epicness of it all was... missing. In what was supposed to be a pause before the next classic blockbuster marathon, Marvel seemed winded instead.
Eternals (2021) was a bore. The mighty Thor in 2022's Thor: Love and Thunder lacked electricity. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Phase Five's AntMan and the Wasp: Quantumania-they were all just fine. Meanwhile, former bigscreen mainstays Loki and Hawkeye were relegated to decent-enough streaming shows on Disney+.
Denne historien er fra September - October 2024-utgaven av Men's Health US.
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Denne historien er fra September - October 2024-utgaven av Men's Health US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Say What? - Hearing loss isn't just a thing that happens to your parents. Nearly one in five people in their 20s show signs of it already. And it puts your brain and well-being in danger, too. Luckily, new tech can help. Listen up.
Hearing loss isn't just a thing that happens to your parents. Nearly one in five people in their 20s show signs of it already. And it puts your brain and well-being in danger, too. Luckily, new tech can help. Listen up. An estimated 15 percent of American adults-that's about 38 million peoplehave some level of hearing loss, according to the CDC. Research increasingly suggests that untreated hearing loss can lead to other significant health issues, including depression and Alzheimer's disease.
Back-Round Check! - Tap into next-level total-body strength and supercharge muscle gains by learning when and how) to round your back in the gym.
Lift with your legs, not with your back. It's a cue many trainers use anytime you bend down to lift something heavy. It makes sense, too, since conventional wisdom holds that rounding your back with heavy weight leads to injury. But if you look closely at a strongman like Tom Stoltman hoisting a 300-kilogram (661-pound) Atlas stone, you'll notice that his spine isn't ramrod straight at all. Instead, he's almost hunching forward, curling his entire spine around the stone. And if you scroll fitness social media long enough, you may come across an exercise called the Jefferson curl, which asks you to stand holding a light barbell, then lower the barbell while simultaneously rounding your back as much as possible.
Christian Mccaffrey is Him - He's entering his eighth season in the NFL, but the league's most electric running back is not slowing down.
Every off-season for the past seven years, Christian McCaffrey, the San Francisco 49ers' All-Pro running back, has met up with Brian Kula, C.S.C.S., a trainer he's worked with since eighth grade. They talk about any injuries and any niggling pain from the previous season, do a battery of strength and movement tests, and then create a program "to turn CMC back on."
A Merciless Sun
Just over a year ago, Kekoa Lansford watched from a hilltop as the Maui wildfires incinerated his hometown.
TREN NATION
HOW AN OBSCURE BUVINE STEROID BECAME GYM GEN Z'S FAVORITE SOCIAL-MEDIA MUSCLE FLEX.
ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT'S ME, JAKE
How societal menace and serial disrupter JAKE PAUL is trying to change the sport of boxing, influence influencer culture, and, gulp, maybe change the world, too.
THE REINVENTED QUARTERBACK
A 2023 bookended by injuries pushed the Bengals' JOE BURROW to reconstruct his entire approach to fitness and nutrition.
THE WRECKING BALL WIDEOUT
DK METCALF pursues an old-school path to hardcore strength: PUSH. YOUR. LIMITS.
FATHERHOOD BUT WITH QUESTION MARKS
I've always wondered if I'm a good dad. So I did something drastic: I asked my kids.
CAN MARVEL REGAIN ITS SUPERPOWERS?
Critical savaging. Box-office meh-ness. Cultural irrelevance. How did the MCU lose its dominance over all screens, and what will it take to restore it?
