If it was good enough for The Avengers...

I'm a fan of Marvel, and have a great deal of love for what Disney, Marvel Studios and everyone involved has done in creating MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).  I'm also a fan of Joss Whedon.  I'd be lying if I said Buffy the Vampire Slayer wasn't a part of my teenage years, and I love Firefly.  So imagine my excitement at the knowledge that these 2 loves were being brought together for Avengers Assemble.  Picture a kid at Christmas, then times it by a very large number.  As well as being an annoyance for Family, Friends and Colleagues, I kept a close eye on how much longer I would have to wait to see Avengers Assemble by using a countdown app on my phone.

So after watching the latest Iron Man 3 trailer (below, for any who haven't seen it yet),

I decided to fire up the old countdown app:

Because where would we be without Iron Man?  Undoubtedly the catalyst for the MCU as we know it today.  Marvel had had big screen outings in the past, as far back as Howard the Duck in 1986.  But even the more notable and recent entries, Spiderman, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, were insular at best, and only just palatable at worst.  The arrival of Iron Man in 2008 changed the landscape for Marvel completely.  Understandably there were things going on behind the scenes to help things along.  The creation of Marvel Studios new base of operations, the appointment of Kevin Feige, and the systematic recuperation of the rights to all it's now stable characters, among others.

For me, the fan, Iron Man was the signal of a new beginning.  A beginning that has now lead us to this, Iron Man 3 and the start of MCU Phase 2.  Let the count down begin.

p.s. since starting to write this post, the countdown is down to:

6 weeks, 5 days, 22 hours, 38 minutes, 15 seconds