As just about everyone in the world knows, the Avengers are a team of superheroes — created by Marvel comics — who came together to stop the vicious army of Loki from subjugating the earth and enslaving humanity.
At the Aviapark mall, small wannabe Avengers — both boys and girls — can take an interactive tour of Marvel heroes and hone their skills to join the team.
Marvel Training Program
The tour is set up as a training program so that little warriors can become qualified members of the Avengers team.
After electronic instructions by the agentMaria Hill — the Commander of the superheroes— visitors are ready to starttheir journey into the secret base. They first enter a room where potential Avengers learn about Captain America, the first superhero who joined the U.S. army to fight the Nazis.
As visitors move along a narrow corridor, they can see the rest of the Avengers: Hulk, Thor, the BlackWidow — a former KGB agent from Volgograd, who was asked to join the team thanks to her extraordinary skills — Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Falcon, Vision, and their enemies, Loki, Chitauri and the Dark Elves.
Visitors also get to see an extensive range of uniforms and weapons. Volodya and Vanya, both 13, spent their time arguing with the guide over which armor is best.
Oleg, aged 3, was one of the youngest visitors. He could barely talk and didn’t even listen to the guide. But he was full of enthusiasm: “I’m here to see Hulk! Grrrrrr!”
Testing Little Skills
The interactive part of the exhibition consists of mini-tasks to test the knowledge and physical skills of the visitors. The little guests were very enthusiastic about the rowing challenge, which calculated their strength.
Even grown-ups were tempted to participate. “Daddy, let me do it! I know better!” screamed Vanya, aged 7, who knew answers to all the guide’s questions — even if he did paddle in the wrong direction.
A 4-year-old boy named Artyom was very determined to make it to the leader board in the rowing challenge. He paddled for almost three hours until his three-symbol nickname made it to the second place.
Two teenagers, aged 11, spent most of their time sweating and trying to lift Thor’s hammer, while the youngest visitors enjoyed a virtual battle with Altron and his army of robots.
A Dose of Science
The exhibition, however, is not just about interactive games and fantasy stories. Visitors also get a small science class, learning what is DNA and how the human brain functions.
Anton, 13, said that “the exhibition is interesting from the technological perspective. All you do is touch something and then things start to happen. It’s amazing!”
Τima, 5, came to the exhibition with his father. "I already have these heroes at home, all except Hulk,” he said while staring covetously at the miniature Hulk in the shop shelf at the entrance of the exhibition.
Moscow is the eighth city hosting the exhibition after its success in some of the biggest metropolitan cities of the world: New York, Las Vegas, Paris, Seoul, Singapore, Beijing and Taipei.
The exhibition is open to visitors until the middle of May. The tour lasts one hour and 15 minutes, but visitors can stay as long as they wish. English language tours are available upon request. The information displayed on the screens and the interactive tests are all in Russian, but the guides help every visitor and make sure they all leave happy.
Aviapark Mall. 4 Khodynsky Bulvar, free shuttlebuses from Metro Dinamo, Polezhayevskaya and Savyolovskaya. +7 (916) 155 8056. aviapark.com/en
