Around the globe, people love superhero films. Batman, Iron Man, Thor, Superman, Spider-Man, Captain America … the list goes on. Almost all of these films have the same formulaic plot. At the beginning of the film our not-yet-a-hero is just an ordinary person, probably getting beat up. Then some accident happens in a lab, or the heroes discover they've been mutants since birth, and with that accident or discovery comes that they're now a superhero with superpowers. And then they fight somebody or something and win, and then the movie is over.<\/p>\n\n
But there's also a crucial part of the standard superhero movie that usually gets covered in just a few scenes: the training. Usually superhero training is handled in what is known as a montage. You know what this is: some cool song plays on the soundtrack while we see our newly minted hero trying out this or that superpower. Peter Parker covers his room with spider webs. Bruce Wayne pummels things in the mountains of Nepal. Tony Stark fires up a blacksmithing bellows in prison and hammers stuff. The movie is telling us, "So, the hero is learning things, and we know it's boring so we're going to give you the idea that this is happening then quickly skip to the interesting part. Just hang with us and we'll get back to the explosions and punching soon."<\/p>\n\n
I agree. The training is<\/em> boring. But also, the training is everything<\/em>. Nothing happens without the training. Without the training our hero is just a person with a bunch of cool powers he doesn't know how to harness. Without the training the world isn't saved and the bad guys aren't thwarted. Without the training we don't have a story—instead, we have a hero who gets squashed with hardly a thought on the villain's way to total victory.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3640,3726,3749,3794,4066,4104,4357,4629,4676,5043,5046,5179],"tax_ctp_topics":[393],"class_list":["post-41873","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-commitment","tax_ctp_tags-culture","tax_ctp_tags-dedication","tax_ctp_tags-discipline","tax_ctp_tags-goals","tax_ctp_tags-growth","tax_ctp_tags-learning","tax_ctp_tags-perseverance","tax_ctp_tags-practice","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-discipline","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-formation","tax_ctp_tags-training"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\n