⚡ The short list
If you watch only one thing before Avengers: Doomsday (Dec. 18), make it The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Our full minimum watchlist is seven titles and comes in under 15 hours — all on Disney+. It covers Doctor Doom, the Fantastic Four, the New Avengers and the original X-Men cast, who are all in this movie.
Marvel has released more than 35 movies, a dozen-plus Disney+ series, and now it wants you to show up on December 18 knowing who the Fox X-Men are. No. We refuse to assign you 60 hours of homework. Here’s the smallest possible list that will let you walk into Avengers: Doomsday and understand why the theater is screaming.
Who’s actually in Avengers: Doomsday?
The confirmed cast reads like a multiverse family reunion:
- The villain: Robert Downey Jr. as Victor von Doom, a.k.a. Doctor Doom (yes, Tony Stark’s actor, now the bad guy)
- Avengers: Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Mackie (Captain America), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers), Sebastian Stan (Bucky), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Danny Ramirez (Falcon)
- The Fantastic Four: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach
- The New Avengers (formerly Thunderbolts): including Florence Pugh’s Yelena
- Wakanda: Letitia Wright (Shuri), Winston Duke (M’Baku)
- The original X-Men: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, Kelsey Grammer — plus Channing Tatum as Gambit
The essential five (about 10 hours)
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) (about 1 hr 55 min)
The single most important watch. It introduces the MCU’s Fantastic Four and sets up Doctor Doom’s interest in their family. Non-negotiable. - Thunderbolts* (2025) (about 2 hr 7 min)
Yelena, Bucky and a team of misfits become the “New Avengers.” Several of them are confirmed for Doomsday. - Loki, season 2, episode 6: “Glorious Purpose” (about 1 hr)
The fastest way to understand where Loki — and the whole multiverse — stands. If you only watch one episode of any Marvel show, it’s this one. - X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) (about 2 hr 12 min)
The Fox X-Men film that brings the original cast and their younger selves together and resets their timeline. Essential context for Stewart, McKellen and co. - Avengers: Endgame (2019) (about 3 hr 1 min)
The emotional baseline: what happened to Tony, Steve and Thor, and why seeing RDJ as Doom hits so hard.
Add these two to stay under 15 hours
- Captain America: Brave New World (2025) (about 1 hr 58 min)
Sam Wilson as Captain America, and the state of the Avengers before Doomsday. - Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) (about 2 hr 8 min)
The funniest primer on the Fox universe — and where Channing Tatum’s Gambit finally showed up.
⏱️ The math
Essential five: roughly 10 hours. With the two extras: roughly 14 hours 20 minutes. One a night from December 11 and you’re done the night before Doomsday opens.
Bonus round (if you have the time)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Shuri’s arc and the world of Talokan.
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — more multiverse rules.
- X-Men (2000) — for pure nostalgia. James Marsden’s Cyclops deserved better.
Disney+ has a Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday collection that gathers the relevant titles in one place.
🧩 Quiz: Who is Doctor Doom’s great rival in the comics?
Reed Richards — Mister Fantastic, played by Pedro Pascal. The two were college rivals in Marvel Comics, which is why the Fantastic Four film is the essential watch.
🗳️ Quick poll: How much homework are you doing?
- The full seven — I’m committed
- Just Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Zero. I’ll Wikipedia in the parking lot
- I’ve seen everything already, obviously
Drop your number in the comments — we tally the votes and update this post with the results.
