Spider-Man: Brand New Day is behind us. The film was pretty much perfect, at least in terms of scripting and plotting. It deserves every record it has broken so far (including the $360M it made on its opening weekend, beating Avengers: Endgame’s previously historic $357M). However, in a few weeks, Brand New Day will leave the conversation, and Disney will begin Avengers: Doomsday’s marketing campaign, which brings us to a question we always ask when a new Avengers film is coming. How should you prepare? Avengers films are usually the culmination of years of storytelling, blending multiple characters from separate franchises. Anyone can enjoy an Avengers film in isolation, but knowing what came before will enhance your experience significantly. Now, usually, we wait until a new Avengers film is mere weeks, if not days, away before broaching this discussion. However, Avengers: Doomsday is unique because this time around, your homework involves multiple seasons of TV shows, which means dozens of hours of additional content. In other words, you need these remaining months to catch up. Now, you could argue that we can’t possibly know what to watch beforehand because we don’t know what Doomsday is about, and that is true. But guess what? Avengers: Secret Wars, the sequel to Doomsday, which is based on the Secret Wars comic book, comes out in December 2027. And knowing the story of the comic book (Victor Von Doom trapping all of Earth’s heroes on an alien planet and forcing them to fight) gives us an idea of what we can expect from Doomsday. The movie slate alone is quite daunting because it means leaping back to the original X-Men trilogy from the 2000s. Why? Because you saw Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and James Marsden’s Xavier, Magneto, and Cyclops in the first Doomsday teaser. Channing Tatum’s Gambit also suggests that Deadpool and Wolverine is necessary. In fact, just to be safe, watch the first X-Men trilogy, the X-Men: First Class trilogy, Deadpool 1, Deadpool and Wolverine, and Logan. That should cover everything X-Men that you might need to know. Assuming you never watched those films. On the Spider-Man front, Spider-Man: Brand New Day should be more than sufficient. That brings us to the MCU, where your viewing schedule is not nearly as dense as you think. Stick to the essentials, namely: Iron Man 1, Avengers 2012, Guardians of the Galaxy 1, vengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Shang-Chi, and Thunderbolts. We should add Guardians of the Galaxy 3 to that list, because it changes the Guardians franchise irrevocably. Yes, I skipped a lot of films, but have you noticed the pattern? The films I chose serve one vital purpose; they introduce all the characters that matter to Doomsday, telling you who they are, their motives, and where they were when we left them. Switching to TV, Loki is the only vital component because it explores Loki and the TVA, both of whom feature heavily in Doomsday, or so the rumours/leaks have suggested. Loki is especially important. You need to know how his story ended in Loki. But that means watching two seasons of the TV show. We can end on WandaVision, which gives you an idea of what Wanda is thinking. And… that’s it. Eighteen films and three seasons of television, which is, admittedly, a lot. But here is the thing. If you are having fun, then you will enjoy every second of the next four months. Happy viewing! katmic200@gmail.comThe post How to prepare for Avengers: Doomsday appeared first on The Observer Media Ltd.