Odysseus Hero

In many stories describing epic heroes, the hero is called from their normal life and into battle to help protect the people he left in his normal life from danger. This is very evident in both the movie “The Avengers” and “The Odyssey” by Homer. While in “The Odyssey” only one main hero is called to battle, in “The Avengers”, a team of very different heroes must come together to defeat not only their enemy but also themselves.

While there are many centuries separating both pieces of media, there are many characteristics that are the same in each. In “The Odyssey”, the hero is called to battle in a time of need. This hero, Odysseus, is a strong and courageous man who is the only survivor from the Trojan War. Odysseus must face many obstacles in his way, but he must first overcome himself to be able to complete this journey. In “The Avengers” many heroes come together with one main task, save New York from Loki, the evil god from Norse Mythology. While this main task is in full sight, the heroes must overcome their own egos to be able to save their normal lives from destruction.

Odysseus faces many challenges including budging in from the gods, to almost dying while wandering around. While many of these challenges were natural events, every one was explained by an action that Odysseus had previously done. So, Odysseus is bringing the pain onto himself throughout the entire journey. Like Odysseus, the Avengers team faces many challenges including an insurmountable amount of drones, in which a member must make the ultimate sacrifice to save his teammates that he has come to love.