Avengers: Doomsday Watch Order, From Must-Watch MCU Movies to Skips

Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, which gives everyone about seven weeks to get caught up. It's the closest thing Marvel has made to a new Endgame. Joe and Anthony Russo are back directing, Robert Downey Jr. is back as Doctor Doom, and the cast pulls in the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts, Wakanda and the original Fox X-Men (SlashFilm).

The catch is that the MCU is now more than 35 movies plus a long list of Disney+ shows. Nobody needs all of it before December (though we respect anyone who tries). Disney+ put out its own 15-title countdown list in August, and it's a little strange, since it includes the first two Fox X-Men movies and skips every solo Thor movie (Looper). Here's our version instead, sorted into three piles based on how much each one matters for this particular movie.

If you haven't seen the full trailer from July, start there. It pulled about 503 million views in its first 24 hours, which made it the second-biggest trailer launch ever, behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day (Variety).

How did we sort the list?

Must watch means Doomsday will probably expect you to know what happened. Worth watching means it adds context for a character who's confirmed for the movie, but a quick recap will get you by. Not worth watching means the story doesn't connect to anyone or anything Doomsday is built around.

This is a homework rating, and it says nothing about quality. A few great shows land in the skip pile just because they live in their own corner of the MCU.

What are the must-watch MCU movies before Doomsday?

Watch these in this order, since each one leads into the next and the last two hand off almost directly to Doomsday.

1. Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) come first, because the Russo brothers made both and Doomsday picks up the threads they left. Endgame ends with Steve Rogers handing his shield to Sam Wilson. The new World Series footage shows Steve swinging Mjolnir again, so you'll want the full picture of how he got here.
2. Loki, Seasons 1 and 2 (2021 and 2023) is the multiverse explained in 12 episodes. SlashFilm called it the big one to know for understanding how the multiverse works (SlashFilm). Season 2 ends with Loki holding every timeline together by himself, and Tom Hiddleston is back for Doomsday.
3. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) is the bridge between the old Fox movies and the MCU. It also finally put Channing Tatum on screen as Gambit, and he's in the Doomsday cast.
4. Captain America: Brave New World (2025) is Sam Wilson's first movie as Captain America, and it ends with him wanting to put the Avengers back together. That's the starting point for the team we'll see in December.
5. Thunderbolts* (2025) turns Yelena, Bucky and the rest of the team into the New Avengers. The post-credits scene also shows a ship from another dimension heading for Earth, and it belongs to the Fantastic Four.
6. The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) brings Marvel's first family in from a different Earth, and its mid-credits scene gives us our first glimpse of Doom, reaching for baby Franklin, which is about as direct a setup as Marvel ever does.

Which MCU movies are worth watching before Doomsday?

These help, but a recap video can cover them if you're short on time.

• X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003) matter because Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn and Alan Cumming are all back as their Fox-era mutants. X2 is the better movie, and it's where Cumming's Nightcrawler first shows up.
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) is where Shuri takes up the mantle and Namor arrives with the people of Talokan, and both of them are in Doomsday along with Winston Duke's M'Baku.
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) is worth it since Simu Liu is in the cast, and the post-credits scene has the Ten Rings sending out a signal that still hasn't been explained.
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) are a little trickier. Neither Strange nor Spider-Man is confirmed for Doomsday, but Multiverse of Madness is the movie that explains incursions, where two universes crash into each other, and that idea sits at the heart of the Secret Wars comics this saga is building toward.
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) counts because Kevin Feige told Collider that it "takes place before" Doomsday (Soap Central). Its post-credits scene has Ned's Spidey Tracker app spotting a Spider-Man somewhere past the moon (TheWrap).
• The Avengers (2012) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017) are there for the Thor and Loki of it all, and Ragnarok is also the most fun Thor has ever been.

What can you skip before Doomsday?

• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) set up Kang as the next big villain, and Marvel dropped that plan after it fired Jonathan Majors in December 2023. Doom took over the slot from there. Paul Rudd is in Doomsday, but you don't need this movie to know who Scott Lang is.
• Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) only matters for one thing, which is that Thor ends the movie raising a girl named Love. That's the whole recap.
• The Marvels (2023) is a skip, but find the post-credits scene, because it brings back Kelsey Grammer's Beast, and he's in Doomsday too.
• Eternals (2021) and Secret Invasion (2023) can wait, since neither one has a confirmed thread into Doomsday.
• Most of the Disney+ shows can wait too, because Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Echo, Agatha All Along and Ironheart are all their own thing. Daredevil: Born Again is one of the best things Marvel has made lately, and it has nothing to do with Doom (the Kingpin has enough problems).

What's the fastest way to catch up?

The must-watch list is six movies and 12 episodes of Loki. Spread out until December 18, that's about one movie and a couple of Loki episodes a week. Start with Infinity War this weekend and you'll reach First Steps with time to spare.

If you have more room, slot the worth-watching picks in by release year. The two X-Men movies go first, The Avengers and Ragnarok go before Infinity War, and Shang-Chi, No Way Home, Multiverse of Madness and Wakanda Forever go between Loki and Deadpool & Wolverine. Brand New Day goes last, right before you head to the theater for Doomsday itself.

Most of these are streaming on Disney+, which has its countdown collection up now. If you'd rather own the must-watch movies, the links are below.

As an Amazon Associate, Church of Nerds earns from qualifying purchases. Buying through the Amazon links in this post supports the site at no extra cost to you.

• The Avengers 4-Movie Collection on 4K (The Avengers through Endgame)
• Loki Season 1 on 4K
• Deadpool & Wolverine on 4K
• Captain America: Brave New World on 4K
• Thunderbolts* on 4K
• The Fantastic Four: First Steps on 4K

Is the official Disney+ list enough?

My read is that it's close, though I'd change a couple of things. Putting the old X-Men movies on it is a smart call, since plenty of younger fans have never seen them, and this is the first time those mutants share a screen with the Avengers. First, I'd swap The First Avenger for The Winter Soldier, because Steve and Bucky's friendship matters more here than Steve's origin story. Second, I'd add Brand New Day, since Feige himself put it right before Doomsday.

The bigger point is that you don't need 15 titles to enjoy this movie. Six movies and one great show will get you there, and everything else is a bonus. Doomsday is the first of two Avengers movies, with Avengers: Secret Wars set for December 2027, so whatever homework you skip now, there's still a year to make it up.

Reasonable people with unreasonable watchlists.

More Marvel coverage is right here.

Header image is official Avengers: Doomsday art from Marvel Studios. In-article images are official stills from Marvel Studios.