3e:T3d2b,

Having caught up with Doctor Who and Red Dwarf, next in line were the films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe that I hadn’t yet watched. My MCU watching fell behind about the same time as Doctor Who in autumn 2021 – we had watched Eternals in the cinema (and been rather disappointed) and watched Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on Disney+ whilst on a train to London.

This meant that, to bring me up to date, I had 11 films to watch.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

I think the reason why we fell behind on the Marvel films is that we missed this when it was in the cinema, and as it’s a Sony joint production, it wasn’t on Disney+. Back in 2021, our 10-year-old was still only five, and so too young to want to see these films in the cinema, meaning that we had to fit cinema trips in whilst they were at school. More than once, we also dropped them at the crèche at the Trafford Centre to watch a film there – sadly, the crèche closed in lockdown and never re-opened.

Anyway, like I said this wasn’t on Disney+ and so I paid to download it from Amazon. It’s good – bringing in the old adversaries from the previous pre-MCU Spider-Man films could’ve gone badly, but it’s done well and gives some of the characters a nice redemption arc. I also liked how Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men (Spider-Mans? Spiders-Man?) were handled.

With this one out of the way, we re-subscribed to Disney+ after a two year break to watch the rest.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

The first Doctor Strange film was good, but I was less keen on this one. To date, most Marvel films have a balance of action, tension and humour, and I felt this was lacking the humour that made other films more enjoyable. I realise that this was intended to be a darker and scarier film, but I didn’t enjoy it as much.

We haven’t watched many of the Marvel TV series on Disney+ but we did watch WandaVision in its entirety, and I would recommend doing so first if you haven’t seen it or this film. Whilst this film follows straight on from the previous Spider-Man film, by contrast, you don’t need to have watched it for this to make sense.

Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Ragnarok was good – and this was more of the same with a return for Taika Waititi as director. Waititi also voices Korg who provides much of the humour in the film. Russell Crowe gets to play a less serious role, which makes a nice change. I laughed out loud several times whilst watching this, and it was a nice pick-me-up after the darker Doctor Strange film before it.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

The first Black Panther film was excellent, and deserved its many award wins. There was no doubt that there would be a second film, but sadly this was complicated by the untimely passing of Chadwick Boseman in August 2020. As such, this second film starts with the mourning of the death of Boseman’s character.

What this film has in common with several of the other films that I watched is that it is an objectively good film – but it wasn’t quite as good as the films that had gone before it. I think some of the earlier Marvel films set the standards so high, that some of the later films seem weak in comparison despite still being better than many others.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

This film seemed to get rather poor reviews, and was the worst performing Marvel film at the time at the box office. Which is a shame, because I liked it. I felt that it did a good job of building on the previous two films. Almost the entire film takes place in the quantum realm, and so it’s even more CGI heavy than other Marvel films.

This was supposed to set up Kang the Conqueror as the next big baddy in the MCU, following Thanos. However, the actor playing Kang, Jonathan Majors, ended up being dropped after being convicted of assault and harassment, and so Kang doesn’t feature in future MCU films.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

I ended up seeing the first Guardians of the Galaxy film twice in the cinema, and enjoyed it both times. We saw the second one once – I don’t remember it being as good, but I think I enjoyed it.

The third one is more sombre, and starts with Rocket being critically injured. Throughout the film, there are flashback sequences showing Rocket’s back story, which helps to set up the adversary at the end. It’s structured well, and like all good Marvel films, has the right balance of action and humour.

The Marvels

A sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, this sees Carol Dancers teaming up with Kamala Khan (aka Miss Marvel) and an awkward collaboration with Monica Rambeau. At the box office, it performed even worse than Ant-Man 3, and was one of the five biggest flops of 2023, losing an estimated $200 million.

The film jumps around quite a bit, and I can’t help but feel it would have worked better as a TV series. I feel like this would have given the writers more time to flesh out the storylines, and give more of the characters a back story. Admittedly, I didn’t watch the Ms Marvel TV series first. As a film, it’s okay, and I think the last third of the film is better, but it could have been much better overall.

Deadpool & Wolverine

Previous Deadpool and X-Men films have not been part of the MCU, but this one is, thanks to Disney buying Fox and re-gaining the film rights to the characters. It is, however, not a reboot, and so in common with the previous two Deadpool films, has Ryan Reynolds as the titular character with Hugh Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine.

Indeed, it doesn’t really feel like an MCU film at all, and has more in common with the Fox X-Men films, although the Time Variance Authority makes an appearance. There’s plenty of the fourth-wall breaking and swearing that you would expect from a Deadpool film, and there are plenty of cameos too. To date, it’s the most expensive MCU film and fifth most expensive film of all time, so it was probably a relief that this did rather better at the box office than some of its predecessors.

Still, I felt it wasn’t quite as strong as the other Deadpool films. Once again, objectively it’s a good film, but just not quite as good as the others.

Captain America: Brave New World

I didn’t watch the TV series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and so I missed how Falcon became the ‘new’ Captain America. However, I remember it being released in the cinema to surprisingly little fanfare – I suspect that previous mis-steps with Ant-Man 3 and The Marvels resulted in a reduced marketing budget.

On the whole, this is a slower film; the fight scene with the Red Hulk which features in the trailers doesn’t actually happen until the end of the film. I think I noticed the cinematography more with this one. It’s clear that it had a lower budget, but I suspect that, like previous Captain America films, it will set up future developments in the MCU.

Thunderbolts*

I was under the impression that the characters in Thunderbolts would all be new, based on the advertising I had seen at the time. Having now watched the film, I realised that most of the main characters have appeared before in the MCU, but generally in minor roles:

Yelena, who is Black Widow’s sister and was in the Black Widow film and the Hawkeye TV series (which I also haven’t watched)
John Walker, who was in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – again, I’m beginning to regret not watching this first seeing as how it sets up two of the MCU films
Red Guardian, who was also in the Black Widow film as Yelena’s (and Black Widow’s) father
Ghost, who was in the first Ant-Man film
The Winter Soldier, who has been in lots of previous MCU projects

The only major new character is Bob; I won’t say much more about Bob to avoid spoilers but he’s certainly an interesting character. I do wonder how he will be incorporated into future Avengers films.

I think it’s notable that even Kevin Feige acknowledged that Marvel had released too much content, with the films and TV shows, and that the comparatively poor box office performance of this run of films may have been because audiences felt like they needed to do their ‘homework’ by watching them all. It’s certainly a feeling I had, and whilst Thunderbolts was supposed to be a largely free-standing film, I feel like I missed out on some important context by not watching the TV series. And the point is that watching TV and films should be fun – it shouldn’t be work. Sure, for some, being MCU completists and watching everything in order will appeal to them, but having so many inter-linking films and TV shows has just become unwieldy.

So, Thunderbolts: whilst I lacked some of the context, I enjoyed it overall. Not the best, not the worst, but I can see how it sets up future films.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Like with Spider-Man, this is the second reboot of The Fantastic Four, following the film rights reverting to Marvel from Fox. I saw the first two Fox films, but I missed the first reboot; I gather I wasn’t missing much from the critical reviews.

And also like Spider-Man: Homecoming, this film doesn’t dwell too much on the Fantastic Four’s origin story; it’s a flashback sequence at the beginning. Instead, it gets on with a new story – Susan Storm is pregnant, which introduces a whole new dynamic of being a team of superheroes with a baby on the way. As a parent, I can relate – especially the final scene, where they struggle to clip in a car seat.

Compared to the run of Marvel films before it, and especially to the previous Fantastic Four films, this is much better. I liked the 1960s aesthetic, and felt that the story was much stronger.

And that’s it – I’m all caught up, until this month’s release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Then, there’s Avengers: Doomsday in December, followed a year later by Avengers: Secret Wars. It is notable that the speed at which Marvel films are released has slowed down with only one film in 2024; I guess the poor performance of Ant-Man 3 and The Marvels resulted in a re-think.

3f:T274d,Having caught up with Doctor Who and Red Dwarf, next in line were the films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe that I hadn’t yet watched. My MCU watching fell behind about the same time as Doctor Who in autumn 2021 – we had watched Eternals in the cinema (and been rather disappointed) and watched Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on Disney+ whilst on a train to London. This meant that, to bring me up to date, I had 11 films to watch. Spider-Man: No Way Home I think the reason why we fell behind on the Marvel films is that we missed this when it was in the cinema, and as it’s a Sony joint production, it wasn’t on Disney+. Back in 2021, our 10-year-old was still only five, and so too young to want to see these films in the cinema, meaning that we had to fit cinema trips in whilst they were at school. More than once, we also dropped them at the crèche at the Trafford Centre to watch a film there – sadly, the crèche closed in lockdown and never re-opened. Anyway, like I said this wasn’t on Disney+ and so I paid to download it from Amazon. It’s good – bringing in the old adversaries from the previous pre-MCU Spider-Man films could’ve gone badly, but it’s done well and gives some of the characters a nice redemption arc. I also liked how Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men (Spider-Mans? Spiders-Man?) were handled. With this one out of the way, we re-subscribed to Disney+ after a two year break to watch the rest. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness The first Doctor Strange film was good, but I was less keen on this one. To date, most Marvel films have a balance of action, tension and humour, and I felt this was lacking the humour that made other films more enjoyable. I realise that this was intended to be a darker and scarier film, but I didn’t enjoy it as much. We haven’t watched many of the Marvel TV series on Disney+ but we did watch WandaVision in its entirety, and I would recommend doing so first if you haven’t seen it or this film. Whilst this film follows straight on from the previous Spider-Man film, by contrast, you don’t need to have watched it for this to make sense. Thor: Love and Thunder Thor: Ragnarok was good – and this was more of the same with a return for Taika Waititi as director. Waititi also voices Korg who provides much of the humour in the film. Russell Crowe gets to play a less serious role, which makes a nice change. I laughed out loud several times whilst watching this, and it was a nice pick-me-up after the darker Doctor Strange film before it. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever The first Black Panther film was excellent, and deserved its many award wins. There was no doubt that there would be a second film, but sadly this was complicated by the untimely passing of Chadwick Boseman in August 2020. As such, this second film starts with the mourning of the death of Boseman’s character. What this film has in common with several of the other films that I watched is that it is an objectively good film – but it wasn’t quite as good as the films that had gone before it. I think some of the earlier Marvel films set the standards so high, that some of the later films seem weak in comparison despite still being better than many others. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania This film seemed to get rather poor reviews, and was the worst performing Marvel film at the time at the box office. Which is a shame, because I liked it. I felt that it did a good job of building on the previous two films. Almost the entire film takes place in the quantum realm, and so it’s even more CGI heavy than other Marvel films. This was supposed to set up Kang the Conqueror as the next big baddy in the MCU, following Thanos. However, the actor playing Kang, Jonathan Majors, ended up being dropped after being convicted of assault and harassment, and so Kang doesn’t feature in future MCU films. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 I ended up seeing the first Guardians of the Galaxy film twice in the cinema, and enjoyed it both times. We saw the second one once – I don’t remember it being as good, but I think I enjoyed it. The third one is more sombre, and starts with Rocket being critically injured. Throughout the film, there are flashback sequences showing Rocket’s back story, which helps to set up the adversary at the end. It’s structured well, and like all good Marvel films, has the right balance of action and humour. The Marvels A sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, this sees Carol Dancers teaming up with Kamala Khan (aka Miss Marvel) and an awkward collaboration with Monica Rambeau. At the box office, it performed even worse than Ant-Man 3, and was one of the five biggest flops of 2023, losing an estimated $200 million. The film jumps around quite a bit, and I can’t help but feel it would have worked better as a TV series. I feel like this would have given the writers more time to flesh out the storylines, and give more of the characters a back story. Admittedly, I didn’t watch the Ms Marvel TV series first. As a film, it’s okay, and I think the last third of the film is better, but it could have been much better overall. Deadpool & Wolverine Previous Deadpool and X-Men films have not been part of the MCU, but this one is, thanks to Disney buying Fox and re-gaining the film rights to the characters. It is, however, not a reboot, and so in common with the previous two Deadpool films, has Ryan Reynolds as the titular character with Hugh Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine. Indeed, it doesn’t really feel like an MCU film at all, and has more in common with the Fox X-Men films, although the Time Variance Authority makes an appearance. There’s plenty of the fourth-wall breaking and swearing that you would expect from a Deadpool film, and there are plenty of cameos too. To date, it’s the most expensive MCU film and fifth most expensive film of all time, so it was probably a relief that this did rather better at the box office than some of its predecessors. Still, I felt it wasn’t quite as strong as the other Deadpool films. Once again, objectively it’s a good film, but just not quite as good as the others. Captain America: Brave New World I didn’t watch the TV series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and so I missed how Falcon became the ‘new’ Captain America. However, I remember it being released in the cinema to surprisingly little fanfare – I suspect that previous mis-steps with Ant-Man 3 and The Marvels resulted in a reduced marketing budget. On the whole, this is a slower film; the fight scene with the Red Hulk which features in the trailers doesn’t actually happen until the end of the film. I think I noticed the cinematography more with this one. It’s clear that it had a lower budget, but I suspect that, like previous Captain America films, it will set up future developments in the MCU. Thunderbolts* I was under the impression that the characters in Thunderbolts would all be new, based on the advertising I had seen at the time. Having now watched the film, I realised that most of the main characters have appeared before in the MCU, but generally in minor roles: Yelena, who is Black Widow’s sister and was in the Black Widow film and the Hawkeye TV series (which I also haven’t watched) John Walker, who was in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – again, I’m beginning to regret not watching this first seeing as how it sets up two of the MCU films Red Guardian, who was also in the Black Widow film as Yelena’s (and Black Widow’s) father Ghost, who was in the first Ant-Man film The Winter Soldier, who has been in lots of previous MCU projects The only major new character is Bob; I won’t say much more about Bob to avoid spoilers but he’s certainly an interesting character. I do wonder how he will be incorporated into future Avengers films. I think it’s notable that even Kevin Feige acknowledged that Marvel had released too much content, with the films and TV shows, and that the comparatively poor box office performance of this run of films may have been because audiences felt like they needed to do their ‘homework’ by watching them all. It’s certainly a feeling I had, and whilst Thunderbolts was supposed to be a largely free-standing film, I feel like I missed out on some important context by not watching the TV series. And the point is that watching TV and films should be fun – it shouldn’t be work. Sure, for some, being MCU completists and watching everything in order will appeal to them, but having so many inter-linking films and TV shows has just become unwieldy. So, Thunderbolts: whilst I lacked some of the context, I enjoyed it overall. Not the best, not the worst, but I can see how it sets up future films. The Fantastic Four: First Steps Like with Spider-Man, this is the second reboot of The Fantastic Four, following the film rights reverting to Marvel from Fox. I saw the first two Fox films, but I missed the first reboot; I gather I wasn’t missing much from the critical reviews. And also like Spider-Man: Homecoming, this film doesn’t dwell too much on the Fantastic Four’s origin story; it’s a flashback sequence at the beginning. Instead, it gets on with a new story – Susan Storm is pregnant, which introduces a whole new dynamic of being a team of superheroes with a baby on the way. As a parent, I can relate – especially the final scene, where they struggle to clip in a car seat. Compared to the run of Marvel films before it, and especially to the previous Fantastic Four films, this is much better. I liked the 1960s aesthetic, and felt that the story was much stronger. And that’s it – I’m all caught up, until this month’s release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Then, there’s Avengers: Doomsday in December, followed a year later by Avengers: Secret Wars. It is notable that the speed at which Marvel films are released has slowed down with only one film in 2024; I guess the poor performance of Ant-Man 3 and The Marvels resulted in a re-think.3d:["$","$L30","at://did:plc:fm7crvtisfj5xwzwuxerw32o/site.standard.document/3mq2ajo6ype7b",{"publication":{"href":"https://neilturner.me.uk","pubRecord":{"url":"https://neilturner.me.uk","icon":{"ref":{"$link":"bafkreigqro5rupimf5sfslgsvc2gfptk57jmlvddk55kotk75dbmgsljoa"},"size":12544,"$type":"blob","mimeType":"image/png"},"name":"Neil Turner's Blog","$type":"site.standard.publication","description":"Technology and randomness, since 2002","preferences":{"showComments":true,"showMentions":true,"showPrevNext":false,"showFirstLast":false,"showInDiscover":true,"showRecommends":true},"theme":"$undefined"},"uri":"at://did:plc:fm7crvtisfj5xwzwuxerw32o/site.standard.publication/3mn3b6kcxp6gv"},"ownerDid":"@neilturner.me.uk","contributors":[{"did":"did:plc:fm7crvtisfj5xwzwuxerw32o","handle":"neilturner.me.uk","displayName":"Neil Turner"}],"documents":{"comments_on_documents":[{"count":0}],"document_mentions_in_bsky":[{"count":0}],"recommends_on_documents":[{"count":0}],"data":{"path":"/2026/07/07/catching-up-with-the-marvel-cinematic-universe/","site":"at://did:plc:fm7crvtisfj5xwzwuxerw32o/site.standard.publication/3mn3b6kcxp6gv","tags":["antman","blackpanther","deadpool","doctorstrange","fantasticfour","marvel","marvels","mcu"],"$type":"site.standard.document","title":"Catching up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe","content":{"html":"$3e","$type":"org.wordpress.html"},"updatedAt":"2026-07-03T07:56:15.000Z","coverImage":{"ref":{"$link":"bafkreia3z5kydo6grzv55kjcxoyag54ivglss6ffuvhxovngximvzodnoy"},"size":129778,"$type":"blob","mimeType":"image/jpeg"},"bskyPostRef":{"cid":"bafyreiarl7arns3ljqdo5oh4g6kko3us5s3whishaun72r2xgaykk5sdya","uri":"at://did:plc:fm7crvtisfj5xwzwuxerw32o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq2ajo7zgw7b"},"description":"Having caught up with Doctor Who and Red Dwarf, next in line were the films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe that I hadn't yet watched. 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Tag: deadpool

Deadpool & Wolverine Review

Catching up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe