Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to arrive in Australian cinemas on 18 December, bringing together characters and realities from across Marvel’s screen history. With the story expected to involve incursions between entire universes, Disney’s official viewing guide leaves several important gaps.
The film is expected to connect the main Marvel Cinematic Universe, known as Earth-616, with the universe from The Fantastic Four: First Steps and a version of Fox’s X-Men world. The X-Men are also expected to appear in comic-accurate costumes.
Disney’s published list includes X-Men, X2, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Loki, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Captain America: Brave New World, Deadpool & Wolverine, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
That is already a substantial marathon, but three omissions stand out. Unlike some possible spoiler-protecting exclusions, these films appear to provide useful character and story context.
1. Captain America: Civil War
The guide jumps from 2012’s The Avengers to 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, bypassing one of the MCU’s most important turning points. Avengers: Age of Ultron could reasonably be skipped because it does not permanently reshape the team’s position, but Captain America: Civil War does.
The film explains why the Avengers are no longer united. At the end of The Avengers, the group is functioning as a team; by Infinity War, its members are spread around the world, while Captain America and Iron Man have become bitter enemies. Without Civil War, that change can feel abrupt for first-time viewers and awkward even for fans seeking a refresher.
The most likely explanation is that Disney wanted to keep the recommended list from becoming too intimidating. Even so, Civil War is a key link between numerous MCU storylines and is difficult to justify leaving out.
For readers who enjoy arranging a long-running series in order, the same attention to sequence is useful when planning an arcade machine collection: the right starting point can make a large catalogue easier to navigate.
2. The Marvels
Brie Larson has not been confirmed for Avengers: Doomsday, and the same applies to Iman Vellani and Teyonah Parris. However, the ending of The Marvels makes its absence from the guide especially noticeable.
In the post-credits scene, Monica Rambeau is transported to another dimension, where she encounters Kelsey Grammer’s Beast. The obvious assumption is that this is the same X-Men reality expected to feature in Doomsday. If Monica is there, viewers may reasonably want to know how she arrived and who she is before the new film begins.
The Marvels also introduces its three central heroes in one film, potentially reducing the need to separately watch Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel and WandaVision for basic character context.
There are two plausible reasons for the omission. Marvel Studios may be protecting the possible involvement of these unconfirmed characters. Alternatively, Disney may be reluctant to highlight a film that remains the MCU’s biggest financial failure: its reported production cost was $374 million, while its worldwide gross was $207 million. The film was still considered an enjoyable enough watch by some viewers despite its poor commercial result.
3. X-Men: The Last Stand
The 2006 film is widely regarded as a weaker entry than the first two films in the original X-Men trilogy, but it introduces a version of Beast who may be important in Avengers: Doomsday. Grammer’s character has appeared in the film’s marketing, and his appearance in The Marvels’ closing scene strongly suggests a larger purpose.
Beast’s blue appearance and scientific reputation may be familiar to many fans, yet a proper introduction would still help. If Wolverine and Cyclops need clear context, Beast arguably deserves the same treatment.
The film’s plot creates one obvious complication: Cyclops and Professor X die, while Magneto loses his powers. Those events do not fit neatly with the versions of the characters expected to be alive and powerful in Doomsday. A broader guide could also have included X-Men: Days of Future Past, an acclaimed entry that revises those outcomes, although its time-travel story introduces complications of its own.
The simpler explanation may be that Disney did not want to recommend a film with a poor reputation. That reasoning is debatable, particularly when Captain America: Brave New World remains on the same list.
Should these films be added to your marathon?
For a minimal watchlist, Disney’s selection may be designed to deliver the essential multiverse setup without demanding an exhaustive MCU and X-Men catch-up. For a fuller understanding of the characters and their relationships, however, Captain America: Civil War, The Marvels and X-Men: The Last Stand each fill a noticeable gap.
Fans building a dedicated home entertainment setup can browse RETROCADE’s arcade news and gaming coverage, explore compact bartop arcades or consider virtual pinball machines for a Marvel marathon companion.
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled for theatrical release on 18 December.
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