{"id":7009,"date":"2018-11-27T07:35:19","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T12:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=7009"},"modified":"2018-11-26T11:59:19","modified_gmt":"2018-11-26T16:59:19","slug":"december-2-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/december-2-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"December 2, 2018–Heroes Redeemed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Danny Stone, Marion, IA
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Warm-up Question<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who are your heroes?\u00a0 What makes someone a hero?<\/p>\n

Heroes Redeemed<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Monday, November 12 a flurry of text messages spread through the high schools of Marion, Iowa.\u00a0 Maybe at your high school too.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you hear?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am heartbroken.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe he\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStan Lee died.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Marvel Comics co-creator and hero to generations, Stan Lee, died on November 12th<\/sup> at the age of 95.\u00a0\u00a0 Stanley Martin Lieber was born in Manhattan, New York City on December 28, 1922.\u00a0 After graduating from high school at 16 \u00bd, he began his comic book career at Timely Comics in 1939.\u00a0 By the age of 19, he moved up from filling ink wells and erasing pencil marks to be interim editor.\u00a0 Timely Comics eventually became Marvel Comics, and Stan Lee served as Editor-in-Chief for 31 years.\u00a0 He left comics to serve in World War II, but returned to help make Marvel an international sensation.<\/p>\n

Stan and his collaborators gave the world a pantheon of heroes and villains.\u00a0 The cineplex would be quiet without Iron Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Thor, Loki, Thanos . . .<\/p>\n

Marvel breathed new life in the industry with flawed characters who bickered, had bloated egos,\u00a0 and acted out of anger.\u00a0 Instead of secret identities and changing in phone booths, heroes like Tony Stark openly declared, \u201cI am Iron Man.\u201d Ant-Man is an ex-con, behind on child support payments.\u00a0 Thor behaved like an immortal man-child.\u00a0 Spider Man struggled with girls and guilt.\u00a0 Doctor Strange was an ego driven surgeon.\u00a0 If one of the X-Men sneezed wrong or threw a tantrum, cities could be destroyed.\u00a0 Hulk SMASH \u2013 enough said.<\/p>\n

Instead of wallowing excess and vices, Tony Stark changed and created a hero driven to protect the weak and end war.\u00a0 Thor grew from the braggart son be a leader willing to sacrifice for the greater good.\u00a0 Bruce Banner found how to use his Hulk side to SMASH, when appropriate.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n