A barebones list of MCU movies that you would give a new fan

[Darkseid Is]

Let's say you know someone who hasn't seen any MCU movies and you want to give them an extremely barebones list of movies they should watch before Endgame comes out. What would be on that list?

Iron Man
A really good movie that kicks everything off.

The Avengers
I think you can explain to this person who the characters are and they'll get the idea of the Avengers. They probably know Hulk's story, they probably have heard of the Norse god Thor, give them an idea on who Captain America is and his story (along with Bucky), and Hawkeye and Black Widow we really truly meet for the first time in this movie even though they're in some previous ones.

Winter Soldier
A great watch even for someone who isn't a superhero movie fan. We get into Cap more and Bucky.

Guardians of the Galaxy
Too much stuff going on to really explain so just watch this movie, it's excellent.

Avengers: Age of Ultron
More Avengers stuff. Introduces Wanda and Vision.

Civil War
Good movie, big story involving all the heroes. Introduces Spidey.

Dr. Strange
Introduced Dr. Strange, a big part of Infinity War.

Thor Ragnarok
A lead in to Infinity War.

Black Panther
Big part of Infinity War is in Wakanda.

Infinity War

There's 10 movies for you. They're kind of phase 3 heavy but by the time you get there you'll be more familiar with characters like Hulk and Black Widow and solo movies we've skipped. What do you think?

[Mormel]

Bare bones? Avengers, Winter Soldier, Ultron, Civil War, Infinity War. I think those four lay down the backbone of what the MCU has been about up to now. Most of the other movies are fun side-steps. If the person I'd recommend these movies to ends up getting particularly interested in any of the characters, they can always go and check out their solo movies.

[Jokerz79]

For the full experience first I tell someone to check out a MCU tribute or recap video on YouTube to see if interested then I'd point to these films not all my favorites but the key films IMO for Endgame.

Avengers (I know Iron Man started but all of Phase one is not needed outside of Avengers which nicely covers their origins).

Guardians of the Galaxy (Introduces Cosmic elements).

Avengers Age of Ultron (Due to the creation if Vision and the key role he plays).

Civil War (Introduces key characters, establishes Vision and Wanda's relationship and changes the status of the Avengers).

Dr. Strange (Due to the Time Stone and Strange).

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (Sets up Gamora's relationships with Peter and Nebula which are important to Infinity War.).

Thor Ragnarok (It's important to set Thor up for Infinity War).

Infinity War (Kind of goes without saying).

[bat39]

This is pretty challenging. But here goes-


Iron Man

The birth of the MCU. Also, since Endgame might be the conclusion of Tony Stark's story, one way or the other, watching his origin story would be a good idea.

The Avengers

The origin of the team which establishes the relationships between many of the core characters.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Gives a primer on the Guardians and the cosmic side of the MCU, as well as the concept of Infinity Stones.

Captain America The Winter Soldier

Serves as a good intro to Captain America and his present-day story, his relationships with Bucky and Natasha, and Nick Fury.

Captain America Civil War

Arguably the lead-in to Infinity War and Endgame. Also Endgame will be following on from the character arcs of this film, particularly Tony vs. Steve.

Avengers Infinity War

Well, this one's pretty obvious.


I dunno how important Captain Marvel might end up being to Endgame though, so we might have to add that to the list down the line.

Might also be a good idea to add Doctor Strange, Thor Ragnarok and Ant-Man and the Wasp to the list.

[AJBopp]

I think any such list could change drastically after Endgame because it could very well reference a lot of previous movies as they bounce around time. We'll see.

I would argue, though, that any list greater than 4 is not a bare bones list. To catch up to Endgame you really need nothing more than

Avengers
Infinity War

If those movies attract their interest enough to want to see more, then direct them to

Guardians of the Galaxy
Civil War

Beyond that, there's nothing that needs to be seen as far as we know now. Even Captain Marvel, when it is released, is unlikely I think to be a prerequisite. GotG will have already introduced the Kree, and Infinity War will have already established the Kree homeworld has been heavily damaged by Thanos. The post credits teaser we will get of CM looking at the devastation and getting a message from Fury (not necessarily in that order) will not be important to connect up to Endgame.

[Punisher007]

Iron Man-Really good film that started it all.

Thor-Mostly for introducing Loki, setting up his motivations.

The Avengers-Basically gives you enough information to understand what's going on without needed to have seen the lead-up films. Also a perfect "event movie."

Guardians of the Galaxy-Introduces them, and the Marvel Cosmic stuff and more hints at what's to come with Thanos.

The Winter Solider and Civil War-Sets up future events and dynamics.

GOTG vol. 2-Sets up the relationships between Peter, Gamora, and Nebula which are important later on.

Thor: Ragnarok-You'll be confused as to what's going on with Thor, Hulk, and Loki in IW if you don't see this one.

Black Panther-Because it's freaking awesome.

Infinity War-Obvious reasons.

[ed2962]

Eight to ten movies is a lot. My list would be...

Avengers

Guardians of the Galaxy

Capt America: Civil War

Infinity War

[daBronzeBomma]

Let's take the metaphor literally: "bare bones".

Bones alone make up 15% of a human body's mass.

Well, as of right now, there have been 20 official MCU feature-length original films.

15% of 20 = 3.000

3 films would be your bare bones MCU.

Making this super easy:

1. THE AVENGERS (2012)

2. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (2015)

3. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018)

That's all the "bare bones" priming you need for AVENGERS: ENDGAME.

[Arsenal]

Let's take the metaphor literally: "bare bones".

Bones alone make up 15% of a human body's mass.

Well, as of right now, there have been 20 official MCU feature-length original films.

15% of 20 = 3.000

3 films would be your bare bones MCU.

Making this super easy:

1. THE AVENGERS (2012)

2. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (2015)

3. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018)

That's all the "bare bones" priming you need for AVENGERS: ENDGAME.

Personally, I think you’d be better off swapping Ultron for Civil War

[Jokerz79]

Eight to ten movies is a lot. My list would be...

Avengers

Guardians of the Galaxy

Capt America: Civil War

Infinity War

IMO GOTG Vol. 2 is more important than one simply because it mentions the Power Stone and develops Gamora's relationships with Peter and Nebula which are vital story point in Infinity War.

[Kusanagi]

Assuming they have no knowledge and need the bare facts.

Iron Man (start)
Avengers (Avengers concept start)
Ant Man (Yes Ant-Man, if all the theories of him being vital to the plot come up, getting a background could be of important)
Civil War (Avengers break up which will likely come up)
Guardians of the Galaxy (barebones for Gamora/space in general/could be subbed with GOTG2)
Dr. Strange (plays too big a role in Infinity War/possibly Endgame to ignore)
Thor Ragnarok (Thor's tragedy upon tragedy really kicks into gear here)
Infinity War.

Now assuming you just want them to watch the best movies.
Take out Antman (it's good but we're barebones here), sub in Winter Soldier and maybe add Black Panther over Dr. Strange. YMMV.

[Tuck]

Iron Man, Avengers, Guardians, Black Panther.

Infinity War, and to a lesser extent Civil War, are gibberish in a bare bones viewing of the MCU.

[AJBopp]

IMO GOTG Vol. 2 is more important than one simply because it mentions the Power Stone and develops Gamora's relationships with Peter and Nebula which are vital story point in Infinity War.

I'd say none of the movies need to be on the list just because they have, or introduce, one of the stones. The stones are all just a quest and you don't really need to know what any them are for or what they do. All that's important is that they exist and the bad guy needs them all to carry out his plan.

I could make an exception for Age of Ultron, but not because the mind stone is so important, but because it's relationship to Vision is important. But on the other hand, it's such a lackluster movie that it's hard to justify all the rest of the film just to get a few minutes of background on one character. Particularly when it's explained perfectly well in Infinity War.

Civil War, which referred to none of the stones, would at least give a newbie some context about why the Avengers are not on speaking terms.

[JKtheMac]

I know everyone weirdly worships Winter Soldier but there is no reason to put it on a barebones list. Even Civil War could be skipped with a bit of exposition or perhaps just the airport scene.

[Midvillian1322]

I know everyone weirdly worships Winter Soldier but there is no reason to put it on a barebones list. Even Civil War could be skipped with a bit of exposition or perhaps just the airport scene.

I think the whole point was to not give them any exposition and on top of being one of the better CBMs Winter Soldier shows the fall of Shield whch played a huge role in Avengers. I guess you could just say and then shield was exposed as Hydra and Cap and his new friend falcon took it down. Sure but you can do that to alot of the movies.