The earliest superhero movie I remember watching in theatres was Spider-Man starring Tobey Maguire. Many more superhero movies have come out since then. A whole cinematic universe developed starting with Marvel’s Iron Man in 2008. Twelve years later, twenty-three movies exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Last month, I started watching all twenty-three movies again; this time in Timeline order. On Disney+, the sequence is clear but with some movies missing. Specifically, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. I inserted these three missing movies into the sequence. Starting on November 20th and ending on December 13th, I watched twenty-three movies in twenty-four days; one movie per day with a one day break because of superhero fatigue.
| Movie | Release Year | Run Time | |
| 1 | Captain America: The First Avenger | 2011 | 2:06 |
| 2 | Captain Marvel | 2019 | 2:05 |
| 3 | Iron Man | 2008 | 2:07 |
| 4 | Iron Man 2 | 2010 | 2:05 |
| 5 | The Incredible Hulk | 2008 | 1:52 |
| 6 | Thor | 2011 | 1:56 |
| 7 | The Avengers | 2012 | 2:25 |
| 8 | Thor: The Dark World | 2013 | 1:54 |
| 9 | Iron Man 3 | 2013 | 2:12 |
| 10 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier | 2014 | 2:17 |
| 11 | Guardians of the Galaxy | 2014 | 2:02 |
| 12 | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | 2017 | 2:17 |
| 13 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | 2015 | 2:23 |
| 14 | Ant-Man | 2015 | 1:58 |
| 15 | Captain America: Civil War | 2016 | 2:29 |
| 16 | Spider-Man: Homecoming | 2017 | 2:13 |
| 17 | Black Panther | 2018 | 2:16 |
| 18 | Doctor Strange | 2016 | 1:56 |
| 19 | Thor: Ragnarok | 2017 | 2:11 |
| 20 | Ant-Man and The Wasp | 2018 | 2:00 |
| 21 | Avengers: Infinity War | 2018 | 2:31 |
| 22 | Avengers: Endgame | 2019 | 3:03 |
| 23 | Spider-Man: Far From Home | 2019 | 2:09 |
| 50:27 |
I am impressed and amazed that creating such a universe is possible. Did I really watch over 40 hours of multiple stories that fit into a bigger story? I had hoped to get some sense of wonder before I started. Also, to remember more plot points throughout the universe because, inevitably, the majority of a 2 hour story fades from memory as months pass.
What was surprising was that at the end of the Infinity Saga, in Avengers: Endgame, the many callbacks through dialogue to preceding movies bore some weight. It seems that such callbacks often balance on the fence with cheesiness on one side and wonder on the other.
Overall, I had fun watching all these movies. It was tough at times because of superhero fatigue. In the end, some sense of completion eased the fatigue out of the way.
Akshay Rao 