Avengers: Doomsday opens December 18, 2026 in the US (December 16 in the UK and France). Rather than rewatching everything, we started from the cast published on TMDB, as of September 26, 2026: for each announced character, the movie or show where we last saw them. Marvel has not officially confirmed everything, and the list may still change before December.
Avengers: Doomsday in theaters
December 18, 2026
The bare minimum: 6 movies, 13 hrs 14
- Avengers: Endgame (2019, 3 hrs 01) — the Avengers' last reunion and Steve Rogers' farewell, with Chris Evans back.
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023, 2 hrs 04) — Scott and Cassie Lang, and the multiverse.
- Deadpool & Wolverine (2024, 2 hrs 08) — Gambit's return (Channing Tatum) and the bridge to the Fox-era mutants.
- Captain America: Brave New World (2025, 1 hr 59) — Sam Wilson as Captain America, with Joaquin Torres.
- Thunderbolts* (2025, 2 hrs 07) — Yelena, Bucky, Alexei, John Walker, Ghost and Robert Reynolds: six cast members at once.
- The Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025, 1 hr 55) — Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben. Victor von Doom, the film's villain (Robert Downey Jr.), is the Fantastic Four's historic enemy.
To recognize everyone: 8 more titles
- Loki (series, seasons 1 and 2, 12 episodes) — the multiverse explained, and Loki (Tom Hiddleston).
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022, 2 hrs 41) — Shuri, M'Baku, Namor, Namora and Attuma.
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021, 2 hrs 11) — Shang-Chi (Simu Liu).
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2022, 1 hr 58) — Thor's latest adventure, and Gorr's daughter.
- The Marvels (2023, 1 hr 45) — its post-credits scene brings in the Fox-era Beast (Kelsey Grammer), also in the cast.
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011, 2 hrs 04) — Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell).
- X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003) — Xavier, Magneto, Cyclops, Mystique and Nightcrawler, all announced with their original actors.
- X-Men: The Last Stand (2006, 1 hr 45) — Kelsey Grammer's Beast.
Altogether, the 14 movies run 29 hrs 38, plus Loki's 12 episodes. The bare minimum fits in seven two-hour evenings.
Why the Fox-era X-Men matter
Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming and Kelsey Grammer return to their 2000s X-Men roles. Those movies have their own checklist on WatchTrail, separate from the MCU: Deadpool & Wolverine sits in the MCU, the Fox X-Men stay in theirs.
What comes next?
Avengers: Secret Wars is set for December 2027. The whole MCU timeline, movies and shows, can be checked off on its list, in release or chronological order.