"They’ll come back. Because we’ll need them to."
That’s Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) at the end of The Avengers. speaking about the unifying power of the members of the superhero team, who find ways to assemble when their collective force is needed. And the members of Hollywood’s Avengers pulled together recently on social media for the benefit of a dying Marvel fan, in a story that’s going to warm your weekend.
Stratford Caldecott is a 60-year-old comic-book fan who has months to live following a battle with advanced prostate cancer. His family set up this blog hoping to fulfill Caldecott’s dying wish – to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier before passing away. His condition means that he can not see it in a theater, and the DVD release date likely will arrive too late. They approached Marvel to try and secure a private screening of the Captain America sequel. But they also Tweeted the members of the Avengers – from Robert Downey Jr. to Chris Evans – to "see if they will take a picture of themselves holding a sign saying ‘Captain America/Thor/Iron Man [insert name of character here] for Strat!’ so that we can surprise him with their messages of support and encouragement."
Guess what happened?
Incredible. How heartwarming to see a community of actors and fans rallying around one of their own. The outpouring of support shown in the comments section under Sophie Caldecott’s blog posted in honor of her father is overwhelming. And it’s working! Sophie wrote on May 17 that Marvel is organizing something for her father, after all. "I would never have been able to get their attention by myself, I’m just so lucky that a whole bunch of awesome people around the world decided to take up my cause and help me get the message through," she shared with the Marvel community. "Real life heroes indeed!"
