Summary of a Saga
So.
I just watched the entire MCU Infinity Saga in five days. With twenty-three movies in the saga, I averaged ten hours of movie-watching time a day. I’m keeping a neat-o summary here to remind myself who’s who and what’s what next time I dive into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And linkety links to all my many MANY thoughts on the Saga.
In Australia, they’re all on Disney + except The Incredible Hulk (I rented it from YouTube; feel free to skip it), Spider-Man: Homecoming (Netflix), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (Amazon Prime).
Phase 1 (all reviewed in full here)
***Iron Man
Stark swears off weapons then immediately makes the best one ever.
*The Incredible Hulk
Dr Banner is found by the government but eventually manages to go back into hiding.
***Iron Man 2
Stark promises that bad people definitely won’t be able to make any iron man suits; two different baddies make iron man suits.
**Thor
The god of thunder becomes less of a dickhead.
***Captain America: The First Avenger
A good-hearted weakling turns into a good-hearted superhero.
***Marvel’s The Avengers
Loki tries and fails to use a shiny to get more shinies for big bad Thanos.
Phase 1 summary: S.H.I.E.L.D. (specifically Nick Fury) puts together a superhero team made up of playboy genius Iron Man; part time rage-monster Hulk; jock god Thor; honourable 1940s man Captain America; and well-trained humans Hawkeye (arrows) and Black Widow (spy/assassin). They defeat various baddies including an alien hoard led by god of mischief Loki (aka Thor’s adopted brother and temporary minion of big bad Thanos).
Our original six heroes, left to right: Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man.
And here’s Loki.
Phase 2 (reviews part 1 and part 2)
***Iron Man 3
Stark makes way too many suits then blows them all up.
**Thor: The Dark World
Thor and Jane get back together; Loki is slightly less evil.
***Captain America: The Winter Soldier
S.H.I.E.L.D. turns out to be mostly Hydra (oh no), but Cap’s best friend gets partially un-brainwashed (yay).
***Guardians of the Galaxy
Star-Lord makes friends, and together they keep a shiny orb away from assorted baddies.
*Avengers: Age of Ultron
Stark makes then breaks a bad robot.
**Ant-Man
An ex-con becomes a superhero in exchange for stealing stuff for a cranky good guy instead of amiable bad guys.
Phase 2 summary: Our superheroes (now including semi-reformed Loki and Winter Soldier) add iron-suited War Machine, flying robot Vision, superfast Quicksilver (already dead), his twin sister Scarlet Witch (who has ill-defined but impressive powers and no personality to speak of); and lovable schmuck Ant-Man to their ranks. They also get (but don’t yet meet) the Guardians of the Galaxy: insecure but music-loving Star-Lord (human); righteously driven ex-baddie Gamora (green); trisyllabic Groot (tree thing; it dies but sprouts another Groot); twisted and damaged Rocket (mutated racoon thing); and literal-minded muscleman Drax (humanoid). They mean well (mostly), but commit various crimes including major property damage, theft, and mass manslaughter.
Picture 1: Scarlet Witch, Falcon (who gets those wings in the next movie), Vision, War Machine (in his Iron Patriot phase; usually he’s not so colourful).
Picture 2: Bucky (recovered from being the Winter Soldier) and Ant-Man (Scott).
And the Guardians, left to right: Groot, Rocket, Star-Lord (aka Peter Quill), Gamora, Drax
Phase 3 (reviews part 1, part 2, part 3 aka Infinity War, part 4, part 5 aka Endgame, part 6)
***Captain America: Civil War
Running low on baddies, the Avengers fight each other.
**Doctor Strange
Dr Strange learns to use his annoyingness for good.
***Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Star-Lord finds and then kills his dad (who is a murderer and also a planet).
***Spider-Man: Homecoming
A dorky teen with superpowers has to save the day alone when the grown-ups get sick of him.
***Thor: Ragnarok
Thor blows up his home planet so his big sister stops playing with it.
***Black Panther
King T’Challa kills a baddie and then does what the baddie wanted.
***Avengers: Infinity War
Thanos gets all the infinity stones and instantly erases half of all living creatures.
***Ant-Man and the Wasp
Ant-Man and the Wasp rescue Wasp’s mother from the quantum realm.
***Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel realises she’s Captain friggin’ Marvel.
***Avengers: Endgame
The Avengers kill Thanos (twice).
***Spider-Man: Far From Home
Spider-Man gives a potent weapon to a baddie then gets it back again.
Phase 3 summary, excluding Infinity War and Endgame: The goodies add the following to their roster: adorkable kid Spider-Man; witty sidekick Falcon; arrogant wizard Dr Strange (and similarly-powered sorcerer Wong); half-mecha ex-villain Nebula (Gamora’s green sister); empath alien Mantis (now also a Guardian); long-frustrated heroine Wasp; superhero squared Captain Marvel; and the Black Panther and a bunch of epic Wakandan people and weapons (gracious noncombatant Queen Ramonda; genius teenager Princess Shuri; and Okoye, the righteous leader of the bald-headed Dora Milaje all-female army).
Summary of Infinity War and Endgame: Thanos erases half of all living creatures. The heroes get everyone back, except:
a) There’s a five year gap when the world is half empty.
b) Gamora, Loki, Vision, and Black Widow are dead; Captain America is old and retired. Past versions of Gamora and Loki are likely to be around in future.
c) Thanos is definitely for sure gone now.
Picture 1: Spider-Man and Dr Strange
Picture 2: Nebula and Mantis
Picture 3: Captain Marvel (she cuts her hair later) and Black Panther (Wasp not pictured because she’ll be hanging out with Ant-Man, and her look is very similar to his except she has wings):
Thanos is big and purple, and also dead. Not pictured.
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Here are some other MCU reviews etc that I wrote in 2019:
Captain Marvel VS Wonder Woman
Spoiler-FILLED prep for Infinity War, for those who want to know what happens in advance
Spoiler-filled post-viewing discussion of Infinity War, with my predictions about Endgame
All Fourteen Best/Worst-of Lists I Wrote Just Now:
Best 5 Movies in the Infinity Saga
Best 5 Scenes in the Infinity Saga
5 Most Profound Moments in the MCU: Infinity Saga
5 Best-Written Pieces of Exposition
5 Most Problematic Moments in the Infinity Saga
5 Best Romances in the Infinity Saga
Biggest Writing Challenges for Marvel going forward
After Infinity: Marvel Stuff I’m Looking Forward To
* * *
For those concerned about my health, I had a very calm day today. TJ was lonely in the living room, but he was fine with me sleeping as long as I was in the room with him. I’d warned him I needed to rest today, so he very carefully made the living room couch “super comfy” for me so I slept there during the day.
Pictured: super comfy.
Felicity Banks 
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