Entertainment
Where To Start Watching The Marvel Cinematic Universe
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
The Marvel Cinematic Universe may have fallen off a bit in recent years, but there’s no doubt that it completely changed how films are made. These movies made the superhero genre wildly popular while transforming plenty of talented actors into Hollywood heavyweights. Now, with a couple of high-profile Avengers movies (Doomsday and Secret Wars) promising to change things up, it’s a very exciting time to be a Marvel fan.
What if you’ve never watched these movies, though? To a casual newcomer, the Marvel movies can seem as confusing and impenetrable as the decades of comics they are based on. That doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the fun, though: like Tony Stark in a cave (with a box of scraps!), I’ve built a perfect guide about where to start watching the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Chronological Completist Should Start With Captain Marvel
Part of why the Marvel movies are so confusing is the timeline. Some movies take place earlier than others, and the current films technically take place in the future (The Thunderbolts, for instance, is set in 2027).
If you really care about unpacking tangled timelines and getting to the bottom of things, you should definitely start by streaming Captain Marvel. This film is set in the 1990s and, through the miracle of CGI de-aging, Samuel L. Jackson provides an extensive backstory for MCU mainstay Nick Fury, from when he was an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and not its one-eyed commander-in-chief.
This film also gives us plenty of Agent Coulson, a fan-favorite character from the first Avengers movie who went on to headline the successful Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series. Most of all, though, this movie is worth it for the performance of Brie Larson, who (despite what an army of screaming incel YouTubers say) did an excellent job turning the title character into modern Hollywood’s ultimate girboss guru. The movie as a whole is bold, brassy, and breezy, and it’s refreshingly more concerned with telling a good story than setting up future MCU projects.
If You Want To Jump To A Marvel Team-Up, Start With The Avengers
Some people enjoy Marvel movies that focus on individual characters, such as Iron Man or Spider-Man. Still, others prefer major ensemble films that feature as many heroes and villains on screen as possible.
If you like the idea of watching the MCU’s most iconic characters team up and take on the biggest threats, you can start by watching the first Avengers film. This movie brings together Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Hulk to fight Loki, a mad god who has brought chaos to Earth in the form of an alien invasion.
The Avengers is a great film for new fans to start with because it’s like a cinematic sampler platter with a little bit of everything; if you end up really liking some Avengers over others, you can then go watch their solo films. You can also keep the ensemble energy going by just watching the four (so far) Avengers movies first instead of trying to watch everything in between them. This makes for a surprisingly efficient way to catch up on the MCU as a whole while letting you experience the best film (Avengers: Endgame) before you decide to watch everything else.
The Most Relatable Way To Start Watching Marvel Movies Is With Spider-Man: Homecoming
Some moviegoers were eventually turned off by Marvel’s most ambitious movies. After all, you can only watch the fate of the world hang in the balance so many times before you start getting a bit jaded. Fortunately, the best down-to-earth Marvel movie also features its most grounded hero, one who is arguably now the focal point of this entire cinematic universe. If you want the simplest (and definitely silliest) way to start watching the MCU, then you should begin with Spider-Man: Homecoming, featuring relatable everyman and breakout Marvel actor Tom Holland.
This fan-favorite film gestures towards the broader cinematic universe and offers an abbreviated introduction to characters like Tony Stark and Happy Hogan. Mostly, though, it focuses on fleshing out the titular character’s world, introducing us to the city full of quirky residents that he will focus on protecting while the Avengers are out saving the whole world. Plus, given that the Big Bad is played by former Batman actor Michael Keaton, Homecoming has something special for every franchise newcomer: a chillingly unforgettable new villain.
If You Want To Start From the Beginning, Start With Iron Man
If you’re trying to figure out where to start your Marvel journey, it’s hard to go wrong with the original Iron Man. The movie works as the perfect introduction to Tony Stark, arguably the most important figure in the entire cinematic universe. Additionally, the film stands on its own as a standalone blockbuster, while also teasing future films in one of the post-credits scenes that would later become a hallmark of this franchise.
Now, I don’t necessarily recommend watching every single MCU movie from the beginning. While it’s easy enough to do so with Disney+, there are a lot of films (33 and counting), and some (ranging from Thor: The Dark World to The Eternals) are pretty boring. Nonetheless, this first Iron Man movie is the best way to dip your toes (or should that be your superhero suit?) into this iconic cinematic universe. Plus, it’s a perfect acting showcase for Robert Downey Jr., whose talent and sheer charisma helped make the nerdiest films in the world into mainstream blockbusters.
