Picture it! Sicily. 1922. Florida. 2019. Avengers: Endgame is just around the corner, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe has hit its peak of popularity, infiltrating nearly every water cooler conversation and internet forum on the planet. In an effort to make sure we were well prepared to cover it, my boss asked me if I could pitch in with coverage once the movie dropped. In an effort to be a team player, I gladly obliged, until I realized that I wasn’t caught up on the MCU, which had ballooned to nearly two dozen films at that point in time.
So, I had two options. I could choose to just watch Avengers: Endgame on its own, spoiling the overarching plot without having watched all the movies that came before it. Or, I could binge all the films to get myself fully up to speed on what the Avengers and co. had been up to. I’m an idiot, so I chose Option B.
And what a wild time that was. 22 films. 7 days. And a whole lot of quippy dialogue. In retrospect, I’m amazed that I made it through without any long-lasting psychological damage. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t inherently think the Marvel Cinematic Universe is subpar, but I think we can all safely say that it’s not really pushing the envelope in terms of its dialogue and overall plot direction.
Like most other franchises, the MCU has its strengths and weaknesses, but the overall quality and consistency leave a lot of room for improvement. For every Black Panther and Thor: Ragnarok, there’s an Iron Man 2 and Thor: The Dark World to drag down their more successful brethren. While I have certainly enjoyed my fair share of Marvel movies, I didn’t binge-watch the first 20 plus films for enjoyment’s sake — I did it to get caught up on the interwoven and bloated narrative that is the Infinity Saga.
It should come as no surprise that I haven’t really watched much of Phase Four or Five. I did enjoy Spider-Man: No Way Home and a couple of the Disney Plus shows, but the time commitment has become too much to handle. The MCU’s fourth phase consists of 7 movies and a whopping 8 TV series, and that doesn’t include any of the television specials or shorts. The similarly-sized fifth phase doesn’t fare much better.
And therein lies the real problem with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While there are plenty of long-running TV shows and movie series of the same ilk, most of them don’t pressure you into being caught up on every single entry or episode — the long-running success of Grey’s Anatomy and the Saw films are proof positive of that. But, at every turn, Disney is quick to remind you that all of these MCU shows are interconnected, whether that be through post-credits scenes, a movie casually referencing another, or worse yet, a plot line that kicks off in a TV show only to be resolved or further developed in a future film (angrily glares over at WandaVision and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness).
And sure, it’s not like anyone’s being forced to catch up on every single show or movie, but the simple fact that Phases and Sagas are central to the MCU really does encourage anyone who’s interested in seeing how things pan out for the inhabitants of Earth-199999 to watch every single release.
So, my advice? If you’re still keen on being completely up-to-date and familiar with all the key players and sidekicks, don’t hesitate to continue watching whatever movie or TV show Disney decides to pump out. But, if you’re going to commit to watching the (checks notes) 400-plus episodes of TV series, and 30 plus films, take it easy and do it slowly. Not only will it keep your sanity intact in the long run, but it’ll also, with any luck, help to prevent that feeling of dread and fatigue that tends to seep in after you’ve been exposed to a sea of endless quippy dialogue, fourth-wall breaks, and some truly baffling pseudo-sci-fi explanations for how this wacky universe has been haphazardly thrown together.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to go cleanse myself with my newly purchased 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.