I haven't kept up with much MCU since Endgame as I felt like things were "complete", or at least as complete as I wanted them to be.
Now it's tough to find footing - I thought about watching this over the weekend, but I realized that I don't even know where things stand anymore. Do I need to watch Shang Chi, and the Eternals, first? What about Doctor Strange 2? She Hulk? Falcon? Oh and let's not forget about Loki, which I assume to be in the "Yes" column.
Other than Endgame, I haven't watched much aside from a bit of Falcon, and then also Wandavision. Both were good, but not great. But it just seems like there is too much going on. 4-5 films leading into Avengers seemed reasonable. Now we're already there (and then some) with Phase 4, plus there are 3-4 10ish hour TV shows that would take even longer to catch-up on. And no sign of what it's building toward. Just feels like we're in the middle of a weird transition, leading to nowhere in particular.
No. You honestly can have skipped everything after endgame and it won’t impact this movie.
If you haven't kept up since Endgame, here's what I think should be watched if you want to catch up on something in particular:
-If you want to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home, you need to watch Far From Home (obviously).
-If you want to watch Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, definitely watch WandaVision on Disney+.
-If you want to watch Thor: Love & Thunder, you're good. It pretty much picks up with Thor from Endgame.
-If you plan to watch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, you're good as well.
-If you plan on seeing Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania next February, definitely watch Loki on Disney+.
-If you plan to watch The Marvels next summer, definitely watch WandaVision and Ms. Marvel.
-If you want to watch anything else, they're all pretty stand-alone. Shang-Chi doesn't need any prior viewing of anything previously released, same with Eternals, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Ms. Marvel. For now, these are fairly stand-alone affairs, but future installments of the MCU through Phases 5 and 6 (of the Multiverse Saga) will incorporate all of these characters and their stories.
-Black Widow is a stand-alone story that takes place between Civil War and Infinity War, but if you want to watch the Hawkeye series on Disney+, definitely watch Black Widow first.
-Marc.
This is excellent, thanks. I've watched WandaVision, and liked it, so I think I will catch-up as follows:
+Shang Chi (I love Tony Leung, and a big fan of HK movies in general)
+Dr. Strange (liked WandaVision)
+Thor (liked them all so far)
+Probably see Black Panther in Theaters
Then... IDK? Nothing else on that list really speaks to me. Maybe I'll dive deeper if the next "ensemble" movie piques my interest in any of the characters I don't know too well.
Yeah, that sounds like a solid plan. I think the next ensemble movie will start tying just about EVERYTHING back together to try to make it all seem "essential." But I kind of view it like I viewed collecting comics back in the '80s and '90s: there were a few select books I liked to collect, and those titles inevitably grew and grew. And a lot of that growing number had to do with either big ensemble crossovers or smaller crossovers. But at the end of the day, while I enjoyed those crossover events, I only had so much time and money to invest, so I just couldn't read everything, and wasn't ultimately interested in reading everything, so I didn't try. If you leave out some films or some D+ shows, will you miss things that are "important?" Yes. Is it the end of the world that is going to ruin your viewing experience of anything else? No. So do what you want.
That said, I have two recommendations:
While Hawkeye might not jump out at you as something you NEED to see, it's a really fun series for the holidays. With the holiday season almost upon us, I would recommend it for some lighthearted Marvel holiday fun. The episodes aren't too long, so it doesn't feel like a slog. And the writing, story, and acting are all really solid. Not to mention that it looks to be important for some future projects, including an ensemble project. The one thing is, you really SHOULD try to watch the Black Widow movie beforehand because it really is important to some major plot points in the Hawkeye show. And it is a pretty good movie in its own right. The only consistent knock on it that I have seen since its release is that it really feels like Marvel jumping the shark at many points due to how unrealistic the action is for nonpowered people to be engaging in and surviving. (well, there is one other knock as well concerning a comic character that they reinterpreted and didn't do a great job with, but it doesn't really take too much away from the film) But aside from that, it's a solid film that adds some humanity and texture to BW's character, to Civil War, and to other things in the future. I think you might be surprised to find that you will like that movie and the Hawkeye series more than you might initially think you might.
Second recommendation is for the D+ shows in general. Up until the most recent one, they've mostly been pretty good. If you find you have the time, I might just take them one at a time and see what you like.
Topic: Marvel Studios' Thor: Love And Thunder, OUT NOW! SPOILERS now inside! (Read 8230 times)