If you have read a couple of my previous posts, you might have figured out that I’m something of a fan girl. While it tends to be Once Upon A Time that gets quoted the most and it was Harry Potter I used to talk about God’s unconditional love, there is one fandom I love that has been mentioned relatively little… THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE!
But let us be honest with one another here. You know I am not the only MCU fan in the room. The likelihood is that, even if you are not a “fan girl/boy”, you will at least recognised names like Iron Man, Captain America, and The Hulk. Depending on your exposure, you might even have heard of Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, or Black Panther. These superheroes are fast becoming household names. Even my dad has finally admitted that my sister and I are not weird for being a tiny bit obsessed.
(By tiny bit obsessed, I mean that my sister, who pre-Infinity War couldn’t have cared less about the MCU, suggested a podcast episode about the film series. If you want to know how excited we can get about our favourite fictional worlds, you can check out this podcast episode about The Lord of the Rings.)
Along with the collective love of the MCU, there is one other thing we all have in common. The majority of the world is in lockdown, quarantine, or whatever you want to call it, at the moment. So I thought we could put that time to good use…
BY WATCHING THE MCU FILMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER!
For those of you who aren’t aware, the MCU films were not all released in chronological order. For example, Captain Marvel is set in the 90s and therefore is only preceded by Captain America but it wasn’t released until after Infinity War, which was released in and is set in 2018. As a result, it has become something of a challenge for people to watch the films in the correct order.
Despite being something of a fan, I have yet to complete this particular challenge. And, to add insult to injury, it turns out my new-to-MCU sister knows some of the later films better than me. All this has led me to a decision: let’s use lockdown as a chance to watch the films in chronological order.
“Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?” – Captain America
So, this is the plan. Each week, I’m going to watch a minimum of one MCU film starting with Captain America: The First Avenger. For the rest of the order, I’m going to be following this one (see below). It’s not perfect and I think everyone can agree that everything between Civil War and Infinity War is kind of negotiable. However, we need an order so this is it.
Start on the lefthand side and go right, then next row on the left, etc.
Once I’ve watched each film, I’ll post a review here about it. However, this won’t just be a review about whether or not it’s a good film. For a while now I’ve become a firm believer in the power of stories to educate us; I think comic books and superhero films are some of the best examples of this. To that end, I’ll be sharing what I think are the key lessons in these films, predictably from a Christian worldview.
I really hope that you can join me in this challenge. I will be watching Captain America over this weekend; if you would like to join me then please feel free. I’ll be sharing the precise time via the FC Newsletter later today so make sure you are signed up to get that first. And don’t forget to share if you’re joining in on social media with #TheMarvelLockdown and tag us @FindingChaya. These things are always more fun when you do it together.
SIGN UP TO THE FINDING CHAYA NEWSLETTER
P.S. Confused as to why I think this is as much an important exercise as it is an entertaining one. I’ll leave you with this quote from the man who reinvented the superhero… the one and only Stan Lee!
“I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: Entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it, they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you’re able to entertain people, you’re doing a good thing.”
Stan Lee