Endgame is the end of an era of Marvel movies. I have so much love for these movies and how they have brought so many characters from comics into the mainstream. I love chatting to people about comics and their thoughts and feelings about these stories. I’m of the opinion that the more people who like weird geek and comic book related things the better.
You watched one Marvel movie ever and want to have an enthusiastic discussion about it? Hi, come talk to me, I’m happy to yell about the awesomeness of these movies and will try my very best not to spoil the rest of them, because wow will you want to watch more!
Watched them all? You can join the convo! Let’s talk about the things that bring us joy. And you’re in the right place to talk about Marvel movies, because before I watched Endgame, I wanted to watch all the Marvel movies that led up to it.
Geek Society AU helpfully created a pre-Endgame movie marathon list for me to follow so I didn’t have to put any thoguht into the ordering of it. I know there are many ways to watch these movies “in order”, but I wanted to go release order to watch the progression of the movies as well as the stories.
It was such an experience! I posted up pictures on my Instagram each day and went on a roller-coaster ride with the MCU. This post is a collection of my thoughts on the marathon. But be warned, I haven’t filtered for spoilers, so proceed with caution!
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Iron Man
First up; Iron Man. With wine of course, because Tony Stark.
It’s been years since I watched this movie and it’s still a great origin story. Nice simple hero’s journey where a rich asshole discovers he’s an asshole and tries to do better. The references to old technology are pretty awesome, reminds me just how long these movies have been around. And that scene at the end where Tony declares “I am Iron Man” is excellent!
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Iron Man 2
Second on the Marvel Movie Marathon list is Iron Man 2. This movie has one of the very best villains in the MCU. I love Whiplash’s energy weapon… It’s so impractical, but so so cool! And the bird and the sass is just great. Hammer on the other hand, every time he’s on screen I want to punch him. Which I suppose is the point. Also got some craft time in while watching, so it was a pretty good night!
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Hulk
Third Day of the Marvel Movie Marathon is Hulk and, well, Hulk is a very bad movie. I don’t own a copy of it and it’s not on any of the streaming services I have access to. So instead I read some She-Hulk and had a really nice time!
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Thor
So my little Marvel Movie Marathon has reached Thor. It took me a long time to watch this movie, didn’t get around to it until the second Thor movie was out and friends insisted I sit down and watch them both. Wasn’t a huge fan of this movie on first viewing… I was surprised at how much I liked it this time around! I still think they wasted an excellent opportunity for a great character in Jane, and it’s never going to be my favourite movie, but I’m coming around to it.
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Captain America
Yay Captain America! This movie has some absolutely excellent comicy bits in it. Plus it’s a great movie. I love the journey of Steve through this story. He doesn’t fundamentally change, his body is just improved so he’s better able to implement his ideals. I would really really like more of the Howling Commandos, but unfortunately that’s incredibly unlikely to happen.
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Avengers
Watching the Marvel movies in quick succession had really heightened the build up to the first Avengers movie. There are so many fantastic character moments in this movie, it was a really exciting watch. Was supposed to be doing a little sewing during viewing, but I only just got my hem pinned during this movie as I was watching instead of working. It was a fun movie! Can’t wait to see the build up to the Endgame movie. Seeing Thanos in this post credit scene was awesome. This movie marathon list will eventually land with Thanos and the Avengers movie made me super excited for it!
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Iron Man 3
Ironing my seams while watching Iron Man 3… Yes I went there, no I’m not ashamed of myself! I actually really like this movie. The fact that there were psychological consequences to the Avengers movie and they were allowed to be worked through really pleases me. I know these are silly superhero movies and that they are far from realistic, but the fact that this story exists is important. And I love emotional stories like this! However, that ending is still complete rubbish…
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Thor: The Dark World
Thor the Dark World is next up on the roster for the Marvel Movie Marathon. Loki and Heimdall are the very best parts of this movie. The rest is a fun ride, the costumes and effects are pretty amazing, but this isn’t my favourite movie, and Thor isn’t my favourite hero.
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Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain America Winter Soldier is so good! Love a good spy movie with explosions and drama and fight scenes and awesomeness. But really, this story line is fantastic. Bucky and Cap forever.
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Guardians of the Galaxy
My sister got married on day 10 of my Marvel movie marathon! But before the festivities began I carved out a few hours to watch the Guardians of the Galaxy movie because this Marvel movie marathon can’t be broken… This movie is hilarious, so many sassy one liners. It’s heaps of fun! Exposure to it may have upped my sass factor for the wedding though…
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Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers Age of Ultron! I joined in by making the shadow puppets… I love how many comic book panel looking scenes are in this movie, it’s quite spectacular. Also there feels like there are a bunch of easter eggs in this movie that I completely failed to see last time I watched it, probably pretty obvious ones too. It may just be because I watched this in context of Endgame coming, but the phrases “end times” and “end game” were thrown around a lot on this movie.
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Ant-Man
Ant-Man is great! Escalating heist movie with some mad scientist nonsense thrown in for good measure. Plus it makes me giggle a lot, which is nice. I’m really looking forward to rewatching the movie with the Wasp in it properly though, I remember losing my mind at that post credit scene with her suit in it the first time around and I loved seeing it this time too.
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Captain America: Civil War
This was a big one in my Marvel movie marathon. Captain America Civil War. Watching these movies so close together the build up to this movie has been amazing. None of these characters are perfect but they are trying their best, and it’s pretty heartbreaking.
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Doctor Strange
Is it bad that my biggest take away from the Doctor Strange movie is that I’d really love to have a play with the Cloak of Levitation? Not in a life or death situation, more in a slight hovering and party tricks kind of way. The Cloak seems like a pretty awesome artefact. Plus it looks so fantastic! This whole movie looks fantastic actually, the special effects are next level. It’s such a trippy movie and it’s great fun to watch.
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Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 wasn’t quite as good as the first movie, but it was still a fun time. And Baby Groot is adorable! I still think there were some interesting story arcs. Yondu, Rocket and Nebula specifically. .
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Spider-Man: Homecoming
Spider-Man Homecoming is such an excellent movie! I think this is the first live action Spider-Man movie that’s “got” Spider-Man. He’s optimistic and unsure of himself and makes mistakes and tries his best and just won’t shut up! I also really like Vulture as a villain, mostly because he’s kinda got a point. Apart from the whole selling weapons to criminals thing of course…
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Thor: Ragnarok
Thor Ragnarok is such a colourful movie and I love that! The Kirby-esque-ness of it really appeals to me and I like how it adds an unreality and comicy feel to the movie. Because yay comic books! Hela is amazing, I wish she could come back again as a villain but I doubt there will be too much chance of that after the ending. Valkyrie is also fantastic and I can’t wait to see more of her.
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Black Panther
This movie is fantastic! The thing I love the most is that Warmonger and Black Panther basically want the same thing, but just have different ways of achieving it. Plus Shuri is the very best Princess!
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Ant-Man and the Wasp
I’m breaking from the set Marvel movie marathon list today to watch Ant-Man and the Wasp instead of Avengers Infinity War mostly because I really want to watch that Avengers movie just before the next one. I figure that’ll give me the best chance of getting my heart completely ripped out. But before that, Ant-Man and the Wasp! This movie is a lot of fun, I love the humour of this chunk of the MCU.
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Captain Marvel
Went back to the movies to see Captain Marvel as part of my Marvel movie marathon. It’s such a good movie! This’ll probably be the last time I see it on the big screen, but not the last time I see it. There are so many parts of this movie that I love, I’m so glad that it exists!
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Avengers: Infinity War
We’re in the endgame now. I hadn’t seen Avengers Infinity War since it screened in theatres and it was just as heartbreaking on a smaller screen for my second viewing. Though I’ve gotta admit, this time I had the befit of watching it from the comfort of a blanket forte I built on my couch. Watching the Marvel movies in a marathon made this movie so much more impactful as it hasn’t been so long since I’ve seen the other struggles these characters have been through. It made me so psyched to see Endgame and see where the story goes.
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Avengers: Endgame
There will be spoilers. You were warned.
I saw the thing. Had a good time. But…. kind not a fan of this movie. There are some amazing character moments and I absolutely cheered with the rest of the theatre when Cap picked up that hammer, but the storyline didn’t grab me. On the way there I made the comment that so long as Black Widow survived and they didn’t try anything with time travel it would be an amazing movie. And… well…
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So, this movie marathon was fantastic! It really amped my excitement levels for Endgame while taking me back through the emotional roller-coaster of the history of the franchise. And I did enjoy Endgame for it’s wonderful component parts, even if the overall story kinda bugged me. I didn’t hate it, it was just kinda meh. It did provide a cap for this phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe though. Bring on the next phase!