Avengers: Doomsday lands in theaters December 18, and if you have not been keeping up with the MCU, the catch up list looks like homework. A viral infographic by Pubity put the total at nearly 300 hours, and that is before you add the Disney+ shows.
Here is the essential must watch list for Avengers: Doomsday, broken into tiers: the full essentials, the absolute fast track, and what you can safely skip.
The 300 hour math
Pubity’s poster set the internet arguing with one headline: “You’d need nearly 300 hours to catch up before Avengers: Doomsday.”
Include the Disney+ series and the legacy Marvel projects tied to the multiverse, and the number climbs toward 350 hours. That is two straight weeks of nothing but Marvel.
The good news: you do not actually need all of it. Trackers like marvelwatchlist.com rank every title by importance, and the true essentials come to 41 titles, about 199 hours of viewing.
The complete essential list (41 titles)
These are the titles that directly pay off in Doomsday, according to the community watchlist trackers. Watch these and you walk into the theater knowing who everyone is and why they are fighting.
The legacy foundations: Captain America: The First Avenger, X-Men: First Class, X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Logan.
Yes, the Fox X-Men movies are on the list. The X-Men are coming to Doomsday, and their backstory lives in these films, especially Logan and Days of Future Past.
The Infinity Saga core: Thor, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnarok, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
The Multiverse Saga essentials: WandaVision, Loki (both seasons), What If…? (seasons 1 and 3), Shang-Chi, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Ms. Marvel, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ironheart, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, Deadpool & Wolverine, Daredevil: Born Again, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
That is 41 titles across movies, series, and specials. It is a lot, but it is the actual prep list, not the inflated 300 hour nightmare.
The absolute fast track (9 titles)
Do you only have a weekend? Rotten Tomatoes’ essential guide narrows it to nine movies that set up Doomsday directly.
The list: The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), Thunderbolts* (2025), and The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025).
RT explicitly excludes non-Marvel Studios films, so the X-Men movies are not here. But the Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts, and the current Spider-Man status quo all are.
If you watch these nine, you will follow the main plot of Doomsday without confusion. The rest is depth.
What you can skip
Not everything in the 300 hour count is load bearing. Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Love and Thunder is debated, Ant-Man 2, Ant-Man 3, Black Widow, Eternals, and The Marvels are all on various skip lists.
The most common consensus on the internet: every TV show is skippable for pure plot purposes, though Loki and WandaVision genuinely help with the multiverse setup.
Even the essentials list has trims. What If…? is fun but optional if you understand the multiverse concept.
Ironheart matters mainly if you expect Riri Williams to show up in Doomsday.
Where to watch in the Philippines
Most of the essentials stream on Disney+, which carries the MCU films, the Disney+ originals, and the Fox X-Men movies.
The Sony Spider-Man films including No Way Home have rotated across platforms, so check your streaming apps for availability. Physical copies and digital rentals are the reliable fallback.
Doomsday itself hits Philippine cinemas December 18, 2026, alongside the global release. If you start now, one or two movies a week gets you through the essentials before December.
The bottom line
The 300 hour figure is real if you insist on watching everything. But the essential must watch list for Avengers: Doomsday is closer to 41 titles, and the fast track is just nine.
Start with the nine fast track movies if you are short on time. Add Loki, WandaVision, and the X-Men essentials if you want the full picture. Either way, December 18 cannot come soon enough.
