What to watch before Avengers Doomsday: 15 MCU films and shows in 15 weeks, from X-Men to Loki. Doable?
Disney+ unveils ambitious 15‑title MCU roadmap ahead of Avengers: Doomsday
With Avengers: Doomsday set to arrive in theaters December 18, Disney+ has published an official viewing guide to help audiences prepare, and the list is more extensive, and more surprising, than many fans expected.
The list
The collection recommends 14 films and one television series, presented in chronological viewing order. Taken together, the list represents nearly two full days of viewing time, with Loki's two seasons accounting for roughly a quarter of the total runtime.
X-Men (2000) — Introduces the mutant characters and actors expected to reappear in Doomsday, despite the film predating the MCU entirely.
X2 (2003) — Continues the original X-Men storyline and cast, several of whom are reprising their roles for Doomsday.
Captain America: The First Avenger — Establishes Steve Rogers' origin and the Tesseract, the first Infinity Stone to appear in the franchise, laying groundwork for the stones' later importance.
The Avengers — The first team-up film, introducing the core Avengers roster and ending with the first glimpse of Thanos, whose arc runs through the franchise's next several years.
Avengers: Infinity War — Thanos assembles the Infinity Stones and eliminates half of all life, setting up the stakes Doomsday is expected to echo with its own universe-threatening antagonist.
Avengers: Endgame — Resolves the Infinity Saga and reshuffles the roster of heroes, providing the baseline for who remains active going into Doomsday.
Loki (Seasons 1–2) — Introduces the multiverse and the Time Variance Authority, the narrative mechanism underpinning the multiversal threats Doomsday is built around.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings — Introduces Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings, elements expected to factor into the broader ensemble Marvel is assembling for Doomsday.
Spider-Man: No Way Home — Uses the multiverse to bring in characters from prior non-MCU Spider-Man films, reinforcing the cross-franchise approach Doomsday is taking with the X-Men.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Continues the Wakanda storyline and introduces Namor, expanding the roster of nations and powers in play.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — Further develops the multiverse concept and features alternate versions of established characters, directly relevant to a film built around multiversal stakes.
Captain America: Brave New World — Establishes Sam Wilson as the new Captain America and touches on geopolitical tensions expected to carry into Doomsday.
Deadpool & Wolverine — Folds the Fox-era X-Men universe formally into the MCU multiverse, a direct precursor to Doomsday merging those two cinematic histories.
Thunderbolts* — Introduces a team of morally ambiguous former antagonists-turned-antiheroes who are expected to play a role in the larger ensemble.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps — Provides the first on-screen appearance of Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, the antagonist Doomsday is built around, along with the core Fantastic Four cast.
A noble starting point
The inclusion of X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003) has drawn particular attention, as both films predate the Marvel Cinematic Universe and were produced by 20th Century Fox rather than Marvel Studios. Their presence on the list is tied to reports that several original cast members, including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, and Alan Cumming, are reprising their roles in Doomsday.
The choice stands in some tension with recent comments from director Joe Russo, who told audiences at SXSW London in June that Doomsday would not rely heavily on the franchise's past. "This is starting over from scratch," Russo said at the time. "We want to make sure everybody feels like this isn't leaning on anything from the past." The scope of the new Disney+ list suggests otherwise, at least in terms of the context the studio believes viewers may want.
A curious omission
Observers have also noted the absence of The Marvels (2023) from the list, despite the film's ending directly establishing a connection between its characters and the X-Men universe, the same connective thread the Doomsday viewing guide appears designed to reinforce. Neither Disney nor Marvel Studios has commented on the omission, and it remains unclear whether it was intentional.
A condensed option
For viewers unable to commit to the full list, the essential recent setup is generally considered to be Avengers: Endgame, Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Deadpool & Wolverine, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Viewers seeking additional context on the returning mutant characters may also want to include X-Men and X2.
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled for release on December 18.
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