A summary of everything on Marvel’s pre-‘Doomsday’ watch cheat sheet

This past weekend, Disney held its annual D23 celebration, which means there’s major announcements, trailers, and updates from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to catch up on—and some homework for those of you who want to catch up on the essentials before “Avengers: Doomsday” releases this December.

I’ve got the spoiler-free list below and a list with summaries below that… but first, let’s take a quick peek at some of the other fun news that came out of the D23 expo.

X-Men

The upcoming “X-Men” film directed by “Thunderbolts” filmmaker Jake Schreier announced its lead cast. We already saw “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink debut as Jean Grey in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Now we know she will be joined by Kit Connor (“Warfare”) as Scott Summers’ (also known as Cyclops), Christopher Abbott (“First Man”) as Professor Charles Xavier, “Obsession” breakout star Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Samara Weaving (“Scream VI”) as Emma Frost, and Broadway star Maya Boyd as Storm.

But that doesn’t mean the 2000 “X-Men” film cast are obsolete—oh no, they’re on the essential watch list. Remember, we’re working with multiverses now. All your favorite actors from the past, present, and future are possible cameos.

VisionQuest

The official trailer for “VisionQuest” is out now, starring Paul Bettany as a rebooted version of Vision following the events of “Avengers: Endgame” and “WandaVision.” James Spader also returns as a sort of Ultron persona embedded within Vision’s programming.

This show serves as a sort of third in the trilogy after “WandaVision” and “Agatha All Along.” But in my opinion, “WandaVision” should be on the essential viewing list. After all, “Doctor Doom and the Multiverse of Madness” is, and Wanda is a pivotal part of that. She has gone through some significant sh*t since “Avengers: Endgame,” so i’m gonna recommend it at least before “VisionQuest” but also because it’s such a bold season of television.

Talk about taking a big swing and absolutely pulling it off.

“VisionQuest” is created by Terry Matalas, who brought us the “12 Monkeys” television series (utterly fantastic if you somehow haven’t seen it) and the final two seasons of “Star Trek: Picard.” We’re in very good hands here.

Avengers: Doomsday

We’ve got teasers. We’ve got trailers. Now we’ve got a special look. “Avengers: Doomsday” is introducing Victor Von Doom, also known as Doctor Doom, a legendary and terrifying Marvel supervillain.

Think the supergenius brainpower of Tony Stark meets the dark, mystical powers of Doctor Strange. While he’s most often portrayed as the archenemy of the Fantastic Four, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he’s about to become the new Big Bad across time, space, and multiverse.

But with dozens of films and television series released over the past 26 years, how is one to catch up on the vital characters and storylines before “Avengers: Doomsday” hits theaters? Marvel already told us.

Enter the essential watch list:

1. X-Men 2. X2 3. Captain America: The First Avenger 4. The Avengers 5. Avengers: Infinity War 6. Avengers: Endgame 7. Loki 8. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 9. Spider-Man: No Way Home 10. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 11. Captain America: Brave New World 12. Deadpool & Wolverine 13. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 14. Thunderbolts 15. The Fantastic Four: First Steps

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

X-Men and X2

First of all, these are great films that serve as an excellent introduction to Marvel mutants for anyone who hasn’t read the comics. It’s safe to assume that many of these characters—and these variants, specifically—might make an appearance in “Avengers: Doomsday.”

We’ve already seen a few of them pop in, such as when Patrick Stewart reprised his role of Charles Xavier in “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.” Furthermore, these films introduced Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, and of course, “Deadpool & Wolverine” are on the list.

Captain America: The First Avenger

We know from the first “Avengers: Doomsday” trailer that Chris Evans returns to the MCU in the film; whether he is indeed our Steve Rogers (he’s able to wield Mjölnir) or some kind of variant remains to be seen.

Still, “The First Avenger” is not only an incredible film, it introduces our first avenger, our first infinity stone (the Space Stone within the Tesseract), Haley Atwell’s Peggy Carter, SHIELD, and more.

Steve Rogers is the only OG Avenger whose origin film is on the essential watch list for “Doomsday.” For the rest, you’ll just have to catch up via “The Avengers,” which brings together Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk, and Hawkeye under the leadership of Nick Fury.

Thor’s brother Loki is the villain of the film, and his series will later be critical in expanding upon the multiverse.

Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame

These two films serve as a true part one and part two, bringing in even more of our Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes, like Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, and Black Panther, who must all team up together to fight Thanos and his growing collection of Infinity Stones.

“Avengers: Endgame” also gives us the first real taste of time-travel and the multi-verse, as the Avengers find pockets of time from other multi-verses to collect Infinity Stones of their own and defeat Thanos once and for all.

I’ll say it again: You should watch “WandaVision” before “Loki” if you can! But Marvel says you don’t have to.

If you skip “Loki,” however, you’ll really miss out on learning about the multiverse, the different variants of a character across those multiverses, and how one can impact (or destroy) the others, leading to the creation of the Time Variance Authority (TVA), an organization that monitors and regulates timelines across the multiverse.

Those variants are how Marvel can have Jean Grey played by Famke Janssen in “X-Men” and “X-2” and also Sadie Sink in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”—they are both Jean Grey, but in a different multiverse. Loki even has a female variant (and an alligator variant).

These variants have made for a lot of fun and surprising storytelling for Marvel without having to undo previous canon. And for audience members, well, we just never know quite what to expect.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Fans are thrilled to finally see Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi return.

His mystical ten rings grant godly powers of immortality (something a power-hungry supergenius mystic might want to get his hands on, perhaps?). The discoverer of the rings, Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung), established the Ten Rings organization, which we’ve already seen pop up in films like “Iron Man” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”

Shang-Chi, the son of the immortal Wenwu, tries to escape the path his father set out for him but is drawn back in, ultimately inheriting the rings from his father after battling him in the dimension of Ta Lo. In the post-credits scene, we also learn that the rings are acting as some kind of beacon… to what, we may finally find out!

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Marvel has included “Spider-Man: No Way Home” as the one Spider-Man film on this list—not “Brand New Day.” This is most likely because it is a very multiverse-y film, bringing back both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to help Tom Holland’s Peter Parker after a Doctor Strange spell goes wrong.

The corrupted spell also summons people from other universes, fracturing reality and threatening to break the multiverse apart completely. To contain the fracture, Doctor Strange casts a new, uncompromised spell that seals the dimensional tears… while also making everyone in his world forget that Peter Parker exists.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

After Chadwick Boseman’s tragic death in 2020, Letitia Wright’s Shuri replaced T’Challa as the new Black Panther. This film continues to tell stories of the Wakandan super-element vibranium, but also introduces the blue-skinned, water-breathing Atlanteans, led by a prince named Namor (played by Tenoch Huerta).

Namor’s mother ingested a vibranium-laced herb while pregnant, causing him to undergo a mutation that gave him, among other things, the ability to fly and to breathe oxygen from air or water. After initially fighting with Namor and the Atlanteans, Shuri ultimately allies herself with him.

Captain America: Brave New World

In Sam Wilson’s first film as Steve Rogers’ replacement for Captain America, the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduces adamantium—the same durable metal used on Wolverine’s entire skeleton. It also brings back Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) a biologist who once tried to cure Bruce Banner and became contaminated by a drop of Hulk’s blood, causing a mutation that grants him super intelligence.

Sterns discovers a way to use mind control and treats now-President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, heyoooo) who is dying of heart failure. Unfortunately, the “treatment” causes Ross to transform into a destructive Red Hulk, who Sam ultimately stops and imprisons. Sam then captures and imprisons Sterns.

In “Deadpool & Wolverine,” Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson (Deadpool) uses time travel to save his girlfriend… and to go from his universe, Earth-10005, to Earth-616—the universe where most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken place so far—with the hopes of joining that reality’s Avengers (he’s rejected).

Years later, he is detained by the TVA, and learns that his own universe is deteriorating as a result of the death of its stabilizing “anchor being,” Logan (Wolverine).

Wilson decides to travel through the multiverse to bring a replacement Logan variant to stabilize his universe. The two are subsequently sent to the Void, first seen in “Loki,” (it all comes back around) a wasted dimension at the end of time. They escape, team up with variants in the Void, face off against Cassandra Nova (sadistic twin sister to Charles Xavier played by “The Crown’s” Emma Corin), defeat her, and save Earth-10005.

Takeaways: when you’re faced with a Kobiyashi Maru, find a loophole.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Well, if you’re not going to watch “WandaVision,” then first you must know that after Vision dies in “Infinity War,” a grieving Wanda Maximoff (also known as Scarlet Witch) creates a powerful hex that allows her to bring a recreated Vision to life with the part of the Soul Stone that lives in her—and conceives twin boys with him.

When she undoes the spell, Vision and the children are also undone… but she remains convinced that their souls or variants still exist. She finds a grimoire called the Darkhold, which she studies within her astral form.

In “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness,” Wanda seeks a girl named America Chavez, who is able to travel through the multiverse, so she can use Chavez’s power to reunite with her twins Billy and Tommy.

Strange protects Chavez, who escapes to Earth-838. Wanda dreamwalks to her variant in that universe, faces off against Earth-838’s Illuminati (a supergroup of variants of some of our favorite characters, including a Peggy Carter Captain America and John Krasinski as Reed Richards). And then violently murders them all.

Wanda sends Strange to an incursion-destroyed universe where he was to fight a Darkhold-corrupted Strange variant. He uses the Darkhold to dreamwalk to his Earth-838 variant, encourages Chavez to use her abilities and transport Wanda back to Earth-838, where Wanda sees her sons recoiling from her in fear.

Wanda withdraws to protect them, destroys all versions of the Darkhold throughout the multiverse, and appears to sacrifice herself in the process.

The mid-credits scene gives us Charlize Theron as Clea, who takes Strange into the Dark Dimension to repair an incursion.

Thunderbolts*

“Thunderbolts*” unites the next front of Avengers, including Florence Pugh’s Yelena Velova, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes (also known as Winter Soldier), Wyatt Russell’s John Walker (also known as U.S. Agent), Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr (also known as Ghost), Olga Kurylenko’s Antonia Dreykov (also known as Taskmaster), and Bob.

Bob is an amnesiac man they rescue while on an ambush set up by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. When people come into contact with Bob, they experience visions of their worst memories. They also discover that he is nearly impervious to injury and that he can fly.

Bob becomes Sentry, a god-like superhuman with an alter ego called the Void, who is the embodiment of debilitating depression. He begins to engulf New York City in darkness, trapping its citizens in their own worst memories with the speed of a nuclear bomb, and is only stopped when the Thunderbolts face him and disarm him with compassion and support.

Bob regains control over himself and releases the Void’s victims. De Fontaine spins the disaster into a publicity stunt and announces The New Avengers as her idea. The post-credits scene introduces an extra-dimensional spacecraft with a large “4” emblem on the side.

Which brings us to…

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Welcome to Earth-828, where the Fantastic Four have been Earth’s protectors for four years. The Four are Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal, “The Mandalorian”) and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby, “Mission Impossible”), who are expecting a child, along with Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn, “Stranger Things”) and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, “The Bear”).

Months later, the Silver Surfer (played by “Ozark’s” Julia Garner)—herald to the planet-devouring cosmic being Galactus—shows up and announces that Earth has been marked for destruction unless Reed and Sue give up their child, who has an immense cosmic power that could free Galactus from his insatiable hunger.

The Fantastic Four devise a plan to transport the entire planet to another solar system where Galactus can’t find them, but the Silver Surfer destroys the bridges that would allow the transfer. With only one teleportation device remaining, they lure Galactus to it and teleport him away instead, with the surprising help of the Silver Surfer. Sue dies in the process but is revived by her powerful son.

In a mid-credits scene, Sue discovers her son, now four years old, interacting with a man in a green cloak and a metal mask—presumably, Doctor Doom.

AND THERE WE ARE.

“Avengers: Doomsday” hits theaters on Dec. 18, 2026. See you there.

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