Don’t skip any of them! One way or another, they are all tied together.
We’re coming up on four months since the initial release of Avengers: Endgame, and a lot has happened since then. It originally gained $157 million on opening night and $1.2 billion dollars at the end of opening weekend. It is now the biggest movie ever, and considered to be the best that the MCU has to offer thus far. Given this, I recently heard something that hasn’t sat right with me since. When I asked a family member what they thought of the movie they said they loved it, and they proceeded to tell me that they had seen the movie with no prior MCU knowledge of any kind. This series has become worth more than George Lucas’ Star Wars; and not to take anything away from Endgame, but the series has so much more to offer. The purpose of writing this is to convince audiences to experience the entire MCU rather than just the latest production. For this reason, this article will be spoiler free, to spare anyone who has miraculously been able to stay in the dark this long.
In 2008, the original Iron Man was released, kicking off the beginning of the MCU. This was a film about a rich American arms dealer/developer and genius named Tony Stark, and about his escapades after being captured in Afghanistan by a terrorist organization called the Ten Rings. After escaping capture, he decided against his companies practices, and in the process of reform, on covers a great conspiracy in the heart of his company. Some like to say that the Avengers, or even the MCU is as good as it is simply because Downey was casted. It’s hard to argue against that considering three Iron Man movies were made and theirs now rumor of a fourth one. But within this character is the basis for all the other characters involved in this series. One way or another, every character can be traced back to the Stark family. And therefore no movie in this series will make sense without the others. A good example of this are the three Captain America films. Most of these were directed by the Russo Brothers, the same duo responsible for Infinity War and Endgame. Considering the first one took place in 1943 during World War II, it happened before Iron Man in the MCU storyline. However, Iron Man is the first movie to come out. Knowing that these movies don’t always come out in the correct order makes it even more critical that you see them all.
The reason I mention that is because I think that it’s important to understand how many cliffhangers fans who were watching in theatres were left with. Allow me to explain by using 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War as an example. This movie came out just under a year before Endgame, and those who saw it understand the cliffhanger we were left with for a staggering year before we were finally allowed closure by the Russo Brothers. There are miniature versions of the cliffhangers throughout every movie that’s been produced over the last eleven years. Considering that every movie up to and including Endgame are now available digitally, which is a complete gift to you because you don’t have to wait for the next one in line.
Unfortunately, I believe Endgame is the peak of the MCU, and we are sadly bound for a long amount of anti-climax moving forward. Since the first Avengers movie, we have gone from 6 title characters to several hundreds. Not to mention the increase of villains. Because of this, movies are likely going to become harder to make as time goes on and even more characters are introduced. However, I could be wrong, and I wouldn’t put it past the Russo Brothers to continue making these better. But to say it simply, watch all of them, for you will hate yourself in the future otherwise. Please watch all fifty hours of this before seeing Endgame for your own good. You might have heard Iron Man say part of the journey is the end. So is the beginning, and everything in between.
