Do you need to watch previous Marvel films to understand the new ones?

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Is it possible to dip in and out to the Marvel Universe or should you watch all the films to understand what you are are watching?

2023 Update

In the 4 years since the release of Endgame and the original writing of this article, Marvel has brought out even more content but generally switched to, many, series instead of big blockbuster films. As the Cinematic Universe stands currently we were just on the verge of a new big bad man in the form of Kang-however with potential issues surrounding the character it is unclear currently (July 2023) where the stories will be heading next.

Marvel Film Phases

Marvel films have always come out in ‘phases‘, groups of more closely linked films which then lead on to other films etc.

(2008-2012) Phase 1

• Iron Man
• Incredible Hulk
• Iron Man 2
• Thor
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• The Avengers

(2013-2015) Phase 2

• Iron Man 3
• Thor: The Dark World
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Ant-Man

(2016-2019) Phase 3

• Captain America: Civil War
• Doctor Strange
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2
• Spider-Man: Homecoming
• Thor: Ragnarok
• Black Panther
• Avengers: Infinity War
• Ant-Man and the Wasp
• Captain Marvel
• Avengers Endgame
• Spider-Man: Far From Home

(2021-2022) Phase 4

• Black Widow
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
• Eternals
• Spider-Man: No Way Home
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
• Thor: Love and Thunder
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

(2023-2025, released so far) Phase 5

• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3

Do you need to watch all the Marvel films to understand Avengers: Endgame?

Avengers: Endgame heralded the (almost) end of Phase 3 and the Infinity Sage which encompasses all 3 of the first phases. Perhaps you are hoping to see Avengers: Endgame soon and are now wondering whether you should marathon the first 21 movies before hand? Are you wondering if you really need to? Or if you have the time or stamina? Well I did watch them all, marathon style, before going to watch Endgame at the beginning of (May 2019) which was amazing.

Let me start by saying I am not the biggest Marvel fan *shock horror* however I think that watching the films in a row actually improved my opinions of them which is why I think that YES you should watch them before you watch the finale (even though we know they aren’t going to stop really any time soon …$$$$…). Here are my top 5 reasons why you should watch them all again!

1. It’s in the details

I have seen the films all before however over the last ten years my brain has not been able to retain every fact about them. By refreshing my mind and perhaps as well by watching them all together you notice small side characters and links that you just didn’t see before which adds so much more dimension to the universe created and helps make more sense of everything-characters are forever referencing back to things much like we do in our own life and it will mean a lot more to you if you remember what they mean!

2. It helps you appreciate the films

They are all beautiful, intricate, clever movies that deserve to be watched more than once and really appreciated for the artistry and skills such as the scripts with the characters snappy witty comments, the beautiful side details, the props, costumes, location and more.

3. It helps it make sense!

Some people won’t of watched all the films, or not recently enough to remember them, and from how much story is packed into the film I really don’t think the film makers cater for this. If you haven’t watched all the films at least once, including Captain Marvel which was only released months previously, you will miss things as you sit there going “huh?? what? Who???”. Even three hours is a short time to bring all the loose ends together and reference most characters from a decade of films-which I think they do rather well!

4. It’s an experience

The whole Marvel film universe has been over ten years in the making. By watching them all again you really feel connected to the films and I think there is a celebratory sense as you reach the last one on this 10 year run. We all know that they will continue to make Marvel films but this was always the ‘contracted’ end so to speak. Plus you get the bragging rights of a marathon watcher!

5. It adds real emotion and Poignancy 

I’m not going to put any spoilers here but it really does help you feel all the characters emotions if you just watched their growth over the series of films to see how the ‘Endgame’ pans out for them. It’s a well known fact that some actors contracts are up with this film so you go in expecting some losses, the beauty and pain in the loss is really highlighted by knowing the backstory. I think that is really important to the impact of this film.

But which order should I watch them in?

Now that is a different question altogether! We personally watched them in release order, bar Captain Marvel which watched ‘first’ so to speak at the cinema. Others will disagree and say you should watch when they are set. It is personal preference. We went for release dates as lots of the films overlap anyway so you would keep having to make different decisions and also a lot of the end credits scenes tie in to the next film in release order not chronologically. I’m not about to start stopping and switching films part way through to get them in a ‘correct’ timeline!! Plus this way you break up most of the ‘ character runs’ so you watch different films each time.

Bonus-memory aides!

While we were watching the films I made these colour coded cards which highlight the key features of each film including main characters-good and bad, cameo side character appearances, references to infinity stones and all of Stan Lee’s cameos!! This really helped the films stick in my head!

What do you think? Have you seen Marvel’s Endgame? Did you watch all the films beforehand and would you recommend it? Let us know in the comments below!