Get ready
MCU Watch Order
Catching up before December? Here's what to watch first, in order of priority.
Avengers: Doomsday brings together the mainline Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. If you're catching up, start here.
Essential - watch these first
- Avengers: Endgame (2019) - the last mainline Avengers film, and the story Doomsday picks up from, per producer comments.
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) - introduces Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben, all confirmed for Doomsday.
- Thunderbolts* (2025) - introduces the “New Avengers” (Yelena, Bucky, Red Guardian, John Walker, Ghost, Sentry); reported as where Doomsday picks up ~14 months later.
- Captain America: Brave New World (2025) - brings Sam Wilson's Captain America and Joaquín Torres' Falcon up to date.
Strongly recommended
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) - Sam becoming Captain America, and Bucky's arc.
- Loki, Seasons 1–2 (2021–2023) - the specific Loki variant in Doomsday comes from here.
- Black Widow (2021) - introduces Yelena Belova and Alexei / Red Guardian.
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) - the most recent Scott & Cassie Lang appearance.
Good context if you have time
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Age of Ultron (2015) - broader team history.
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) - Simu Liu's introduction.
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) - introduces Namor and Talokan, and updates Wakanda under Shuri.
About the X-Men
The X-Men cast (Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Kelsey Grammer, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming, Channing Tatum) come from 20th Century Fox's X-Men films (2000–2019), not a prior MCU project. You don't need to rewatch those to follow Doomsday - but it explains why they feel like they're arriving from another universe. Per Marvel's framing, they are.