The teenager and I have been working our way through the Marvel movies. A friend from my Target days warned me that the middle batch of movies had a different feel than the rest. He said this as I started to complain about the Avengers movie featuring Ulltron.

We’ve now made it all the way to Black Panther which means I have four movies to add to my previous assessments. Previous installments (or at least the most recent) can be found here.

Ant-Man: I loved the concept and the humor, though I wonder how much of this movie was CGI. How much of the movie is an excuse to explore various special effects?

Captain America: Civil War: I feel like this movie was made just as a reason to tie new characters into the franchise. After seeing this, Spider-Man: Homecoming makes a lot more sense. But I don’t enjoy movies that makes up geographic regions just to destroy them. And a lot of these villainous plots seem to be awfully elaborate just to achieve something simple.

And if the theme of this one is to see what happens when heroes fight amongst themselves— isn’t that the storyline for the Thor movies?

Black widow: I am so thrilled to finally know the backstory for this one. Loved the family dynamics and the discussion it makes about people in power brainwashing those below them, and those who “don’t matter,” in this case, young, poor girls.

That said, I very much wanted to turn it off during the avalanche in the prison break scene. It felt way longer and more dramatic than it needed to be.

Spiderman: Homecoming: This might be in the top five of the teenager’s favorite movies. I, on the other hand, am not the target audience.

I like about half the movie. I like seeing Spider-Man act like a kid and balance his need to grow up with his desire to be a superhero. I love that Tony Stark is in the fatherly role in this one.

I love that Michael Keaton is the villain in this one. I have rated Michael Keaton in my top five of actors since approximately 1987. And yes— I like Michael Keaton as Batman and in general I am more of a DC fan versus a Marvel Fan.

My husband had me collecting Superman comics, as well as Catwoman and Batgirl (the Kassandra Kane run, not Barbara Gordon). Black Widow reminds me of her.

But I digress. Michael Keaton does a great job portraying the villain as a family man, and Peter Parker’s interactions with him encapsulate the feelings of many teen boys regarding their relationships with adults and specifically fathers.

So there you go.