How Many Marvel Movies Do I Take to Meet Before Infinity State of war?

How much do you demand to know virtually Thor and Rocket? Photo: Film Frame/Marvel Studios

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is ten years old, simply in that span it'south already given u.s. an astounding 18 films. (For comparison'southward sake, the James Bond serial needed 35 years to arroyo a similar number.) The 19th, Avengers: Infinity War, arrives this Fri as the chiliad culmination of years of artistic planning. But how many of the Marvel movies exercise yous accept to have seen to get a basic idea of what'southward going on in this one? Luckily, it's not all of them; if y'all take an encyclopedic cognition of everything that happened in Ant-Man, it'll exist wasted here. Beneath, detect our guide to the Marvel movies to watch earlier Infinity War.

Required Viewing

The Avengers (2012)
At that place's no need to have to become back and rewatch all the origin stories from the MCU'south Phase I. The Avengers has our favorite heroes meeting each other for the kickoff time, which gives y'all all the introductions yous demand. The post-credits scene also features the first advent of Thanos, the big purple guy who was behind Loki's attempted invasion of Earth. (This would not exist the last time Thanos send a gofer to fetch him ane of the Infinity Stones, and bluntly it's a wonder it took him this long to simply go go them himself.)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Besides explaining why a big gray guy, a greenish woman, a raccoon, a tree, and a Yacht Stone enthusiast are all traveling through space together, Guardians of the Milky way also gives Thanos a proper introduction. We acquire about his fraught relationship with his adoptive daughters Gamora and Nebula, likewise every bit his '90s-kid obsession with catching 'em all — in this case the Infinity Stones, one of which, the Power Stone, serves equally the film'southward MacGuffin. Information technology'due south too a expert introduction to the MCU's version of space — super-saturated, overstuffed, kind of goofy — where much of Infinity War takes place.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
The second Avengers film is more tolerated than beloved, but among the unconvincing Eastern European accents and levitating Eastern European cities, Ultron marks the introduction of the two Avengers who get the most screen time in Infinity State of war'due south Earthbound plotline: Cerise Witch and Vision. She's a survivor of HYDRA experiments that gave her vaguely defined (merely incredibly powerful) powers; he'due south an android superhero whose operating system runs on one of the Infinity Stones. They are in dear.

Doctor Strange (2016)
I know, I was surprised, too. I haven't broken out the stopwatch nevertheless, but I'd gauge that the Magician Supreme has the third-most screen fourth dimension of the 27 characters in the Infinity War credits, which is one of the reasons the studio hasn't appear whatever plans for Doctor Strange 2 withal. So it's worth checking out his solo installment, which despite grossing $200 1000000 domestically didn't quite have the buzz of some of its predecessors. Lookout it to go a sense of Strange's mind-angle psychedelic abilities, as well as the powers of the Time Stone, which plays a pivotal role in Infinity War.

Supplemental Materials

Captain America: Civil War (2016)
This AMIABN (Avengers Movie In All Only Name) volition fill y'all in on exactly why the super-squad is scattered to the winds at the kickoff of Infinity War, even if they patch up their differences adequately rapidly. (The presence of a genocidal alien volition do that.) Information technology likewise marks the introductions of Spider-Man and Black Panther, and gives you a little more than of the Vision–Blood-red Witch romance.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Why are Thor and the Hulk traveling together on a spaceship? What happened to Thor's eye? And about importantly, when did he get a haircut? Last twelvemonth's Ragnarok will reply all this, and more.

Black Panther (2018)
Allow's exist honest — you probably don't need me to tell you to see Black Panther. But I experience similar I should warn you: There is non a ton of Wakanda in Infinity State of war. And nearly of what you need to know going in you could probably choice upwardly from the Black Panther hype cycle lone: T'Challa is a superhero who is also the king of an African nation called Wakanda, which is super technologically advanced and subconscious from the rest of the world. But seeing Black Panther volition give yous a sense of why exactly the Avengers choose to make a stand up there, plus it'll give you lot more time with Shuri, the best character in the MCU.

For Those Who Want To Be Thorough

Captain America (2011)
At one indicate in Infinity War, a mysterious figure pulls off their hood, and the audience gasps! If y'all want to gasp along with them, you lot'll need to take seen the commencement Captain America.

Iron Human being 3 (2013)
Like other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Infinity War occasionally mentions that Tony Stark is still suffering from post-traumatic stress from the climactic battle in The Avengers. Iron Man 3 doesn't have much to do with the Infinity Stones plot, merely it does dive deeper into Tony's PTSD than the other installments do.

Thor: The Nighttime World (2013)
The Reality Stone does its thing at a few pivotal moments of Infinity War, and its powers will make a lot more sense if you've seen the Thor sequel, where it makes its first appearance.

Guardians of the Milky way 2 (2017)
If you want to know who exactly the lady with the big eyes and antennae is, or how Nebula and Gamora patched things up, Guardians 2 is the movie for yous.

Read Vulture's list of the 12 Marvel movies to meet earlier Endgame .

How Many Marvel Movies Do I Have to See Before Infinity State of war?