It has been over ten years in the making, 22 movies and lots of popcorn, and finally, the finale. Photo from Google.
By Daymien Barreiro
It has been over ten years in the making, 22 movies and lots of popcorn, and finally, the finale.
April 26 marks the opening for the conclusion of the Marvel cinematic universe “Infinity War” series. This moment has been coming for a long time and before you go to the theater (if you were lucky enough to score a ticket) you will need to be prepared.
Here is a list of the things you will need to do to be prepared to watch the biggest blockbuster of the decade, Avengers: Endgame.
You will want to be prepared with all of the details of every movie that has come out since Ironman in 2008. Don’t just try to get away with watching all the post-credit scenes, because Thanos is crafty and might test you on some minute details from a movie that many have overlooked. So here is the film list, in order, so you get it right.
First you’ll want to watch Iron Man, the movie that started it all. When it came out in 2008 we were children, but this movie is totally magical. It is worth it to see Toni Stark build the Mark I in a cave and emerge as Iron Man.
The same summer The Incredible Hulk was released, but it was overshadowed by Iron Man. When watched now, it becomes obvious how far CGI has come in eleven years. However the relationship between Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) and Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) is worth the watch.
Marvel executives must have been floored by the popularity of these films because it was two years before Iron Man 2 was released. This film is where the universe starts to emerge through various Easter eggs, like Captain America’s shield in Toni’s workshop, and the Avenger’s Initiative admitting Iron Man but not Toni Stark. Black Widow and War Machine appear on the scene as well as a very young Peter Parker, and Thor’s hammer.
hen Thor was released a year later, to the cheers of female Marvel fans. It takes place in rural New Mexico (well, and Asgard). Thor (Chris Hemsworth) comes to Earth to prove he is worthy to reclaim his beloved hammer. Once he is deemed worthy as a true hero by sacrificing himself for others, then he will get it back. While on Earth he meets a scientist Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) who begins to study the Tesseract, an object of incredible power. Oh and by the way, he falls in love with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).
Things were really ramping up for the first Avengers movie, but the team needed one more character to make it complete, and lead them.
The first (and best) avenger is Captain America, and is set during World War II. Steve Rogers is a little guy with big courage, the epitome of American bravado. He joins the service to help defeat the Nazi Reich and encounters the Red Skull who was defeated but then appears later, much to everyone’s surprise.
Finally, after five films and five years, it was time for Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., to assemble The Avengers, including the key members, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and of course the Hulk, and some lesser members (people without superpowers, just super talented like Black Widow and Hawkeye).
This film completed phase one. Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) steals the Tesseract and uses it to try and take over Earth. The Avenger’s team needed to put aside their differences and come together to defeat this common threat, and learn to respect each other in the process. The battle scene in New York at the end of this film is worth watching it by itself.
Now that you have watched about 11 hours of movies, you may want to take a break and work on phase two on another day. This is a marathon and not a sprint. You need to be fresh for the three hour Endgame.
Some may have thought that after the action of The Avengers that Iron Man 3 would be anti-climactic. Toni Stark battles post-traumatic stress disorder as well as the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley).
The movie feels more like a detective story than an action flick, but Robert Downey Jr. is always good as the Iron Man. This movie sets up the fact that Toni Stark is having troubles dealing with the real possibility that there are overwhelming forces in the galaxy that the Avengers may not be prepared or able to defend against.
Thor: The Dark World had Malekith and his army of Dark Elves trying to get a supremely powerful weapon, known as the Aether. Thor needed Loki, who fakes his own death, to escape imprisonment and also defeat this evil in the galaxy. Thor and Loki lose their mother, to the army of Dark Elves and this fact doesn’t bring them closer.
Things get really serious when S.H.I.E.L.D. is infiltrated by Hydra, and Captain America is forced to choose between his loyalty to his friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and the oath to serve in S.H.I.E.L.D. It doesn’t end well. S.H.I.E.L.D. is shattered, Bucky Barnes disappears after nearly killing Steve Rogers, and the world is left unprotected. It is a good time to get off Earth and go to somewhere else in the galaxy. The Falcon, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie)
The surprise of the summer of 2014 was Guardians of the Galaxy. The last three films were pretty dark. Iron Man, Dark World and Winter Soldier all had dark themes of mental illness, galaxy destroying weapons resurfacing and even Asgard is not safe, and finally the destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D, because it was infiltrated by Hydra. Nothing was as it seemed and some comic release was necessary before the second Avengers movie arrived.
The Guardians are comprised of Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and his misfits, including Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) – just don’t call him a raccoon, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) and of course Groot (Vin Diesel).
They fight Ronin (Lee Pace) a Kree who makes a deal with Thanos to get a powerful orb (yes, an infinity stone), so that Thanos will eradicate the Xandarians. However, it is stolen by Star-Lord (who?), and in a dance-off is defeated by the Guardians. Star-Lord has some special powers that he didn’t even realize by holding an infinity stone and not dying.
Avengers: Age of Ultron reunited the now larger group of Avengers including Captain America (the best Avenger), Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, and now Falcon, to defeat Ultron.
Ultron is a technological enemy created by Toni Stark to protect the world, but who gets bent on the destruction of humanity. They also encounter the Maximoff Twins, Pietro and Wanda. While Pietro (AaronTaylor-Johnson) as Quicksilver is fast, he really didn’t see that bullet coming and doesn’t survive this movie. Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) however, becomes the Scarlet Witch and returns in future films. Vision who was J.A.R.V.I.S. (Paul Bettany), is created using the mind stone out of Loki’s scepter.
Even though S.H.I.E.L.D. is no longer around Nick Fury arrives just in time with a helicarrier to save the day, while the rest of the Avengers battle a hoard of Ultron robot machines. There is an uneasy ending to this film because we know Thanos is coming and there still is no real defense against him.
Ant-Man is the last film in the phase two series, so you can’t get another bathroom break yet. It is a more light-hearted movie, where Scott Lang becomes the Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), by protecting Dr. Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas) technology for shrinking and enlarging things from the new president of Pym Technology Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), who becomes Yellow Jacket. The best part of this movie is Ant-Man’s friend and side-kick Luis (Michael Pena), the plot is moved along with his hysterical voice overs, and no one could have done it better than Pena.
Now, take a moment, rest up and get ready for the huge phase three homestretch to Endgame. Get a good meal because there are nine more movies to enjoy before the finale.
“You know your teams, you know your missions.” Captain America (Chris Evans) gives an inspirational speech to his teams, ahead of a mission, in “Avengers: Endgame.” Photo from Google.
Phase three begins with Captain America: Civil War, and it is a great film. The Avenger’s are splintered into two opposing sides. Helmut Zemo (Daniel Bruhl), who survived Sokovia being destroyed in Age of Ultron, now wants revenge on the Avengers by turning Captain America and Iron Man against each other. His master plan is to get the world to adopt the Sokovia Accord, which is a law regulating superhuman activity, with government oversight and accountability over the Avengers. Toni is for it and Steve is against it.
As the civil war between these two sides comes to a head, each side recruits extra members. Team Iron Man recruits Spiderman (Tom Holland) and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), as well as War Machine and Black Widow. Teach Captain America gets Ant-Man, Hawkeye, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, and the Winter Soldier. The battle is amazing with loyalties and betrayals overlapping. When Toni learns that the Winter Soldier was responsible for his parents’ death, he has a final break with Steve Rogers, who is still loyal to his friend, because he was under Hydra mind control.
The film ends with Steve Rogers offering an olive branch, by sending Toni “Stank” (as Stan Lee dressed as a Fed Ex driver calls Toni) a cell phone with his number in it. Rogers and Barnes are offered asylum in Wakanda from the Black Panther. Now the Earth has no real defense at all.
There is still a lot of room for more heroes and characters to fill the Marvel Universe, and so enters Doctor Strange. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is the world’s best neurosurgeon, but he gets into a serious car accident that leaves his hands ruined. Unable to do the one thing that he always wanted to do he goes to Kamar-Taj, to learn about the mystic arts from The Ancient One (Tida Swinton) who is the Sorcerer Supreme.
After he masters the arts. he is forced to take on Dormammu an evil entity from another dimension, who grants power to his followers but is intent on taking over our dimension for himself. Strange defeats Dormammu with the use of the Eye of Agamotto (which is also the infinity time stone). After the death of The Ancient One, Doctor Strange is the new Sorcerer Supreme, and is responsible for protecting Earth from all mystical threats. He even gives Thor a cool refilling mead stein.
Now it is time to take a moment to see how life on the other end of the galaxy is going, with Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2. Peter Quill discovers who his father is. It turns out that his father is Ego (Kurt Russell) (or maybe David Hasselhoff) who is a planet who gave Peter’s mother brain cancer and is trying to remodel the entire galaxy with the help of Star-Lord. He is forced to kill his own father to save the galaxy but learns that Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker) is his daddy.
While this may seem like a pretty dark film, it is actually still the Guardians, so Baby Groot and the rest of the cast is still hysterically entertaining. This is a great film, that at the time doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the Marvel Universe, actually does.
After his debut in Civil War, Peter Parker got his own movie in Spider-Man: Homecoming, because everyone has a gimmick these days. Spider-Man faces off against the Vulture (Michael Keaton), who leads a crew cleaning up after the battle of New York. When he loses his government contract to do the clean up he turns his crew to crime, partly to provide for his family and partly for revenge at being fired in the first place.
Spider-Man is just learning about his abilities and the suit that Toni Stark has created for him. He saves the day as his classmates are almost killed at the Washington Monument.
He then realizes that his girlfriend’s father is Adrian Toomes, the alter-ego of the Vulture. Talk about pressure of meeting your girlfriend’s father. He finds the courage within himself to wear the suit and not have the suit wear him, growing as a hero in the process. Remember, “With great power, comes great responsibility.”
2017 was a very busy year, and a great year for Marvel fans, because it was filled with three great movies. Guardians 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and lastly, Thor: Ragnarok.
Thor witnesses the death of his father Oden, and then is trapped by his evil sister Hela, who also destroys his hammer with one hand, on a garbage planet Sakaar to survive as a gladiator. He must fight Hulk, who hasn’t been Bruce Banner in two years. He has actually been living as the Hulk, as the champion gladiator for the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum). While many think that Ragnarok is just too funny, I think that this is the greatest strength of this film.
The end of Asgard is serious and the fact that we can be entertained by these catastrophic events shows how great the Marvel Universe is. At the end of this movie, Thor and all the survivors of Asgard (including Hulk and Loki) are left on a large ship heading for Earth as refugees. Hela is killed by Ragnarok.
The last film before Infinity War is Black Panther. T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns back to his home of Wakanda, a fictional African nation. He is crowned as king of Wakanda, but he is soon challenged by his cousin, who grew up in America, and seeks to use Wakanda’s technology to create a world-wide racial revolution. This nation has remained hidden for centuries to protect its stash of vibranium, that fell there as an asteroid. It is where all of the world’s vibranium comes from, like Captain America’s shield.
Finally, it was time to see the first part of the Avenger’s, which is called Infinity War. The list of characters is huge, so let’s say everyone is in this film except for Hawkeye and Ant-Man.
Avengers: Endgame is the conclusion of the Marvel Comics cinematic universe “Infinity War” series. Photo from Google.
The film begins with Thanos taking an he Space Infinity Stone from the Tesseract from Thor’s ship of refugees. We also learn that he has already taken the Power Stone from Xandar. Then Thanos sends his evil henchmen to Earth to retrieve the Mind Stone from Vision’s head and the Time Stone from Doctor Strange’s chest. They fail because there are enough Avenger’s around to help save the Earth. Strange is taken prisoner because the Eye of Amamotto is protected by an enchantment, and because Spider-Man, Iron-Man, Wong, and NOT Hulk fail to stop the intruders. While Peter Parker and Toni Stark stowaway on Thanos’s henchmen’s ship, Wong goes back to the Sanctum to protect Earth from there, and hopefully gets his tuna sandwich, while Bruce Banner calls Steve Rogers from the phone that he gave Toni Stark at the end of Civil War.
If this sounds complicated, it is. You’ll probably need to watch this film twice. Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon show up just in time to save Vision and his new girlfriend, Scarlet Witch, from Thanos’s forces trying to get his stone. Then they go to Wakanda to secure that stone.
Meanwhile, Thanos is off to get the Reality stone from the Collector, on Knowhere, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, minus Groot and Rocket, go to stop him, but they are too late. Thanos also kidnaps Gamora because she knows the location of the Soul Stone. Groot, Rocket and Thor go to get a Thanos killing weapon.
Eitri, the king of the dwarves, helps Thor by creating Stormbreaker and ax forged in the heart of a dying star.
Thanos sacrifices his adopted daughter (and the only thing he ever loved) to gain access to the Soul Stone. He then goes to his dead homeworld, Titan, to get the Time Stone from Doctor Strange. Strange uses the stone to see millions of possible outcomes and finds only one way to defeat Thanos (which of course we will not see until the Endgame). Thanos gets the Time Stone from Doctor Strange in return for sparing the life of Toni Stark, which is part of the Endgame plan. This leaves Earth as the location of the final stone and the location for the final battle between the Avengers and Thanos.
Wakanda is the location for the final battle on Earth, with Captain America, the Winter Soldier, the Black Panther and Banner, who cannot turn into the Hulk, but wears the hulkbuster armor. Thor, Rocket and Groot arrive during the battle and Thanos’s army is beaten, and his henchmen are killed.
However, Thanos arrives, and even though the Scarlet Witch kills Vision by destroying the stone in his head, still loses the stone to Thanos who now has the Time Stone to get Vision’s stone. With all the stones on the Infinity Gauntlet, all he has to do is snap his fingers and half the universe will die.
Thor uses Stormbreaker to kill Thanos but because he hit the chest and not the head (always aim for the head), Thanos snaps his fingers.
Even Nick Fury turns to dust and blows away, but not before he sends a call out on a dated looking pager, with the symbol of Captain Marvel on it. Then he presumably curses and disappears. This is a serious movie, but it is necessary to set up for the final ENDGAME.
Ant-Man was conspicuously absent from Infinity War and there had to be a reason. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, we get that reason. Scott Lang is broken out of house arrest, due to his role in Civil War, and is used to help rescue Hank Pym’s wife from the quantum realm. After they do this, they work together to research this realm and while Ant-Man is in that realm Thanos’s snap heard across the universe kills all of his support team (Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne, and Hope van Dyne) leaving Lang trapped in the quantum realm.
The last piece of the puzzle before you get to watch Endgame is who was Fury paging at the end of Infinity War? The answer to that was found in Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) becomes Captain Marvel in this origin story, set in 1995 (there is a Blockbuster and everything). As a test pilot, she destroys a light speed engine to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Kree. However the energy from the explosion is absorbed by Danvers and she becomes one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, but she lost her memory.
Over the course of the movie she regains her memory, stops a Kree invasion of Earth and gives Fury her Air Force callsign “Avenger” and a pager so S.H.I.E.L.D. can call her back to Earth if needed, which she was at the end of Infinity War.
Now you have what you need. I recommend that you actually do the hard work of watching all these movies for yourself. It will take about 2886 minutes (give or take a few) to watch all these, but someone has to do all the hard work.
There are many theories about how this will all end, and none of them are credible. Marvel is very good at keeping their secrets. So, all we can do is be prepared. Hopefully, you got a ticket for the first weekend; they are SOLD OUT. Enjoy the movie, I will.
