Photo: Marvel Studios
Twelve years. Twenty-two movies. One continuous storyline. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was created more than a decade ago and the final chapter, at least of the story as we know it, is about to come to a close with Avengers: End Game.
When Tony Stark (played to perfection by Robert Downey Jr.) announced to the world that he was going to play Iron Man way back in 2008, audiences couldn’t have imagined what was in store for them. Since that film, more than 20 films have contributed to what is known as “The Infinity Saga.” From Thor and Hulk to the Guardians and Spider-Man; each film has been a key component to this epic space/time opera that is finally nearing its end(game).
The MCU has given a spotlight to some of the comic world’s lesser-known entities, such as the Guardians of the Galaxy, Falcon, Hawkeye, and more. We have laughed with these characters, cried for them, and rooted them on for a decade.
Simply Marvel-ous: The Top 21 Marvel Movie Moments From Each MCU Film
But before we look ahead, we must look back. That’s exactly what we’re going to do as we present One-Sentence Summations of the MCU. If you don’t have time to revisit the previous installments of the MCU, we got you.
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MCU The Story So Far
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'Iron Man'
Arrogant, reluctant hero loses heart (literally), finds heart (figuratively), and builds a super suit.
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'The Incredible Hulk'
Hulk Smash.
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'Iron Man 2'
Still arrogant but slightly less reluctant hero uses super suit to fight Mickey Rourke and his bird.
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Thor
Arrogant, reluctant hero loses hammer, finds humanity, and fights brother for father’s affection.
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'Captain America: The First Avenger'
Hometown boy makes good, then ditches date in super creative way.
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'The Avengers'
Avengers assemble, fight Thor's annoying brother.
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'Iron Man 3'
Arrogant hero battles guy pretending to be a Mandarin, as well as a guest from the 'I-used-to-be-a-dork-but-now-I'm hot' episode of Maury.
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'Thor: The Dark World'
None of Thor's siblings like him.
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'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'
Captain reunites with long-lost best friend who is trying to murder him.
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'Guardians of the Galaxy'
Arrogant, reluctant hero loses mother/citizenship, gains new friends named 'Groot,' and wins final battle via dance-off.
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'Avengers: Age of Ultron'
Arrogant hero arrogantly builds robot that becomes arrogant villain who sounds like James Spader.
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'Ant Man'
Arrogant, reluctant hero leaves life of crime to become a little guy.
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'Captain America: Civil War'
Sometimes brothers gotta hug; sometimes brothers gotta fight.
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'Doctor Strange'
Arrogant, reluctant hero loses hands, gains magic; is probably really good at Portal.
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'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'
Arrogant, reluctant hero becomes an orphan.
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'Spider-Man: Homecoming'
Uncle Tony teaches Peter Parker that with great power comes great responsibility.
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'Thor: Ragnarok'
Arrogant hero loses eye and hair, meets Jeff Goldblum, and gets smashed by Hulk.
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'Black Panther'
We're kind of on the bad guy's side for this one.
Related: Why 'Black Panther' Is the Most Important Superhero Movie To Hit So Far
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'Avengers: Infinity War'
Thanos also learns that with great power comes great responsibility; solves world hunger with the snap of his fingers.
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'Ant-Man and The Wasp'
Is also a movie.
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'Captain Marvel'
That's "Mar-vell" to you, pal, and anything men can do, women can do better.
And finally...
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'Avengers: Endgame'
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.
