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What You Need to Know Before AVENGERS INFINITY WAR

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR is almost here! The superhero showdown with Thanos is the culmination of 18 films and years of action, intrigue, cosmic forces, infinity stones and post-credits scenes. Marvel Studios writers and producers have plotted and planned like S.H.I.E.L.D. strategists for what will be the ultimate team-up of heroes.

Avengers: Infinity War Dolby poster courtesy Marvel

How did we get here? Do you remember everything? What films should you watch or see again to be caught up and ready for the cosmic chaos?

It all started with my non-comic book reading friends asking me tons of questions about Marvel movies. It led to this series of stories to get them ready and win them over to read more comics.

Here’s our recap to get you caught up and ready for the Infinity War:

And of course this comes with a SPOILER WARNING in case you haven’t seen the previous blockbusters:

IRON MAN Tony Stark survives being captured by terrorists by building a suit of iron. Tony’s friend Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes is introduced. Rhodes is a military liaison with Stark Industries. Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. meets with Pepper Potts, Stark’s right hand woman. The intelligence agency tries to work with Tony to cover up what happened in the fight with villain Obadiah Stane. Stark surprises S.H.I.E.L.D. by publicly revealing he is Iron Man. In the first big post-credits scene Nick Fury visits Stark revealing Iron Man isn’t the only superhero in world and wants to discuss the Avengers Initiative.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK Bruce Banner is out of the country with the Hulk under control as he tries to find a cure. Banner returns to the states to contact a scientist who may have a cure but he’s being tracked by General Thunderbolt Ross and his gamma infused agent who becomes The Abomination. In the final scene Tony Stark approaches Ross about a team he’s putting together.

IRON MAN 2 Tony Stark is the target of two villains: business rival Justin Hammer and Russian inventor Ivan Vanko. The film introduces Stark’s new personal assistant Natalie who is revealed to be Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow working undercover for Nick Fury. Tony learned his father, Howard, was a founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury knew him. Rhodes donned the Mark II prototype armor. We also met Senator Stern, a politician who wanted Stark to turn over the secrets of the Iron Man armor. Watch for a big reveal about this Senator in a later film. In the post-credits scene Agent Coulson discovers a large hammer in a crater in New Mexico.

THOR The Nine Realms are introduced. Asgard is the home of beings who inspired the Vikings and Norse Mythology. A truce between Odin, King of Asgard, and King of the Frost Giants nearly erupts again because of Odin’s son Thor. Odin banishes his son to Midgard aka Earth. Thor’s mystical hammer, Mjolnor, crashes to Earth. The hammer allows Thor to fly and summon thunder. He is no longer worthy so the hammer sits in a crater now being studied by S.H.I.E.L.D. led by Agent Phil Coulson. In Odin’s vault we see a gauntlet with gems on it – remember this. Loki falls in battle into space where’s he presumed lost. In the post-credits scene Loki is impersonating Thor’s friend Dr. Erik Solvig, recruited by Nick Fury to examine a mysterious cube with a glowing blue light.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER Remember the cube? It’s called a Tesseract (Cosmic Cube in the comics) and it’s seized by a Nazi named Johann Schmidt in 1942. Schmidt and scientist Arnim Zola harness the cube energy to create an arsenal of weapons for their covert military group known as Hydra. In the U.S. Steve Rogers wants to serve his country but he’s not physically fit to join the military like his best friend James “Bucky” Barnes. The Strategic Science Reserve led by Colonel Chester Phillips is working with Dr. Abraham Erskine to create super soldiers.  Peggy Carter is an officer in the program. Steve undergoes the experiment, injected with the serum and is transformed into a super soldier. Captain America joins the fight in Europe to stop Hydra. Bucky apparently died on a mission. Schmidt is revealed to Red Skull. Cap is presumed dead when he crashes a Hydra weapon into icy waters. Steve wakes up. Nick Fury tells Steve he’s been asleep for 70 years and wants him for a mission.

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS

Loki agrees to seize the Tesseract for a mysterious alien who will give the trickster an army (The Chitauri) to invade a rules Earth. Agent Clint Barton/Hawkeye is officially introduced (after a cameo in THOR) working with Fury and Dr. Solvig when Loki strikes. Fury activates the Avengers Initiative: Captain America, Iron Man go into action. Black Widow recruits Bruce Banner. Thor joins the fight against Loki and the Chitauri. Thor takes Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard. Loki’s power scepter vanishes. The alien who recruited Loki confers with his master, Thanos, the comic book super villain known as the Mad God of Titan.

PHASE 2

IRON MAN 3 Tony Stark tried to stop a terrorist known as The Mandarin and a scientist Aldrich Killian, creator of a virus called Extremis and an organization A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics.)

THOR: THE DARK WORLD The Odinson saves Earth and Asgard from Malekith and the Dark Elves. Loki dies in battle but later is revealed to be alive and impersonating Odin. In the post-credits scene fake Odin sends Thor allies Lady Sif and Volstagg to bring an Infinity gem to the care of The Collector who says, one down, five to go.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER Cap and Black Widow are working for Nick Fury. A mysterious assassin known as The Winter Soldier kills Fury. Hydra has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. Cap and Natasha are on the run and get help from veteran Sam Wilson who uses a prototype flying system to become the Falcon. The Winter Soldier is revealed to be Bucky, Steve’s best friend he thought was killed in World War II. Bucky is cyborg trained to killed for Hydra and has been frozen, resurrected, frozen over the decades. Cap, Black Widow, Fury, Falcon and Maria Hill stop Hydra’s plot but S.H.I.E.L.D. is ruins. Fury goes off the grid. Black Widow exposes the Hydra secrets – and her own to the world. In the post-credits scenes: Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker watches the twins in a secret Hydra lab. The twins will be revealed as Pietro and Wanda Maximoff aka Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, given powers by exposure to Loki’s scepter. Winter Soldier visits a memorial to Bucky.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALALXY A human named Peter Quill is kidnaped by aliens known as Ravagers led by a man named Yondu. A grown-up Quill steals a mysterious orb and ends up meeting Drax, Gamora, Rocket and Groot – rogues who end saving the planet Xandar from Ronan the Accuser, a power-hungry Kree renegade who wants destroy Xandar and the Nova Corps. Ronan is working for Thanos. The Mad God’s “daughter” Nebula and Gamora’s “sister” is working with Ronan. The Guardians encounter The Collector who reveals the power of the Power Stone, one of the Infinity Gems. In a flashback we see a giant alien Celestial using the gem to destroy a planet. After stopping Ronan, the Guardians leave the gem in the protective care of the Nova Corps. The Collector still has the Reality Stone.

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Tony Stark takes Artificial Intelligence too far and Ultron is born. The evil A.I. uses Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver as his operatives. The film introduces Ulysses Claue, a mercenary who is one of only men to escape the mysterious African nation of Wakanda. Ultron uses Claue’s stolen shipment of vibranium (Cap’s shield is made of this) and only found in Wakanda. Ultron creates the Vision, an android who turns on his master to join the Avengers. There was an Infinity Stone in the Tesseract. Ultron used this Mind stone to create Vision and now it’s in the android’s forehead. The Avengers stop Ultron but the country of Sokovia is destroyed.

ANT-MAN Scott Lang is a electronics expert and convicted thief who turned on his criminal corporate bosses. Lang is recruited by Hank Pym, an inventor and former member of S.H.I.E.L.D. Pym and Janet Van Dyne were Ant-Man and the Wasp, with technology to shrink down in size. Janet vanishes into the Microverse on the mission. Pym and his daughter Hope recruit Lang to wore the Ant-Man technology to stop his inventions from being sold to Hydra by Darren Cross, who becomes the Yellowjacket.

PHASE 3

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR The United Nations enacts The Sokovia Accords forcing super-heroes to register, give up secret identities and work for the government. Tony Stark is pro-registration. Steve Rogers is against. The Winter Soldier is framed for killing the King of Wakanda. The King’s son, T’Challa, assumes the role of the Black Panther for revenge. Cap, Bucky, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Ant-Man are confronted by Iron Man, War Machine, Vision, Black Widow, Black Panther and a new recruit Spider-Man. Iron Man and Captain America have been manipulated the whole time by Helmut Zemo, who wanted the Avengers to destroy each other after he lost his family in Sokovia. Zemo framed Bucky for killing Black Panther’s father but when Bucky was still a brainwashed Winter Soldier, he was ordered to kill Tony Stark’s parents. The post-credits scene saw Cap and Bucky given refuge in Wakanda.

DOCTOR STRANGE Stephen Strange was a brilliant surgeon seeking a miracle cure after the nerves in his hands were ruined in an accident. Strange becomes a student of The Ancient One. Strange, Baron Mordo and Wong fought to stop Kaecillis, a student now a disciple of Dormannu of the Dark Dimension. Strange uses the Eye of Agomotto in his spell. The Eye houses the Time Infinity Gem.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOLUME 2 The Guardians becomes enemies of Ayesha and The Sovereign. Ayesha Yondu and his pirates to capture them. Quill and the Guardians encounter Ego, a Celestial who is Peter’s father. The Living Planet has “children” across the galaxy to terraform the planets. Peter learns Ego killed his mother and turns on the Celestial. In the post-credits scene, Ayesha creates a new artificial intelligence to hunt and kill the Guardians. We speculate this could be Adam Warlock. We see The Watchers, who was interrogating a human about his adventures in Marvel films. The Watchers are aliens who observe but vow to not interfere in the affairs of other races.

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING In the aftermath of the Avengers battle with Loki’s army, Tony Stark’s Damage Control puts Adrian Toomes out of business who becomes The Vulture leading a crew of thieves who steal leftover alien tech to make superweapons for the black market. The story picks up after CIVIL WAR as Peter Parker goes back to high school and under Stark’s watch. Peter’s vow to fight crime leads to a confrontation with the Vulture, lessons in being a hero from Tony and a new Spidey suit.

THOR: RAGNAROK The Odinson is defeated by Hela, Goddess of Death, and banished to planet Sakaar where he’s captured by another exiled Asgardian, then forced to do battle in the gladiator games of an alien overlord known as the Grandmaster. Thor’s first big match is against…the Hulk? We later learn how the green goliath ended up on Sakaar. Thor recruits Banner, Valkyrie, Loki and more gladiators to go back to Asgard to defeat Hela. In the aftermath, Thor is leading the survivors on space ship bound for Earth when they are overtaken by an even bigger vessel. Is this Thanos, his Black Order or the Guardians of the Galaxy?

BLACK PANTHER T’Challa becomes King of Wakanda, fights off a rival to the throne and shares the secrets of his technologically advanced nation to the world. In the post-credits scene we meet the “White Wolf” a name children call the man better known as Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, who went back in hibernation after the events of CIVIL WAR. Bucky is in a remote village with Shuri, Black Panther’s genius sister. Did Shuri cure Bucky of his Hydra programming? Is there a romantic spark between them?

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR opens this Friday, Check out more posters here. then next up:

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP July 2018

CAPTAIN MARVEL March 2019

AVENGERS Untitled Sequel 2019

SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING sequel

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOLUME 3

BLACK PANTHER Sequel

By Editor

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