The Marvel Movies: You're Either In All the Way Or You're Out

Back in 2012, just after The Avengers came out, I was talking to a friend about it and he told me he hated the movie. He didn't understand what Thor and Loki were fighting about, he didn't get what the deal with the Tesseract was, he didn't know what was going on with Black Widow, or what SHIELD was supposed to be. When I explained that all that info was in the previous movies, he replied, "What? I have to watch other movies to understand this one? That's stupid. This movie should explain everything I need to know."

A couple years later, I was marathoning the MCU films with my step-mom's family. Cumulatively, they had seen about half of them. When we finished Iron Man 2, my aunt said, "so now we watch Iron Man 3?" I said, "No, now we watch Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, and then Iron Man 3." She was puzzled. She wanted to watch Iron Man 3 and didn't understand why we had to wait.

Earlier this year, my friends and I were making plans to go see Captain America: Civil War. Everyone was excited, but one friend asked, "I haven't seen Captain America 2, is that bad?" I was honestly astounded that he was excited enough to see it opening weekend, but hadn't bothered to see the previous one. I explained that not only did he need to see The Winter Soldier, he also needed to see Avengers: Age of Ultron and, if he had time, Ant-Man.

All these cases are people coming from the same general assumption; that each Marvel film, even the team ups, is self-contained and the only thing that matters is watching the individual character lines in the right order. That's been the Hollywood model for superhero films up to this point, but as the loyal Marvelites know, it's no longer the case. The entire Marvel line is one giant series. Each one contributes to a larger story that feeds into the next one. You wouldn't expect The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to explain what the ring is and how it works, because that was already explained in the first film which you presumably saw. Likewise, the Marvel films will always assume you've seen the previous installments.


I write this as both a guide and a warning to those who are invited to see these movies even though they're not caught up. Please stop asking if you need to see the previous movies. The answer is always yes. The writers aren't going to hold your hand anymore and ease you into the universe, even if they are introducing a new character line. Do your homework and catch up, or leave it alone.

If you're behind and interested in catching up, here's how the universe works. It's larger than just the movies and can seem intimidating, but don't worry, you can stick to the movies if you want and be just fine.

The Movies

These form the core of the universe and are the equivalent of required reading. Everything else ties back to these in some way. There are five short films or "One Shots" which go in specific spots, but  they are optional. 

1. Iron Man
2. The Incredible Hulk
3. Iron Man 2
• One Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer
4. Thor
• One Shot: The Consultant
5. Captain America: The First Avenger
6. The Avengers
• One Shot: Item 47
• One Shot: Agent Carter
7. Iron Man 3
• One Shot: All Hail the King
8. Thor: The Dark World
9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
10. Guardians of the Galaxy
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron
12. Ant-Man
13. Captain America: Civil War
14. Doctor Strange

If you watch nothing else but these, you'll be able understand all that's going on. If you like what you see and want to go deeper, then you can delve into the television series. 

Television

• Agent Carter: This 18 episode prequel series can be watched anytime after Captain America: The First Avenger. It mostly sets things up that will be used later and the One Shot: Agent Carter serves as a quasi series finale. 
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: This series contains most of the meat of the extended Marvel universe. It takes place after Iron Man 3 and runs parallel to all the films that follow. Thematically, it usually ties into what's happening in the movies and often elaborates on a few details that get left out. As you watch it, you will be able to easily see where each film goes. 

Netflix Series

While these series frequently reference the events of The Avengers, they don't depend on them to make sense. You can probably watch them in a vacuum and still get what's going on. That said, much like the movies, there is still an order to how they need to be watched. You won't do yourself any favors by watching each show individually so pay attention. 

1. Daredevil Season 1
2. Jessica Jones Season 1
3. Daredevil Season 2
4. Luke Cage Season 1
5. Iron Fist Season 1 (upcoming in 2017)
6. The Defenders (upcoming in 2017)

So that's everything you need to know. It's a big universe and its only going to get bigger. If you want to get into it, its better to do it sooner rather than later because things are moving toward a big epic finale and you don't want to be behind when it does.