What are the five films you NEED to set-up Infinity War and Endgame?

I want to show my girlfriend the MCU phases 1-3 (she's never watched any) but neither of us have the time to go through all 30 films or whatever

What are the five films you'd NEED to see to truly get (or as close to) Infinity War and Endgame? Obviously the experience will never be the same without the build up from the first grin of Thanos after Avengers, but I'm thinking

Winter Soldier (sets up Cap, Bucky and paves for civil war)
Guardians 1 (sets up Infinity Stones, space stuff and guardians characters)
Civil War (sets up relationships and why everyone is scattered)
Ragnarok (sets up Thor and Hulk)
Dr Strange? Or Captain Marvel maybe (sets up either main character. Particularly for Endgame in establishing Ancient One for chat with Hulk or who Captain Marvel is in appearing in Endgame)

Should give someone all the bases in key characters, relationships and where everyone is ending up come the start of Infinity war

Maybe to extend to 7 films I'd add Avengers 1 and 2 for more team dynamics and introducing Wanda and Vision

Let me know thoughts!

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Commentaires

wilsonw2025-10-21 11:40

Watch The Marvels 5 times.

ULTRAman06162025-10-21 11:43

Watch a Cram-it video on YouTube. Gives you everything in like an hour.

AndrewInMN2025-10-21 11:58

Yeah. Maybe watch a few of the best movies then fill in the gaps with the cram it video.

https://youtu.be/U5sb8LBeaQQ?si=O4RdkNEdH0F63CmC

zixaphir2025-10-21 11:58

Any cram that does not include Iron Man is kinda missing the main character. I'm not even an Iron Man Stan, but he kinda bookends the entire Infinity Saga.

Legal-Start94832025-10-21 14:08

False, the saga is "the infinty saga" not "Tony Stark saga", there is movies like Guardians of the galaxy vol1, Thor ragnarok, captain america winter soldier that are important but Stark is not in these. Even tho he is the "main" characters, saying what you say is very insulting for the greater MCU

Ranos1312025-10-21 14:16

The entire MCU really happened because of the Ironman movie. Tony is one of the pivotal characters in the saga. Just because he isn’t in every movie, that doesn’t change the fact. Stark is responsible for a lot of what happens in the saga and the lead up to Infinity War.

And yeah, it’s called the Infinity Saga. But the stones aren’t in every single movie. They’re still important though. Just like Tony Stark is.

Legal-Start94832025-10-21 14:55

I understand that, I just think that if you watch the MCU just for him, you're not a really "fan"

BatmanForever232025-10-21 18:55

Literally no one said anyone should watch the MCU 'just for him'. The point, which went completely over your head, is that Tony Stark *is* the main character - as much as there is one. He has the most appearances, he kicked it all off, he's there right at the death, and his characters drives the narrative more than any other.

It's not insulting and you're still a fan for acknowledging it. Get a grip.

BatmanForever232025-10-21 12:04

>neither of us have the time to go through all 30 films or whatever

Infinity War was the 19th film in the MCU, and Endgame the 22nd, so hardly that many are necessary. If you're so pressed for time, but can presumably go up to 7, I'd just find time for a few more and work out which ones can be skipped. Of those, I think you could get away with avoiding Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians Vol.2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. None of those are crucial (even if many are good films still worth watching), to my recollection, for introducing either relevant plot or world building. Every other film either introduces or crucially expands on important characters or lore.

Alternatively, watch a full summary on YouTube - you can't get a proper grip on things from 5 or even 7 films, and idk if it's even worth the bother if you're not gonna do it properly and miss out on a bunch of important context and storytelling.

ijustuseredditformem2025-10-21 18:52

Yeah, I would argue that all of the Infinity Saga is worth watching, except for a few NGl—at least once. The early MCU is tough to get through, especially on rewatch. Ngl, even if you are pressed for time i would still watch most of the movies because you will have a lot more fun. But if you really want to i would basically just do what this guy says. Make sure to keep in mind that iron man and cap are the main characters but i would make sure to watch the really good ones still. Like black panther is an amazing movie even if you don't like marvel at all it's one of the best imo. Guardians 2 is also good but not that neciessary to watch unless you like the guardians. You just gotta keep in mind there are a ton of marvel movies that arn't that important to the main story but are really good movies.

Toshimoko292025-10-21 12:09

You’re presuming too much needs to be spelled out. Just watch the 4 Avengers movies with Civil War. She absolutely doesn’t need to know everything, just enough to follow along and have a good time. Then if she cares she can go back and watch more/all and start putting the deeper threads together.

SP15702025-10-21 12:19

The bare minimum would probably be:
Iron Man 2; Avengers; Winter Soldier; Age of Ultron; Civil War

...but I realise that you still end up missing a lot of background info

colderstates2025-10-21 12:43

- Iron Man
- Avengers
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Age of Ultron
- Civil War

ijustuseredditformem2025-10-21 18:53

this is probably the best list. I would say you gonna have to watch a youtube video explaining everything. I've seen some that are maybe like an hour long which is not bad.

CuteLingonberry97042025-10-21 12:48

Unpopular opinion, but I don't think Iron Man is needed. Avengers should give enough information as to who he (and the rest of the OG Avengers) is.

Stormik2025-10-21 13:10

If you don't mind me asking, are you both very old or terminally ill or something? I mean - why don't you have enough time to watch 30 movies?

I'd like to think that I'll have enough time in my life to watch way more than 30 movies.

shellexyz2025-10-21 14:19

Hell, we watched through them with my elderly neighbor and got through Endgame a few months before he passed away. He loved the military aspects of IM1/2 and CAFA, which made it easy for him to get into the MCU as a whole. Lots of times we would finish a movie and he’d ask what came next.

I also think he was rather fond of IM2 Black Widow, but that may just be a consequence of having eyes.

Abides19482025-10-21 13:14

Avengers 1 to set up the key dynamics between Tony, Steve and Thor

Winter Soldier to introduce Bucky

Civil War for Vision/ Scarlet Witch/Spideman

Thor Ragnarok for Hulk and Strange, understanding the start of IW

Guardians 1 to introduce them and make sense of the callbacks in Endgame

the_Resistance_88192025-10-21 13:35

iron man (preferably all 3 but you said 7 max),
avengers (same thing preferably all but you said 7 max)
winter soldier,
civil war,
guardians 1,
guardians 2,
ragnarok,

AccurateRaspberry9932025-10-21 13:36

I ran my dad through GotG and did Infinity and Endgame just for the Star Lord relationship change between 2 & 3.

Tim_Hag2025-10-21 13:57

Avengers, guardians 1, age of Ultron, civil war, and you could probably make an argument for a lot of movies taking the 5th spot

HankSteakfist2025-10-21 13:58

Iron Man

Avengers

Guardians of the Galaxy

Captain America: Civil War

Thor: Ragnarok

That's skipping a fair bit of story, but at the bare minimum, you'll know who all the main characters are and why the Avengers split up.

ich-bin-on-that-shit2025-10-21 14:04

Just watch the first five and wait until you have more time?

Ranos1312025-10-21 14:32

Here’s the issue with your plan, you can’t introduce the entire plot line and all the characters with only five movies or even seven. So you’re going to be leaving a lot out. There’s going to be a lot of confusion about who characters are and references and where the stones came from. But if you absolutely have to do it:

- Avengers - Shows the formation of the team.
- Guardians of the Galaxy - Introduces the other team and sets Thanos up a bit along with the concept of the Infinity Stones.
- Age of Ultron - Shows the continuation of the team and addition of new characters to the team, especially Wanda and Vision who are important in Infinity War.
- Civil War - Shows the breakup of the team and why things are the way they are at the start of Infinity War.

With those four, you set up a lot of key points and characters as well as the Space Stone, Power Stone and Mind Stone. You’re still missing out on a lot of characters and two of the stones that were set up prior to IW.

If you one go with five total, I’d say Dr Strange because of his pivotal role in the movies and it introduces the Time Stone. If you want to add another couple then I’d go with Ant-man and the Wasp because of the quantum tunnel and where Scott is appearing from and Captain Marvel so you know who she is.

I’d suggest making time for all 23 Infinity Saga movies. Technically 22 since Far from Home happens after Endgame. If you watch just one movie a week you’ll get there. That way, your girlfriend doesn’t miss out on all of the nuances and who’s who and everything.

Smooth-Mix-43572025-10-21 15:00

Infinity War technically is an origin story. So you're good to go with Iron Man, Avengers, Gotg Vol One, Civil War and Ragnarok. But for Endgame I'm afraid 5 won't be enough.

Aromatic-Cupcake48022025-10-21 17:21

Iron Man, The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Civil War. The first MCU film and lead of the Avengers films, the first 2 Avengers movies, Thanos’ appearances and the Avengers fallout.

DigificWriter2025-10-21 17:21

If you're focusing only on Phases 1-3 to start, just do Character Marathons and subseries (i.e. Iron Man 1, 2, and 3, Captain America 1, 2, and 3, Thor 1, 2, and 3, Guardians 1 and 2, Ant-Man 1 and 2, or even just the 4 Avengers movies).

The idea that the MCU has to be experienced as this monolithic whole where you have to do massive amounts of 'prep work' in order to understand and enjoy any one individual part of it is not only a major fallacy, it's also the thing that's been the biggest detriment to the IP since the very beginning.

Mysterious-Potato2842025-10-21 17:30

[deleted]

BatmanForever232025-10-21 18:57

>It sets up the whole plot of endgame!

... no it doesn't. It has a post-credits scene with Scott stuck in the Quantum Realm, which is explained again in Endgame. Absolutely skippable.

ijustuseredditformem2025-10-21 18:47

I feel like the most important thing is literally just the Captain America and Iron Man movies. The infinity sage is mostly about them. Sure i would argue that guardians movies are pretty important as well as dr strange (Captain Marvel, you can skip it is a bad movie) but only five you are gonna be confused no matter what so i would definitely just do the ones with cap and iron man as they are easily the main characters and you feel the impact more when iron man snaps and dies. I really don't know why some people argue that Iron Man and Cap aren't the main characters for the Infinity Saga. I remember people saying that Avengers 1 was basically just Iron Man 4, and Civil War is literally just all the heroes fighting each other with those two as their leaders. Everything revolves around them in some way or another, ngl, except for a few things.

Grayx_28872025-10-21 19:26

The Avengers (2012), Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 1, Thor: The Dark World, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Doctor Strange (2016).

These are the only movies that you need to "set up" for Infinity War and Endgame because they go into more details about introducing the Infinity Stones and what their powers are, and that's it.

Antrikshy2025-10-22 07:21

Just watch the whole thing over the next year. What's the hurry?

If you don't like the series, just don't watch it.

If you force yourself to watch 5 set-up movies, the overall experience won't be complete, no matter how much you want it to be. IW and EG were cultural moments *because* of the buildup.

urbalcloud2025-10-22 14:55

Avengers Ultron

Guardians

Civil War

Ragnarok

Cap Marvel

It’s tough to keep it to five. You don’t get as many introductions as I’d like, but at least you get most characters where they need to be for the start of IW.

Tranced242025-11-03 03:40

Make the time to go through them all