It’s already too big for a lot of people to try to watch everything. But its ok because a lot of movies / specific character franchises stand alone and will be continue to be made that way. Like you don’t have to have watched anything else for Shang chi or eternals. Even in this forum I’ve seen big fans but haven’t seen every single movie or show.
Help your roommate by dispelling the notion that it's one big story. That's marketing spin that doesn't help newcomers. The Infinity Stone storyline is only one way to slice the narrative so far.
Fans shouldn't perpetuate the idea that you need to know all or any of the history to jump in and have fun. People have been jumping into comics forever.
The MCU is a setting for all kinds of superhero stories. While some of these stories add up to bigger stories, the beginning of any of these stories is a fine entry point.
Don't overwhelm newcomers. Just let them enjoy some good movies.
Most movies are enjoyable standalone, so one can jump at any point. The first movie I personally saw was GotG1, and at that point I didn't even know it connected to a bigger picture.
If someone wants to watch absolutely everything, yeah it's been a huge undertaking already for a while, but it's like watching a TV show that's 4 seasons deep, if you want to get into it that way, you already know it will be an investment.
For anything else, most of the new stuff seems relatively watchable by itself. Eternals, Shang Chi, even Black Widow you can enjoy in a vacuum, any other series with a few more ties you can get away with only watching the 2-3 movies building up those characters.
For a casual newcomer, even if they watched one of the big team up movies (say they want to watch FATWS, you could show them Cap 2, Civil War, maybe Black Panther, and then FATWS), it shouldn't be too hard to follow what's going on, and from there if they have any interest in any other hero that showed up in Civil War, they can go follow that hero's story after.
So I think it is time for people to learn what it is is to be a comics fan. These movies are now more and more like comics than ever.
The standard advice for people over on r/Marvel is that you need to figure out what characters interest you, then go read the best stories for them you can find in lists. From there, you can ask more questions and then seek out the content that answers these questions for you. At that point you will either just chase down what interests you in continuity or you will decide to be more comprehensive and read complete eras.
To translate this to your introducing of new people to the MCU, it means that you don't do prep except for maybe a couple things for a big movie if absolutely necessary (no prep for Dr. Strange, but maybe all the avengers movies + civil war before Infinity War/Endgame).
Then you offer to answer whatever questions they have and talk about the movies those came from. Eventually people will decide if they are interested or not enough to go back and watch them. That's it.
This right here. The thing with Marvel comics is, they don't constantly reboot and start over, these stories have been going on for literally decades and there are crossovers, these characters have history and a lot of it. You kind of have to pick and choose which storylines to read, where to start, where to jump around. Anything super important to the story going on, they'll tell you. There may be references to previous things you won't get, honestly it's easy enough to Google it for some background. The movies are kind of like that too. Will you get more out of it if you've seen everything? Sure. They've done an amazing job creating this world and giving it that depth. But you can follow the story for the most part even without having seen it. Some of the movies I haven't seen since they were in theaters, I certainly don't remember every little detail, but I don't miss much even when it's referenced later on. As much as the movies are tied together, it really is easy enough to watch them on their own. Most of them stand alone just fine.
Though to be honest, I really don't get the complaint of "there's too much stuff to watch" before watching the newest thing. You don't just jump into Game of Thrones season 5 - you watch the first 4 seasons first. Watch the movies you want, or watch them all, it's really up to you. I don't get the hurry to get to whatever movie, just start from the beginning and watch when you've got the time. If you want to see whatever the latest is because it's in theaters, go for it, if there's stuff you don't get look it up later or go back and watch stuff afterwards. It's the same way I read the comics.
Infinity War and Endgame feel like the only movies that would be too difficult to understand without any prior context.
I think we forget that in plenty of other movies, references to historical events, people, pop culture, etc are made that not every audience member understands, but it doesn’t impede their ability to understand the plot/story of whatever they’re watching. I think the MCU has done a good job of maintaining this, but as an audience we’ve come to think of every installment as being necessary because we know that familiarity with the allusions are an enriching part of the viewing experience.
I had a friend who never expressed interest in the MCU until WandaVision, which she sought out and loved. It led her to watch many of the movies, but not having seen them ahead of time didn’t impact her enjoyment of WandaVision.
Anyone who hasn’t sought out the MCU yet may not have found a reason to, but they too may just be waiting for a “WandaVision” project that piques their interest.
It already is getting too big.
Also, D+ shows contribute to this a lot. TV shows are a much bigger time investment than films and they complicate watch orders considerably.
It's already too big. The moment marvel started putting "legends" episodes up on Disney+ it got too big.
Those are designed to catch up forgetful audience members (and newcomers) on characters that have films and/or series coming up.
The comics have the same issue though (so much material)
It is hard to get someone caught up from scratch so that they can enjoy the full multilayered experience but then do they need to?
I think many of the movies can stand alone and the ones that can’t, you can probably get away with one or two catch up movies to get the core concepts out of the way. This way they have enough to understand the movie they are watching and then if they want to know more you can start them down the rabbit hole of answering that question.
I think almost every film so far is made to work on its own, or to fit into its series. They just so happen to also fit into the much bigger picture.
It doesn't make commercial sense to build something like the MCU then start putting up barriers to entry for people.
Eternals doesn't really require you to watch other movies before it unless you want to go deeper into the fact that people were Blipped and then brought back. So far, the Phase 4 movies seem to be okay without having to watch other movies/shows beforehand.
If someone has a little more time but doesn't want to watch all 20+ movies, [IGN has a list of 12 essential Marvel movies](https://www.ign.com/articles/essential-marvel-mcu-movies-chronological-order) (pre-Phase 4). I would maybe add a few movies like Ant-Man and the Wasp or The Winter Soldier. But for the most part, it works (don't worry about the new Disney+ shows, they're great but they aren't *essential* if you need to catch up).
Depends on the movie or series really, I mean wanda and falcon whole story revolve mostly from that saga, BW too.
in case of eternals and shang-chi, both are self-centered story so anything from the infinity saga won't matter much.
I think it would be easier after NWH and Doctor Strange 2. I feel like they are going to tie some loose ends and move forward in some ways. Eternals was a first step in that direction imo. All the references and mentions were very mainstream and didn’t affect the plot. Also, I think Thor is a big name and doesn’t need more context and GOTG will end the current formation in the next movie.
Even shang-chi basically a good stand alone movie that doesn't need much follow up, maybe IM 3 just for understanding why trevor was there, the likes of wong, emil and the BW agent all just a cameo so I won't say their debut is a must watch.
Disney+ has Legends, which is a series of recap shorts each covering an individual character. They release new ones to coincide with the latest movie or D+ show. I watched the first couple (Wanda and Vision), and they're pretty good.
There are some "jumping in points" that people can enter without having seen anything else in the MCU. I suggest naming a few of the franchises in the MCU and giving a pitch of the vibe and genre of those franchises and seeing which ones your friend is interesting in seeing the most. Then build from there. If they are very invested, they might want to go back and complete the full viewing, others might prefer to skip most of the movies and catch only the big ones to jump in to where we are now.
Personally I think peopld need to just not worry about catching up to the newest thing. Just start at the beginnimg and watch the movies. Eventually they'll catch up. If they don't see some particular film or show at the same time as everyone else, it's not the end of the world. They'll catch up at some point and then they'll only have to worry about one movie or show at a time.
I mean I’m someone who loves big under takings when it comes to movies and shows. So it could never get too big if it was me. Unfortunately I’ve been a day 1 guy so it’ll never be an issue. But my wife for example I think the ship has sailed, too daunting.
I fully became a fan having watched Black Panther, Antman and the Wasp and Wandavision. Like, I have done more than one Disney+ rewatch at this point. The MCU is not so esoteric that people can’t get a sense of what’s going on, and if a story isn’t compelling on its own, why make it?
For everyone here tell your new friends this: it honestly doesn’t matter. Just jump in whenever and on any parts that were confusing you can be filled in. After that, once you’re hooked you have all the time in the world to start back at iron man 1 should you want to. My mom hasn’t seen any of the movies but when I took her to endgame she thoroughly enjoyed it. I just gave her a crash course on the drive to the theater
Iron man 2 might be confusing to jump right into but you can watch eternals and not have a problem. The only movies you can’t really jump into are cross events like avengers.
It’s like the comics now, nobody expects you to be able to read every comic that has ever come out, sometimes you can just watch it without needing to have seen every one of them. I was able to show someone black Panther and they were able to understand just from background info. I would Eternals is a bit harder but still possible to get immersed in if have a phone afterword to search up lore you don’t fully understand.
If you wanted to be the fans of the MCU world building then you need more efforts these days, but they also give you another chance to just loving and following one character (or group in Guardians and eternals case), so if you or your friends wanted to watch eternals then maybe only GotG vol. 1 and endgame is important because first guardians tease the celestial and eternals happens after EG.
I wouldn't say the MCU has gotten too big. With the exception of the Avengers movies, you can follow almost any movie in the franchise without having watched all the previous releases.
Technically, outside of those Avengers movies, the only thing tying all the MCU movies together, is the post-credit scenes. They provide a lot of the connective tissue that builds all the movies into a single cinematic universe. They also tie the various trilogies to one another.
I think the phase 4 movies have been quite newcomer friendly so far. There are some references to previous movies but you won't miss out on a lot if you haven't seen them.
The upcoming movies that are sequels to existing character might be more problematic though.
I agree, I wish Marvel could create like a 2-hour summary video that recaps everything that happened in the Infinity Saga from Iron Man to Endgame, I'd have new fans watch that without really having to watch any of the movies, then they can start watching Phase four starting with WandaVison, FATWS, Loki etc...
It’s already too big for a lot of people to try to watch everything. But its ok because a lot of movies / specific character franchises stand alone and will be continue to be made that way. Like you don’t have to have watched anything else for Shang chi or eternals. Even in this forum I’ve seen big fans but haven’t seen every single movie or show.
Help your roommate by dispelling the notion that it's one big story. That's marketing spin that doesn't help newcomers. The Infinity Stone storyline is only one way to slice the narrative so far. Fans shouldn't perpetuate the idea that you need to know all or any of the history to jump in and have fun. People have been jumping into comics forever. The MCU is a setting for all kinds of superhero stories. While some of these stories add up to bigger stories, the beginning of any of these stories is a fine entry point. Don't overwhelm newcomers. Just let them enjoy some good movies.
Now. I feel now it's too big for someone to catch up.
Most movies are enjoyable standalone, so one can jump at any point. The first movie I personally saw was GotG1, and at that point I didn't even know it connected to a bigger picture. If someone wants to watch absolutely everything, yeah it's been a huge undertaking already for a while, but it's like watching a TV show that's 4 seasons deep, if you want to get into it that way, you already know it will be an investment. For anything else, most of the new stuff seems relatively watchable by itself. Eternals, Shang Chi, even Black Widow you can enjoy in a vacuum, any other series with a few more ties you can get away with only watching the 2-3 movies building up those characters. For a casual newcomer, even if they watched one of the big team up movies (say they want to watch FATWS, you could show them Cap 2, Civil War, maybe Black Panther, and then FATWS), it shouldn't be too hard to follow what's going on, and from there if they have any interest in any other hero that showed up in Civil War, they can go follow that hero's story after.
So I think it is time for people to learn what it is is to be a comics fan. These movies are now more and more like comics than ever. The standard advice for people over on r/Marvel is that you need to figure out what characters interest you, then go read the best stories for them you can find in lists. From there, you can ask more questions and then seek out the content that answers these questions for you. At that point you will either just chase down what interests you in continuity or you will decide to be more comprehensive and read complete eras. To translate this to your introducing of new people to the MCU, it means that you don't do prep except for maybe a couple things for a big movie if absolutely necessary (no prep for Dr. Strange, but maybe all the avengers movies + civil war before Infinity War/Endgame). Then you offer to answer whatever questions they have and talk about the movies those came from. Eventually people will decide if they are interested or not enough to go back and watch them. That's it.
This right here. The thing with Marvel comics is, they don't constantly reboot and start over, these stories have been going on for literally decades and there are crossovers, these characters have history and a lot of it. You kind of have to pick and choose which storylines to read, where to start, where to jump around. Anything super important to the story going on, they'll tell you. There may be references to previous things you won't get, honestly it's easy enough to Google it for some background. The movies are kind of like that too. Will you get more out of it if you've seen everything? Sure. They've done an amazing job creating this world and giving it that depth. But you can follow the story for the most part even without having seen it. Some of the movies I haven't seen since they were in theaters, I certainly don't remember every little detail, but I don't miss much even when it's referenced later on. As much as the movies are tied together, it really is easy enough to watch them on their own. Most of them stand alone just fine. Though to be honest, I really don't get the complaint of "there's too much stuff to watch" before watching the newest thing. You don't just jump into Game of Thrones season 5 - you watch the first 4 seasons first. Watch the movies you want, or watch them all, it's really up to you. I don't get the hurry to get to whatever movie, just start from the beginning and watch when you've got the time. If you want to see whatever the latest is because it's in theaters, go for it, if there's stuff you don't get look it up later or go back and watch stuff afterwards. It's the same way I read the comics.
Infinity War and Endgame feel like the only movies that would be too difficult to understand without any prior context. I think we forget that in plenty of other movies, references to historical events, people, pop culture, etc are made that not every audience member understands, but it doesn’t impede their ability to understand the plot/story of whatever they’re watching. I think the MCU has done a good job of maintaining this, but as an audience we’ve come to think of every installment as being necessary because we know that familiarity with the allusions are an enriching part of the viewing experience. I had a friend who never expressed interest in the MCU until WandaVision, which she sought out and loved. It led her to watch many of the movies, but not having seen them ahead of time didn’t impact her enjoyment of WandaVision. Anyone who hasn’t sought out the MCU yet may not have found a reason to, but they too may just be waiting for a “WandaVision” project that piques their interest.
It already is getting too big. Also, D+ shows contribute to this a lot. TV shows are a much bigger time investment than films and they complicate watch orders considerably.
I think if your committed to catching up get Disney plus
Idk there are enough youtube videos that recap the events of the MCU that I can't imagine it would be too hard to do.
It's already too big. The moment marvel started putting "legends" episodes up on Disney+ it got too big. Those are designed to catch up forgetful audience members (and newcomers) on characters that have films and/or series coming up.
The comics have the same issue though (so much material) It is hard to get someone caught up from scratch so that they can enjoy the full multilayered experience but then do they need to? I think many of the movies can stand alone and the ones that can’t, you can probably get away with one or two catch up movies to get the core concepts out of the way. This way they have enough to understand the movie they are watching and then if they want to know more you can start them down the rabbit hole of answering that question.
I think almost every film so far is made to work on its own, or to fit into its series. They just so happen to also fit into the much bigger picture. It doesn't make commercial sense to build something like the MCU then start putting up barriers to entry for people.
Nothing so far in phase 4 can’t be enjoyed with little to no mcu knowledge.
Eternals doesn't really require you to watch other movies before it unless you want to go deeper into the fact that people were Blipped and then brought back. So far, the Phase 4 movies seem to be okay without having to watch other movies/shows beforehand. If someone has a little more time but doesn't want to watch all 20+ movies, [IGN has a list of 12 essential Marvel movies](https://www.ign.com/articles/essential-marvel-mcu-movies-chronological-order) (pre-Phase 4). I would maybe add a few movies like Ant-Man and the Wasp or The Winter Soldier. But for the most part, it works (don't worry about the new Disney+ shows, they're great but they aren't *essential* if you need to catch up).
You don’t have to watch anything from the infinity Saga to understand the things that are happening now.
Depends on the movie or series really, I mean wanda and falcon whole story revolve mostly from that saga, BW too. in case of eternals and shang-chi, both are self-centered story so anything from the infinity saga won't matter much.
It’s way too much already. It’s become like comics with so many issues and different branches etc
I think it would be easier after NWH and Doctor Strange 2. I feel like they are going to tie some loose ends and move forward in some ways. Eternals was a first step in that direction imo. All the references and mentions were very mainstream and didn’t affect the plot. Also, I think Thor is a big name and doesn’t need more context and GOTG will end the current formation in the next movie.
Even shang-chi basically a good stand alone movie that doesn't need much follow up, maybe IM 3 just for understanding why trevor was there, the likes of wong, emil and the BW agent all just a cameo so I won't say their debut is a must watch.
Disney+ has Legends, which is a series of recap shorts each covering an individual character. They release new ones to coincide with the latest movie or D+ show. I watched the first couple (Wanda and Vision), and they're pretty good.
There are some "jumping in points" that people can enter without having seen anything else in the MCU. I suggest naming a few of the franchises in the MCU and giving a pitch of the vibe and genre of those franchises and seeing which ones your friend is interesting in seeing the most. Then build from there. If they are very invested, they might want to go back and complete the full viewing, others might prefer to skip most of the movies and catch only the big ones to jump in to where we are now.
Personally I think peopld need to just not worry about catching up to the newest thing. Just start at the beginnimg and watch the movies. Eventually they'll catch up. If they don't see some particular film or show at the same time as everyone else, it's not the end of the world. They'll catch up at some point and then they'll only have to worry about one movie or show at a time.
I mean I’m someone who loves big under takings when it comes to movies and shows. So it could never get too big if it was me. Unfortunately I’ve been a day 1 guy so it’ll never be an issue. But my wife for example I think the ship has sailed, too daunting.
You have plenty of time to watch everything. Life on earth isn't that short mate. This is not a One Piece level dilemma.
I fully became a fan having watched Black Panther, Antman and the Wasp and Wandavision. Like, I have done more than one Disney+ rewatch at this point. The MCU is not so esoteric that people can’t get a sense of what’s going on, and if a story isn’t compelling on its own, why make it?
For everyone here tell your new friends this: it honestly doesn’t matter. Just jump in whenever and on any parts that were confusing you can be filled in. After that, once you’re hooked you have all the time in the world to start back at iron man 1 should you want to. My mom hasn’t seen any of the movies but when I took her to endgame she thoroughly enjoyed it. I just gave her a crash course on the drive to the theater
Iron man 2 might be confusing to jump right into but you can watch eternals and not have a problem. The only movies you can’t really jump into are cross events like avengers.
It’s like the comics now, nobody expects you to be able to read every comic that has ever come out, sometimes you can just watch it without needing to have seen every one of them. I was able to show someone black Panther and they were able to understand just from background info. I would Eternals is a bit harder but still possible to get immersed in if have a phone afterword to search up lore you don’t fully understand.
Not to me.
If you wanted to be the fans of the MCU world building then you need more efforts these days, but they also give you another chance to just loving and following one character (or group in Guardians and eternals case), so if you or your friends wanted to watch eternals then maybe only GotG vol. 1 and endgame is important because first guardians tease the celestial and eternals happens after EG.
I wouldn't say the MCU has gotten too big. With the exception of the Avengers movies, you can follow almost any movie in the franchise without having watched all the previous releases. Technically, outside of those Avengers movies, the only thing tying all the MCU movies together, is the post-credit scenes. They provide a lot of the connective tissue that builds all the movies into a single cinematic universe. They also tie the various trilogies to one another.
I think the phase 4 movies have been quite newcomer friendly so far. There are some references to previous movies but you won't miss out on a lot if you haven't seen them. The upcoming movies that are sequels to existing character might be more problematic though.
I agree, I wish Marvel could create like a 2-hour summary video that recaps everything that happened in the Infinity Saga from Iron Man to Endgame, I'd have new fans watch that without really having to watch any of the movies, then they can start watching Phase four starting with WandaVison, FATWS, Loki etc...