The Marvel Cinematic Universe is nothing short of amazing. Over the course of 8 films, 9 if you count next week’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marvel has weaved together an intricate universe of characters, stories, events and history, on both film and television. The incredible thing about it all is that it works. So much could have gone wrong but somehow, someway, it all flows together seamlessly to create a universe that’s incredibly pleasing for both fans, and non-fans, of these famous comic book characters.
That being said, if you’re not a longtime comic book reader, or just aren’t very familiar with words like Tesseract or Asgard, then you’ve no doubt been confused at various points throughout some of the studio’s efforts. While each films tries its best to appeal to both the hardcore and those who are coming in fresh, it’s understandable that certain events that take place will be lost on some. And that’s where we come in.
In order to prepare you for the upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and to bring you up to speed, we’ve put together this handy guide that recaps the 27 most important events that have transpired since Marvel first began building their universe.
Before we dive in though, let’s take a quick look back at Phase One, just to refresh our memories.