DEEP DIVE

Why it matters: Where it all starts. Tony Stark, whose legacy hangs over Robert Downey Jr.’s return as Doom.

Why it matters: Introduces Thaddeus Ross and Samuel Sterns, who come back in Brave New World.

Why it matters: Black Widow’s debut and War Machine’s first suit.

Why it matters: Thor and Loki’s origin, both confirmed for Doomsday.

Why it matters: Steve Rogers, Bucky and Peggy Carter. All three are back for Doomsday.

Why it matters: The team forms, Loki invades, and Thanos is teased.

Why it matters: Tony’s post-New York anxiety and the fake Mandarin.

Why it matters: The Reality Stone, and Loki at his most slippery.

Why it matters: Bucky returns as the Winter Soldier, and Sam Wilson, the future Captain America, debuts.

Why it matters: The cosmic side of the MCU and the Power Stone.

Why it matters: Sokovia falls, which leads to the Accords. Vision and Wanda arrive.

Why it matters: Scott and Cassie Lang, plus the Quantum Realm. Both Langs are in Doomsday.

Why it matters: The Avengers split, Black Panther arrives, and the Bucky–Tony wound opens.

Why it matters: Magic and the multiverse enter the MCU.

Why it matters: Quill’s father and the Guardians as a family.

Why it matters: Peter Parker under Tony’s wing.

Why it matters: Asgard falls, and Thor and Loki finally act like brothers.

Why it matters: Shuri and M’Baku, both confirmed for Doomsday.

Why it matters: The Russos’ first Avengers epic. Doomsday is built the same way.

Why it matters: Introduces Ghost, who returns in Thunderbolts* and Doomsday.

Why it matters: Carol Danvers, the Skrulls and young Nick Fury.

Why it matters: Tony’s sacrifice and Steve’s ending. The emotional set-up for everything since.

Why it matters: The world after Tony. Mysterio sells a fake multiverse.

Why it matters: Introduces Yelena and Red Guardian, the heart of the Thunderbolts.

Why it matters: Shang-Chi is confirmed for Doomsday.

Why it matters: Celestials, and the frozen giant that becomes Celestial Island.

Why it matters: The multiverse cracks open with villains and Spider-Men from other universes.

Why it matters: Wanda’s grief, the Darkhold and Agatha.

Why it matters: Sam takes up the shield, Bucky heals, and US Agent arrives.

Why it matters: The TVA, variants, and how the multiverse broke open.

Why it matters: A primer on alternate universes, narrated by the Watcher.

Why it matters: Kate Bishop, and Yelena after Black Widow.

Why it matters: Names the Incursion, the event Doomsday is about, and cameos Patrick Stewart’s Professor X.

Why it matters: Where Thor’s story stands before Doomsday.

Why it matters: Shuri becomes Black Panther and Namor arrives. Both are in Doomsday.

Why it matters: Kamala Khan, who is rumoured to return.

Why it matters: Marc Spector and the Egyptian gods. Self-contained, but it widens the MCU’s mystical side.

Why it matters: Jennifer Walters, the Abomination’s return and Daredevil’s first MCU appearance as Matt Murdock.

Why it matters: A black-and-white monster special that introduces Elsa Bloodstone and Man-Thing.

Why it matters: Mantis learns she is Peter Quill’s half-sister. A light, optional watch.

Why it matters: Scott and Cassie in the Quantum Realm, a set-up for the multiverse war.

Why it matters: A goodbye to this Guardians line-up.

Why it matters: Its mid-credits scene opens a door to the X-Men universe.

Why it matters: Skrulls on Earth and Nick Fury’s reckoning.

Why it matters: Loki’s fate at the heart of the multiverse.

Why it matters: The TVA, the Void and Gambit (Channing Tatum, confirmed for Doomsday).

Why it matters: Westview’s witch walks the Witches’ Road.

Why it matters: Maya Lopez and the Kingpin. It feeds straight into Daredevil: Born Again.

Why it matters: Marvel Animation’s revival of the 1990s X-Men cartoon, and the closest thing Marvel Studios has made to its own X-Men team.

Why it matters: Sam Wilson as Captain America, and the new Falcon.

Why it matters: Yelena, Bucky, Red Guardian, US Agent, Ghost and Sentry. A whole Doomsday team.

Why it matters: Marvel’s First Family, from another universe and headed for Doomsday.

Why it matters: An animated, younger Peter Parker in Norman Osborn’s New York.

Why it matters: Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk go to war, with Fisk now aiming at City Hall.

Why it matters: Riri Williams builds her own Iron Man-style suit. A look at Tony Stark’s legacy.

Why it matters: Animated tales of Wakanda’s Hatut Zeraze spies, spanning thousands of years.

Why it matters: The last MCU film before Doomsday.

Why it matters: The latest Disney+ series before Doomsday.

Why it matters: Simon Williams, an actor with ionic powers, in a Hollywood satire that revisits Trevor Slattery.

Why it matters: The Murdock–Fisk fight continues. Street-level Marvel on the road to Doomsday.