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My girlfriend is interested in watching Avengers: Endgame on April 24, and as she doesn't have time to see all the MCU movies, I want to re-watch some of them with her in order to watch Endgame without having to explain to her every reference to the other movies; all she knows is that there is that guy that turns big and green when he is hurt or angry, and Spider-Man of course.

What movies are required to watch prior to Endgame, in order to understand what is going on?

If she knows next to nothing of the MCU or Marvel in general the best course of action is to watch them all. In fact that is the best course of action anyway so you understand all of the references and character development that has been going on and how it plays out in general.

That said you could probably get away with the following:

• Avengers: Infinity War - Should be pretty obvious but Avengers: Endgame is essentially IW 2 so this is practically essential to understand.




• Ant Man and the Wasp - the whole part about the quantum realm appears as if it will play some role in Endgame so worth a watch.




• Thor: Ragnarok - It leads nicely into Infinity War and gives you insight into Hulk/Banner’s struggle which is supposed to be a 3 film arc with IW and Endgame.




• Captain America: Civil War - This gives some good insight into what happened to the Avengers and will surely have some mention in Endgame if the trailers are anything to go by.




• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 and Vol 2 - These will give more insight into Thanos and those around him as well as the Infinity Stones.




• The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron - These two give some good insight into the Avengers themselves and give some pretty decent insight into the characters on Earth.

She will need to know who all the characters are and what they're capable of, because Endgame won't bother explaining them. (Infinity War also didn't bother explaining any of the characters.) So:

Captain America
Captain Marvel¹
Iron Man
Thor
The Avengers
Guardians of the Galaxy
Ant-Man

Infinity War spoiler:

Not every Avenger is currently alive, so I left out the introductions of characters who won't play a role in Endgame (at least at the start). Follow these up with, of course, Avengers: Infinity War. (If you want her to feel some of the gut-punch the rest of us felt in Infinity War, add Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Black Panther to the list first.)

_{1: I haven't actually seen this yet, but I'm assuming it's important. Make sure she knows that this is the most recent movie (by release date) in the lineup, so none of its events will be referenced anywhere else.}

If you want just one movie you should watch the Avengers: Infinity War.

Other before Infinity War:

Dr. Strange

Guardians of the Galaxy