So you want to prepare yourself for the upcoming Avengers: Endgame? Wanna pick up on the previous MCU(Marvel Cinematic Universe) movie so that you won't be totally lost? But the marathon is too long for you? We have got your back - don't worry about it.

Endgame is the final movie in a 22 film series which began with the first Iron Man back in 2008. But in fact, you can skip some because not every film is essential to understand the main story and character arcs of the finale on April 26th.

PHASE 1

The first phase of the MCU is a collection of six films including The Avengers, the first team-up film which has proven Marvel's ability of long film storytelling. But in fact, only three in six films are essential because The Incredible Hulk and Thor don't tell us anything about the characters. While Iron Man 2 makes no forward progress in storytelling.

IRON MAN (2008)

You must watch this film because this is the beginning of everything. And must more important is that this film has Tony Stark a major character with will go through all of the MCU films. In the First Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr.and Jon Favreau took on the role of a billionaire playboy who is also vulnerable by his own weapons but then realize that and dedicate his life to protect the world.

Notice: The relationship between Tony and Pepper is important as between Iron Man and Steve Rogers as seen in the trailer so far.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011)

And of course, the original Marvel superhero in term of time. This is a Joe Johnston-directed film which put skinny Steve Rogers into WWII as Captain America by the super-soldier program of U.S. Government. We also get to see the relationship between Steve and Peggy Carter, founding agents of SHIELD. In this film, we get the first look at the first Infinity Stone, the space one - The Tesseract.

Notice: The story arc of Captain begins with his motto of having faith in a cause bigger than oneself. But in the middle of the film, he traded that for this buddy Bucky. Will Captain find his greater good?

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS (2012)

So skipping The Incredible Hulk and Thor, we will catch the basics on the first team Avengers film where the team gathers together to beat up Loki and his Tesseract. We also have the chance to see the connection between Hawkeye and Black Widow stepping up from side role from previous films. The first finale New York's battle is a major event in the MCU. That is also a value moment when all the heroes come together as a group. As the end, we also see a glimpse of Thanos.

Notice: We have some leaked photos from Endgame saying that New York's battle is maybe relevant to how the heroes defeat Thanos. And by the way, because Loki was using the Mind Stone in the Scepter and with Tesseract - he is the first one to hold 2 Infinity Stones.

PHASE 2

In phase 2 there are a total of six films but you can skip three of them if you are short in time. Iron Man 3 is a great film follow up the event in The Avengers but then it doesn't have anything on the main story of the film. Thor: The Dark World doesn't have any meaning inputs to the story aside from the Reality Stone come into possession of The Collector. And Ant-man is a fun origin story but it only about the character while has nothing on the overall storyline.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014)

Our favorite Captain comes from SHIELD soldier to vigilante fighting against HYDRA, which from the last film has taken over the organization in the 20th century. This film is filled with world building and second acts to explain themselves. But Captain did well in this film by reviving Bucky and increase the urgency.

Notice: Captain's friendship with Bucky will eventually lead to the crack in the group, plus Natasa interaction with Cap build up the background for her to choose a team later on.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014)

This is the first jumps off planets in MCU. In this new take, we receive many new characters such as daughters of Thanos - Nebula and Gamora. We also get to see the big purple guy himself sitting on his chair. The film focus on the Orb which has the Power Stone inside. Also, we have the bonus origin story of Infinity Stones from The Collector.

Notice: Star-Lord has the ability to hold a Stone thanks to his Celestial Lineage.  After the events in this film the Power Stone was kept on Xandar, but then the whole planet was destroyed off-screen by Thanos.

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (2015)

Of course, this one also - it is quite a boring film to watch in the whole MCU but you have to because of the plots. In Age of Ultron, the Earth-protecting AI created by Tony turns evil with James Spader voice. Cap begins to question the intention of Tony. They created Ultron with the power of the Mind Stone. To defeat Ultron the group has to destroy a whole city without permission, and that is bad.

Notice: This is also the begin of the story arc for Thor in Avengers. Thor and Hulk both leave Earth afterward. Vision has the Mind Stone in his head, the same one used to create Scarlet Witch.

PHASE 3

In this final phase, Marvel begins to improve on the interweaving storyline to work up toward a conclusion. You can skip Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, Black Panther, Captain Marvel because eventhough they are great films they don't contribute much to the finale of Endgame.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016)

This is literally an explosion of the group inner strife. Steve and Tony's worries come into reality as people start to worry more since Bucky running around killing people. We also get introduced to Spider-Man and Black Panther.

Notice: At the end, Iron Man and cap fight, Cap dropped his shield and since we haven't seen the shield, Tony, nor Steve in the same screen since.

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (2017)

This is is kinda skippable, but it is fun to see the relationship between Peter and Tony as a role model as well. Tony tries to protect what he cares and this is about Peter just as much as Pepper.

THOR: RAGNAROK (2017)

This is a fun Thor film, the first fun one indeed. Thor lost his hammer, Doctor Strange shows up briefly, Loki gets the Tesseract back, Asgard is destroyed. Alright, Hulk came back as well.

Notice: We still don't know anything about the fate of Valkyrie Meek and Korg.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP (2018)

The majority of this film deals with the aftermath of the Civil War. All the important casts are back and we got a fun film and some knowledge about the original Wasp and Quantum Realm. This is a very essential film to understand Endgame.

Notice: Scott was in the Quantum Realm and survive the "snap" but that is not very likely the key to undo the event in Infinity War. But maybe the Quantum Portal of Hank Pym will play a role?

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018)

Endgame is just Infinity War Part 2 - so yes go watch this film before the second part.