And with such a huge milestone approaching, I took it upon myself to rewatch every single MCU movie in preparation.
So, below are some of the important moments that led us to Avengers: Endgame:
1.Let's start where it all began: In Iron Man (2008), S.H.I.E.L.D. is first mentioned when Coulson attempts to debrief Tony on his captivity in Afghanistan.
2.Also, in the Iron Man post-credits scene, Nick Fury makes his first apperance ever when he arrives to tell Tony about the "Avengers Initiative."
3.In The Incredible Hulk (2008), Tony approaches Thaddeus Ross at a bar and tells him that a team is being put together.
4.In Iron Man 2 (2010), Dr. Wendy Lawson's Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. from Captain Marvel and Hank Pym's Project G.O.L.I.A.T.H. from Ant-Man and the Wasp are both mentioned by Tony.
5.Also in Iron Man 2, the new element that Tony creates mimics the power of the Tesseract — you can spot a drawing of the Tesseract in Howard Stark's notes.
6.In Thor (2011), we get the first glimpse of the actual Tesseract/Space Stone when Nick Fury shows it to Erik Selvig during the post-credits scene.
7.Also in Thor, you can spot a right-handed Infinity Gauntlet among Odin's treasures — in Thor: Ragnarok, Hela reveals that it's a fake.
8.In Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Howard Stark talks about vibranium, a metal that Stark Industries discovered in Africa — of course, he later makes Captain America's shield out of it.
9.Also in Captain America: The First Avenger, Howard retrieves the Tesseract from the bottom of the ocean after it was lost by Red Skull and Steve.
10.In The Avengers (2012), we get the first glimpse of the Mind Stone when Loki arrives in NYC and wields the stone in his scepter.
11.Also in The Avengers, Loki steals the Tesseract from the Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. bunker that Carol and Fury infiltrate in Captain Marvel.
12.The Avengers post-credits scene is the first time we catch a glimpse of Thanos, when the Other tells him of Loki's failure.
13.In Iron Man 3 (2013), after being stranded in Tennessee, Tony befriends Harley Keener, who ends up helping Tony get back home — Harley is slated to appear in Avengers: Endgame.
14.In the Thor: The Dark World (2013) post-credits scene, Sif and Volstagg give the Reality Stone to the Collector after defeating Malekith.
15.In Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Stephen Strange is mentioned for the first time as a threat HYDRA wants to eliminate.
16.Also in The Winter Soldier, Arnim Zola alludes to the fact that Howard Stark's death may not have been an accident and was actually carried out by HYDRA.
17.The Winter Soldier is also when Nick Fury fakes his own death and relinquishes his duties as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
18.The Winter Solider post-credits scene is when we are introduced to Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, who were experimented on and enhanced using the Mind Stone.
19.Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) is the first time there's a mention of the Infinity Stones, when the Guardians meet the Collector.
20.Also in Guardians of the Galaxy, the Power Stone is eventually taken from Ronin and given to the Nova Corps.
21.In Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Tony alludes to the Avengers: Endgame title when he tells the team that their biggest enemies are from space.
22.Also, Wakanda is first mentioned by name in Age of Ultron, when the Avengers learn that Ulysses Klaue stole vibranium from Wakanda.
23.The Age of Ultron post-credits scene features Thanos retrieving the Infinity Gauntlet and declaring that he will find all the stones himself.
24.In Ant-Man (2015), the Quantum Realm is mentioned for the first time when Hank Pym tells Hope that Janet disappeared into it.
25.Also in Ant-Man, Scott meets Sam Wilson for the first time when he breaks into the Avengers headquarters to steal the signal decoy.
26.In Captain America: Civil War (2016), the Sokovia Accords are signed, which leads to a major falling out between Steve and Tony.
27.At the end of Civil War, Steve mails Tony a phone that he can use if he ever needs Steve's help — in Infinity War, the phone is used by Bruce Banner to alert Steve and his team about Thanos.
28.Also, Bucky is sent to Wakanda and frozen until they find a way to remove HYDRA's brainwashing at the end of Civil War.
29.In Doctor Strange (2016), when Stephen is driving before his accident, he passes on helping Rhodey, who suffered a spinal injury in Captain America: Civil War.
30.And of course, Doctor Strange is the first time the Time Stone is seen.
31.In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), you can spot the Grandmaster during the closing credits — this foreshadows his role in Thor: Ragnarok.
32.In Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), the Chitauri are mentioned again when Adrian Toomes has their energy core — Chitauri are minions of Thanos and were first seen in The Avengers.
33.In Thor: Ragnarok (2017), we learn that the Hulk ended up on Sakaar after fleeing Earth during Age of Ultron.
34.Also, in the Thor: Ragnarok post-credits scene, a large ship approaches the ship carrying Thor, Loki, Valkyrie, Hulk, and the people of Asgard — of course, we learn that it's Thanos's.
35.In the Black Panther (2018) post-credits scene, Bucky is seen living in Wakanda after overcoming HYDRA's brainwashing, thanks to Shuri.
36.In Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Thanos meets up with the Asgardian ship and kills Loki, who smuggled the Space Stone out of Asgard.
37.Thanos kills Gamora in order to get the Soul Stone, which has been guarded by Red Skull since he was sent to space by the Tesseract in Captain America: The First Avenger.
38.Also in Infinity War, Doctor Strange views 14,000,605 future outcomes and learns that they only defeat Thanos in one.
39.Of course, Thanos finally gets all of the Infinity Stones and eliminates half the population with a single snap.
40.And, in the Infinity War post-credits scene, Fury calls for Captain Marvel just before getting dusted by Thanos.
41.In Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Scott ventures into the Quantum Realm again, but gets stuck when Hank, Janet, and Hope are dusted.
42.In Captain Marvel (2019), Carol gives Fury a pager and tells him to use it if there's ever an emergency — of course, he uses it in Infinity War.
43.After Carol leaves Earth, Fury begins planning the Avengers Initiative, which is named after Carol Danvers.
44.In the Captain Marvel post-credits scene, Carol arrives at the Avengers headquarters and meets Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey after being paged by Fury.
45.And finally, here are all the characters who are currently alive vs. the characters who were dusted by Thanos — remember, the universe craves balance.
