5 Marvel Movies to Watch Before Avengers Doomsday

I started doing my MCU “Binge List” posts after Infinity War and Endgame, when everyone was trying to watch the entirety of the MCU library before that culminating battle against Thanos. It’s served me well to prepare myself and review the story so far. However, with Doomsday coming to theaters next year, even just the known cast list provides a challenge, with over thirty movies and shows potentially playing a part in the upcoming multiversal event.

Sure, I could share the list of the forty-ish Marvel projects that will lead into this crossover… but that’s a bit much even for me. Instead, I’m going to highlight a few movies to rewatch (plus a few extra credit movies) to establish characters and story development. Later this year and next, leading up to the movie, I’ll add a few more movies and shows to the list.

X-Men

We know we have returning cast members from the original X-Men movies, including Professor X, Magneto, Mystique, and more. Since the third Deadpool movie established the Fox X-Men saga in the multiverse, it’s possible we’ll have those variants in Doomsday. However, there’s no guarantee they’ll portray the same variants from Fox or if they’ll be new variants (maybe from the universe where Monica ended up in The Marvels). Regardless, the original X-Men movie produced by Fox will give you a sense of the main characters appearing from X-Men, regardless of where they come from in the multiverse. 

Extra Credit - X2

The sequel to X-Men, so we have the continuation of Professor X and Magneto’s story. Also, this is when we meet Nightcrawler, who’s set to return in Doomsday. 

Iron Man

Since Tony Stark is gone, this movie might be a strange choice for rewatch before Doomsday. But this is where the formal MCU began (before retconning in Spider-Man, X-Men, Blade, etc.). It’s worth revisiting where this epic story began and how far we’ve come since Tony became Iron Man. And with RDJ portraying Doctor Doom, it’ll be interesting to see how they had the likeness between Doom and Tony. If they don’t address the issue of the doppelgänger, bringing RDJ back would be a waste of time. 

Extra Credit - The Avengers

We’ve come a long way since the Battle of New York, but this is when the Avengers first became a team. From the original roster, only Thor is confirmed to appear. But it’s worth remembering where the team began. 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier 

Bucky may have been originally introduced in The First Avenger, but his brainwashing at the hands of Hydra still impacts his story. Plus this movie marks the first appearance of Sam Wilson (the current Captain America) and it was a turning point in the story, as SHIELD fell. Plus since it’s still one of the most popular MCU movies, it could be the considered the pinnacle of MCU movie potential. 

Extra Credit - Captain America: Civil War

Just as The Winter Soldier changed the MCU with the fall of SHIELD, this movie was a turning point for the Avengers. Infinity War would’ve played out 100% differently if the Avengers hadn’t broken up. Plus, this movie introduced Wakanda and Spider-Man and it pushed Bucky’s story along powerfully. 

Avengers: Infinity War

After the fallout of Civil War and Ragnarok, things got chaotic really fast when the Avengers were pushed together on multiple fronts. This movie changed the MCU forever, not just because of Thanos’s snap, but also because of how the Avengers grew to include new intergalactic colleagues. We don’t have the Guardians of the Galaxy confirmed for Doomsday, but you never know (they did say Star Lord would return after their third movie).

Extra Credit - Ant-Man and the Wasp

I know plenty of people didn’t care for this Ant-Man sequel, but I enjoyed it. Bridging the gap between Civil War and Endgame, this movie progressed Scott Lang’s story. Plus, traveling into the Quantum Realm pushed us forward toward the multiverse, even if we didn’t know it yet. 

Avengers: Endgame

This movie is the basis for where the MCU left us in recent years. The Avengers reformed and traversed the multiverse to bring back everyone they lost in the Snap. This is also where half our original Avengers roster said goodbye. No more Tony, Natasha, or Steve. As far as the team is concerned, this is where we left the Avengers and Doomsday is an Avengers movie. It’s gotta be done. 

Extra Credit - Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

This is arguably one of the most popular movies from the post-Endgame era of the MCU. It’s certainly my favorite Marvel movie of recent years. And, along with Far From Home, this movie did a great job establishing the post-Blip world. 

I’ll be back in a few months with more Marvel projects to revisit. I expect we might have more cast announcements by that point. Avengers assemble!

The Marvels Binge List

If all goes well, I’ll finally be back to the movie theater in the coming month. We’re vaguely planning on taking our three-year-old to the new Paw Patrol movie, but you can probably guess from the title that I’m not writing about Paw Patrol today (note to self: blog post about why Rubble is the best pup on the Paw Patrol). So instead of the pups, let’s focus on three marvelous ladies headlining in the MCU’s next month. So here’s what you need to review to be ready for The Marvels.

Captain Marvel (2 hours 4 min)

By no means is she the first Avenger (see Captain America), but she was the one who inspired the Avengers Initiative. I don’t understand the hate that Captain Marvel gets and I don’t think I’ll ever understand. First time I saw this movie, I really enjoyed it. Now that I have two daughters, I like having a powerful female hero, who refused to lower herself to the standards of a man who had oppressed her.

Avengers: Endgame (3 hours 2 min)

I was vastly disappointed in how little Endgame used Captain Marvel. A bit at the beginning and then a power house during the final battle. I had expected her to be part of the main action (at least somewhat). Instead she was just somewhere up in space being underutilized by the Avengers. Disappointing. Biggest thing we got from her was a bad haircut.

WandaVision (9 episodes)

Pivot to another one of the Marvels, as Monica investigated Wanda’s incident in Westview. After multiple times going through the Hex, someone was blessed with super powers. Interesting to see her only exploring the beginnings of her powers in WandaVision before the series ended and she was taken away to Fury’s ship.

Shang-Chi (2 hours 12 min)

I’d watch this movie again just for the heck of it, but Captain Marvel only appears in the credit scene. Again, underutilized. Even for a credit scene. At least it establishes the continued connection between the Avengers (or at least between Wong, Captain Marvel, and Banner).

Ms. Marvel (6 episodes)

I had so many hopes for this series. Mostly hoping they’d have re-introduced Inhumans, but instead they hinted at Ms. Marvel being the first official mutant (and yet we’re no closer to getting the X-Men). But this is probably the part of The Marvels that I’m most excited for. Seeing Kamala fangirl over meeting Carol Danvers is going to be a sight to be seen. Especially after seeing Captain Marvel suddenly appear in the Khan home.

Secret Invasion (6 episodes)

Another series I had so many hopes for (but that was my problem, as I previously wrote about). Again, I hoped they’d re-introduce Inhumans (come on, Marvel, where’s Quake!?) but instead we got a weird super-powered Skrull. As if Skrulls aren’t powerful enough as it is. With how this series ended, I definitely lacked closure on everything with Fury and the Skrulls… but maybe some of that will be resolved during The Marvels. Please?

And in the meantime, while I wait for The Marvels, I’m going to keep watching Loki Season 2. I enjoyed the premiere, but we’ll see how the rest of the season goes. Curious how this season will proceed, as this may be the last time we see Kang before Phase Six. Who knows?

She-Hulk Binge List

We’re in the final stretch waiting for She-Hulk to premiere. She might be a newcomer on the scene, but we already know her cousin: Bruce Banner. And with Bruce/Hulk set to return, alongside his foe Blonsky/Abomination, maybe it’s time to rewatch some of their adventures.

The Incredible Hulk (1 hour 52 min)

Before we had Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, the Hulk’s alter-ego was played by Edward Norton. Despite the different actors, this movie is still MCU canon. And it’s better than its critics say. This is where we get our first glimpse at Bruce and his arch-enemy the Abomination. Also, this movie introduced General Ross and I wouldn’t be surprised if he appears in She-Hulk.

The Avengers (2 hours 23 min)

Enter Mark Ruffalo as our new Bruce Banner. This is his first adventure alongside SHIELD and the Avengers. He seems to have his anger under control (to some extent) as he and the others stop Loki and the Chitauri from taking over Planet Earth. It’s also when Bruce can finally stop running from the authorities it seems.

Iron Man 3 (2 hours 10 min)

This movie is all about Tony Stark and his issues after the Battle of New York. Honestly, we don’t even see Bruce Banner until the credits scene. All the same, this comical scene is often forgotten (even by me). Probably due to the fact that lots of fans dislike Iron Man 3. I still like it though, despite what haters say.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2 hours 21 min)

Hulk and Banner come back into the picture as they seemingly take down the last of Hydra (unless you still consider Agents of SHIELD canon--which I do). But in the course of it, the Maximoff twins mess them up emotionally. This movie also introduced the brief romance (if you can call it that) between Banner and Black Widow. Could have done without that, but whatever.

Thor: Ragnarok (2 hours 10 min)

When Banner/Hulk went missing on Earth, he was stranded on Sakaar for a few years. With the Hulk in charge almost the whole time. It wasn’t until Thor arrived that Bruce came back. This movie showed a more intelligent side to the Hulk. Instead of just growling and yelling “Smash” the titan was able to carry on conversations.

Avengers: Infinity War (2 hours 29 min)

Still traveling with the Asgardians, Bruce/Hulk was caught in the middle of Thanos’s massacre. Sent to Earth to warn everyone, Bruce was around when the mad titan’s forces began attacking. Unfortunately, and for reasons not really explained, the Hulk wouldn’t come out to fight, so Bruce was left to battle in the Hulkbuster suit instead.

Captain Marvel (2 hours 4 min)

Another movie where Bruce doesn’t appear until the credits. All the same, I think this movie is still worth watching. I honestly don’t know why people hate it so much. But after Carol’s story from 1996 is shown, we get a flashforward to the present day when the Avengers are assessing the post-Snap damage. This is where Bruce, Natasha, and the others finally meet Carol Danvers.

Avengers: Endgame (3 hours 2 min)

After a brief stop in the present day, the story fast-forwards five years and all of a sudden we have a Bruce/Hulk mashup, sometimes known as Professor Hulk or Smart Hulk. I still don’t know what I think of this version of Hulk, but that’s okay. After Bruce is able to snap Thanos’s victims back to life, the big battle ensues. It’s because of Tony’s sacrifice they’re able to win in the end… but it’s not happily ever after.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2 hours 12 min)

Bruce doesn’t appear until the credits (again) but the Abomination shows up in the fight club with Wong. Blonsky hadn’t even been mentioned since he was said to be in custody seven years prior in the SHIELD episode “T.R.A.C.K.S.” But here he’s free and fighting Wong for cash. Later on, during the credits, we see Bruce analyzing the Ten Rings. But he’s human again. No more Professor Hulk.

There’s a lot to unpack with She-Hulk. Why is Bruce human again? How did Blonsky get free? Maybe we’ll finally get word on where Betty Ross is after all these years. Regardless, I’m looking forward to another awesome MCU series!

What Shang-Chi (kind of) taught me about the Gospel

Shang-Chi was never any of the big names in Marvel Universe that someone would recognize, in fact, some have discussed how he disappeared into obscurity for a while. With this new movie, he is anything but obscure. The movie was imaginative, beautiful, funny, and definitely an adventure into a new world the MCU hasn’t yet seen. New animals. New magic. New worlds. So much fun and so many points that were so silly that made me laugh! I'd hoped for some of that, but I hadn't expected all of it. The thing that I definitely wasn’t expecting was to feel the Spirit once again testify to me of truths I’ve learned time and time again.

I remember watching Kung Fu Panda 3 for the first time, with my kids at home. I remember the ending (no spoiler, that one’s been out a while… and if you haven’t seen it, which you likely haven’t, you’re in for a surprise) being beautiful, colorful, silly, and wonderful. I also remember turning to my wife and saying “I… have a testimony of this movie…” and trying to even understand what that meant for myself, mostly because it didn’t really make sense to me that I could have a testimony of a Jack Black movie teaching true principles..

KFP 3 Recap: Po discovers that his father is alive, and that his people used to know powerful magic. He goes on a journey and meets and entire Panda village! To protect them from a coming threat, he tries to teach kung fu to the entire village, forcing them to learn the same lessons he learned. It goes terribly. Later he realizes that he’s doing everything wrong. Instead of forcing a square peg into a round hole, he changes the hole to be square. He focuses on embracing each of their unique strengths, the skills they already have, and enhancing them. Once he helps them see that they already have a superpower, they all become unstoppable.

He then fights a spirit warrior, who’s surprised at Po’s abilities:

Kai: Who are you?

Po: I’ve been asking myself the same question. Am I the son of a panda? Or the son of a goose? A student or a teacher? Turns out, I’m all of them. … I am the dragon warrior.

Now, this may seem like a simple kid’s lesson, but the Spirit touched me there because I had already learned this lesson. When I put myself into a calling at church, a responsibility, and try to make the calling mine, magic happens. If I try to do the calling like the last person, or like someone else I saw do it, it’s just not the same. When I trust myself to do *my* best, to be my best, standing with God, miracles happen. I’ve seen it.

Am I a son? A father? A man? A mountain biker? A taco enthusiast? I'm actually the person who doesn't like to put labels on myself. If we view any single person as a single label (an addict or someone with anxiety or a billionaire), we ignore all of these other parts about that person. It's easy to do to strangers and celebrities, but we do that to those around us too. And to ourselves. - "I'm just a klutz." "I'm fat." "I'm a failure." For me, the parts of myself make up who I am, and when I've learned to accept the good and bad pieces (the dark and the light), I feel more confident in who I am an can stop hating pieces of myself I wish weren't there. Can I change those? Yes, but that should be from a place of wanting to grow, not to "fix" who I am.

As we learn from Dear Evan Hansen, "I'm me, and that's enough."

Back to the movie.

(minor spoilers, nothing big)

As Shang-Chi is training and being taught various martial arts, his mother teaches him about looking inward to know who he is and accepting the dark and the light. As most people do, he struggles with that concept at points.

(maybe some bigger spoilers, but this is like saying Iron Man is/was a billionaire drunken genius… it’s more so defining who he is..)

Shang-Chi is the son of a leader of the criminal underworld, who trains him to take his place. Ultimately, Shang-Chi doesn’t want to be evil and fights to help people.

I read another article talking about how Shang-Chi eventually became one of the most hated characters in the Marvel Universe. Once he defeats his father and takes over, he tries to do good with his father’s organization. The criminal underworld no longer trusts him, but the good guys don’t trust the organization either. Shang-Chi just has to stand alone, trying to do what’s right, when nobody will really accept him. He’s confident who he is, though. I feel like this reminds me of the world in which we now live, where sneezing seems to offend someone and it feels like we sometimes have to walk on eggshells. I really wish we all had more empathy to learn and understand from each other, and to allow others to make decisions differently than myself. We need more of that.

Was the movie also fun? Yes. There were lots of great moments to laugh. Did you know they actually cast Awkafina before anyone else? And she did a great job of keeping things lively and still explored parts of herself we hadn’t really seen before.

Was it full of action? Oh yeah. Some of it was pretty fast moving, like a Disney Kung-Fu movie, but some of it was also graceful and beautiful and reminiscent of Korra learning to airbend.

Have I ever seen a movie with Michelle Yeoh that I didn’t enjoy? Not yet.

Also, Simu Liu. Despite the recent controversies on Kim’s Convenience and the writing/directing there, that show has been such a fun thing to watch. This guy has been a great character for years on it and I’m excited to see him grow into new and bigger things. He definitely did a great job, and we had one of the most unique origin stories we’ve seen in years.

- Garrett

What We Know About the MCU Post-SDCC (Movies)

Last week at San Diego Comic Con we learned a lot of information about what will become Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including movies and TV shows. Here's what we know about the movies of Phase 4 so far (I'll cover shows another day).

Black Widow (May 1, 2020)
We've known for a while now that were getting a Black Widow solo film. After her death in "Endgame" it became obvious that it'd be a prequel. I had assumed it would take place in full before "Iron Man 2", but it's reported (I couldn't find a good source for it) that it'll take place between "Civil War" and "Infinity War". Perhaps this'll show us how she teamed up with Falcon and Cap? I'm skeptical of that because Chris Evans seems to be done with the movies, but you never know if a cameo could happen.

As far as potential plot, we've had teases of maybe getting backstory for Natasha. There was mention of Budapest and I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of the Red Room (seen previously in "Agent Carter" and in Black Widow's "Age of Ultron" nightmare). The potential problem is that anything with her story would be past tense. We do know that the Taskmaster has been teased. I don't know much about the Taskmaster (just what I researched for this post), but he has the power of photographic reflexes, matching fighting patterns. So will he have a legit power in the movie or will he just be a hugely skill super spy?

Thoughts: I'm really skeptical of this movie for one reason. Urgency. We know Natasha won't die until 2023, so (even if the movie gets intense) we don't have to fear for Black Widow's life. So why should I care about this movie? Is the Taskmaster going to come back in a later movie/series? Or will one of Black Widow's friends become relevant later on? It kind of reminds me of the Nikki/Paulo episode of LOST. Just filler. I hope I'm proven wrong.

The Eternals (November 6, 2020)
We don't know much about the Eternals yet, especially the movie versions. The comics put them as a version of super-powered humans created by the Celestials. We've had a taste of the Celestials in "Guardians of the Galaxy" with Ego and Star-Lord (who's half-Celestial), but we don't know much about them yet. From the little I've read so far, it sounds almost like the Eternals are the Celestials' version of the Kree's inhumans. I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens here.

Thoughts: Because I know so little about the Eternals, it's hard to give an opinion. Other than a series of character names (which mean nothing to me since I haven't read the comics). I don't feel like we've been sent into the dark like this since Guardians of the Galaxy introduced a talking raccoon.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (February 12, 2021)
I don't know much about Shang-Chi yet, but we've seen the Ten Rings around before. They were featured prominently in "Iron Man" when they kidnapped Tony Stark (the first MCU villain, if you think about it). They also had a small role in "Ant-Man" when one of their representatives tried to get the copy-cat Pym Particles. We've also heard that we'll see the real Mandarin. A version of the Mandarin appeared in "Iron Man 3" and it upset fans, but in one of their "Marvel One-Shots" it was revealed he was a fake and that the Ten Rings were upset about it.

As far as Shang-Chi himself, I don't know much. Based on the comics, he's a kung-fu master who has been a member of the Avengers at certain times. He's beaten super-powered enemies before even though he's not powered himself. I guess we'll have to see how that plays out on screen.

Thoughts: Like "The Eternals", I'm going in blind, but this time it's more like with "Doctor Strange". I wonder if there'll be an overlap in mythology with "Iron Fist", another MCU martial artist. It would be an interesting way to re-use Iron Fist, since his Netflix show wasn't popular.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
We had a sequel confirmed a while back for "Doctor Strange". It was hinted back then that Mordo would be coming back as a villain, stealing others' magic (per credit scene). In addition to Mordo, we have confirmation of Doctor Strange (duh), Wong, Dr. Christine Palmer, and (the surprise) Scarlet Witch. Especially since Phase 4 will overlap with TV series more, it'll be interesting to see how WandaVision plays into this movie.

Thoughts: I'm excited to see this one. I was very impressed by "Doctor Strange" and how he appeared in "Infinity War" and "Endgame". I know it wasn't the most popular MCU movie, but I really liked it. And especially since the movie will include even more crossover of MCU characters, I'm excited for it.

Thor: Love and Thunder
I was surprised to hear that a fourth Thor movie was coming out. With fat Thor off with the Guardians and Valkyrie back on Earth, it's unclear how this movie will play out. Will we see Star-Lord and Rocket again? Or will Thor have abandoned them before the movie begins. In addition to Thor and Valkyrie returning, we were surprised to have it revealed that Jane Foster is coming back and teased to replace Thor. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Last we'd heard, Jane and Thor had broken up and Mjolnir was destroyed. It was through Mjolnir that Jane got her Thor powers in the comics, so I wonder how it'll happen this time.

Thoughts: I'm skeptical of this, just because there have been three Thor movies already. I kind of feel like it's time to move on to something new. Then again, maybe having Natalie Portman take over as Thor will accomplish that. I'll definitely give it a chance, but we'll see what happens.

Anything I missed from San Diego Comic Con? Which movie are you looking forward to the most?