23 Days of Marvel

Just shy of two weeks ago, I stayed up late to blog about Star Wars.

A week after that, while hosting our Middle School Board Game Club, staff emails started to hint at big shifts in our district and state's responses to the first diagnosed case of COVID-19 in Michigan.

The next morning, I woke up to the news that cases were confirmed in the county in which I teach, school for that day was cancelled, and soon after, the bombshell that Michigan schools were ordered closed for the next three weeks.

In the several days since, our family has gradually shifted from, "Okay, we can keep some of our plans," to, "Yeah, it's best for us and for others if we follow the state's directive to practice social distancing."  In just the past couple hours, our federal government finally gave the plain advice to just enjoy our living rooms.

Okay, then.

What to do?

What's started to emerge is that I can't continue where my IMAGE classes left off, even with a virtual model that might be available to all of my students.  If even one of my students has an Individualized Education Program (IEP - in simple terms, special education accommodations) and I fail to account for it, my district and I could be in serious trouble.  All of our capstone field trip experiences are either cancelled or seriously in question, too.  This is heartbreaking, and I know from the past two years of having done them with previous students how many quality learning and growth experiences were just down the road for these kids. I've shared resources on social media and offered to help others in working with their children.

For our family, we're attempting structure, though while we should be doing some Physical/Rest activities right now, I am typing this, our daughter Hope is reading the final Survivors book, and I can hear Noah upstairs in his room, energetically commentating a match between his WWE figures.  Our Anderson Plan and the options within it:

Over the next 23 days or so - at the very earliest, we will return to school on April 13th, a full month after that fateful day of cancelled classes - I also plan to re-watch all 23 movies set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

This time through, though, it'll be roughly chronologically, not in order of theatrical release.  Noah seems to be all in on this, Hope is intrigued by watching them in another order, and Melanie has been noncommittal. We'll watch on our DVDs and BluRays if we have them, and on Disney+ if we do not.

As we progress, I plan to periodically blog about the experiences here, stating approximately the number of times I have watched each and how and if my enjoyment of them has changed, and also rank them as they are viewed.

My current tentative plan, which has changed a few times already in the writing of this:

1. Captain America
2. Captain Marvel
3. Iron Man
4. Iron Man 2
5. The Incredible Hulk (thankfully, Hope got it around a year ago when we were working on watching all Marvel movies for Friday Family Movie Nights - it is not on Disney+)
6. Thor
7. The Avengers
8. Iron Man 3
9. Thor: The Dark World
10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
11. Guardians of the Galaxy
12. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
13. The Avengers: Age of Ultron
14. Ant-Man
15. Captain America: Civil War
16. Spider-Man: Homecoming
17. Black Panther
18. Doctor Strange
19. Thor: Ragnarok
20. Avengers: Infinity War
21: Ant-Man and the Wasp
22. Avengers: Endgame
23. Spider-Man: Far From Home

I have read that Black Widow will take place between the space of Civil War and Infinity War, so depending on how diligently we can watch all of these in "23 days" we might even be able to fit it in there on its planned April 24th debut.  From the sounds of it, though, many movie releases will be adjusted due to the pandemic.

If you have thoughts on the viewing order, please share them!