With the highly anticipated release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, it’s the perfect time for budding Marvel fans to catch up on the MCU. But which movies are the best to start with?
From Guardians of the Galaxy, the movie that cemented its success, there are plenty of great starting points for Marvel newcomers.
10 Iron Man (2008)
The most obvious starting point for viewers who want to break into the MCU would be the movie that kicked off the cinematic universe back in 2008. Iron Man established the formula that the franchise still follows, and it still holds up as one of the strongest entries in the series.
With the perfect mix of charm and smarm and a laundry list of ad-libbed one-liners, Robert Downey, Jr.’s endearing turn as Tony Stark set the tone for Marvel Studios’ big-screen superhero adventures.
9 Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man is easily the most beloved and recognizable superhero in the Marvel ensemble, so it makes sense to kick off a burgeoning MCU fandom with Spidey’s first solo movie in the franchise, Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Anchored by Tom Holland’s stellar performance as Peter Parker, Homecoming mercifully skips the character’s familiar origin story and jumps right into the action. It’s a classic MCU adventure for a street-level superhero.
8 Captain Marvel (2019)
Late in the game, Marvel went back to explore the origins of Nick Fury, the S.H.I.E.L.D. bureaucrat who put together the Avengers in the first place, through his connection to the origins of Carol Danvers. Captain Marvel would be a great MCU movie to start with.
It avoids the pitfalls of superhero origin movies with idiosyncratic quirks like a ‘90s setting and a nonlinear narrative structure built around Carol piecing together her fractured memories.
7 Doctor Strange (2016)
The first Doctor Strange movie hits all the familiar beats of a superhero origin story, from mastering superpowers to overcoming self-doubt to losing a beloved mentor figure. But as far as predictable origin stories go, it’s a visually stunning one.
With fingers growing out of fingers and cities folding in on themselves like a kaleidoscope, Doctor Strange is full of trippy effects that demonstrate the very best of Marvel’s VFX.
6 Thor (2011)
In addition to introducing fan-favorite icons like Loki, the original Thor movie established many now-familiar MCU tropes, like an overbearing father, a coveted royal title, and wringing fish-out-of-water humor out of an alien character coming to Earth and interacting with humans.
Kenneth Branagh, Hollywood’s go-to guy for accessible film adaptations of Shakespeare plays, was the perfect filmmaker to bring the pseudo-Shakespearean lore of the Thor comics to the big screen.
5 Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021)
Although it arrived more than a decade into the franchise’s run, Shang-Chi is a Marvel martial arts movie.
Shang-Chi exhibits all the best hallmarks of the MCU formula: a dysfunctional family that’s easy to relate to, a sympathetic villain who’s easy to identify with, and a “chosen one” figure with impostor syndrome who’s easy to root for.
4 Ant-Man (2015)
After the entire world had been at stake for a few movies in a row in the MCU’s Phase Two, Ant-Man closed out the phase as a breath of fresh air. The movie’s heist comedy storyline was refreshingly small-scale (no pun intended) after a phase full of floating cities and sprawling space battles.
With its shrinking superhero plotting to steal some valuable tech from a fortified office building, Ant-Man is essentially Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
3 Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
If a given viewer wants to follow the MCU chronologically, then a good starting point would be Captain America: The First Avenger, set in World War II. This early entry fills in Steve Rogers’ WWII-era backstory before bringing him to the present day to lead the Avengers into their first battle.
The gritty action sequences and fantastical wartime elements of Cap’s first cinematic adventure are ripped straight from the pages of pulp fiction.
2 Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)
James Gunn’s space fantasy jukebox musical extravaganza Guardians of the Galaxy is a prime example of Marvel Studios operating at the height of its powers. With its ragtag band of intergalactic outlaws including a talking tree and a raccoon with emotional issues, Guardians proved that Marvel can turn any comic book property into a hit franchise.
Since it has few connections to the wider universe, Guardians offers a great introduction to the tone and style of a Marvel movie without bombarding the viewer with too much information.
1 The Avengers (2012)
While the individual characters in the MCU are a lot of fun, the U.S.P. of this franchise is getting to see all those superheroes interact with each other. Marvel’s first big team-up – The Avengers, assembling the core six of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes – would be a great place for an MCU beginner to start.
The first act gets the team together nice and succinctly, the second act explores their differences and how they can overcome them, and the third act is an action-packed battle against alien invaders on the streets of New York.
