This weekend I had the amazing and insanely nerdy experience of visiting a Marvel superhero exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The exhibit, called Marvel: Universe of Superheroes, is at the museum until October 24th.

This exhibit is the largest exhibit celebrating the Marvel Universe and has original comic books, an in-depth look into Marvel’s history, costumes from the movies, and many other displays.

I visited this exhibit with my sister and two friends. All of us have been watching Marvel’s movies since we were young and consider ourselves to be major fans.

After consuming the new Marvel shows, over 20 Marvel Cinematic Universe films, and various comics, we all had enough background information to truly immerse ourselves in the exhibit. We learned that we’ve only scratched the surface of the Marvel Universe and had the opportunity to learn so much more.

Some of the coolest parts of this exhibit were costumes worn by the actors who played characters in MCU films. The Black Panther suit worn by the late Chadwick Boseman, the Captain America suit worn by Chris Evans, and several other costumes were there for us to see up close.

The coolest costumes by far were three Iron Man suits that had been worn by actor Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man 1, 2, and 3. These suits were lit up like they were in the movies and were surreal to see in person.

Along with the costumes worn by the actors, we also got to see several props from the movies and life size versions of characters that we could take pictures next to.

One of the more heartwarming parts of the exhibit was a tribute to Stan Lee, the creator of several famous Marvel characters and a public figurehead for the Marvel company. Because he was so beloved by his fans due to his creations and appearances in Marvel movies, seeing a tribute toward him was amazing especially after his death in 2018.

There is so much more to this exhibit that any superhero fan would enjoy. For anyone thinking about going, I recommend bringing friends and taking your time to get through everything.

Being surrounded by friends and strangers who shared my love for the Marvel Universe was such a unique experience and was definitely worth the wait.

Destiny Blanchard is a junior management major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or dblanchard@eiu.edu.