The COMPLETE MCU Recap ¦ CRAM IT (Avengers; Endgame Edition)

The endgame of this version of the MCU is upon us, which means we're cramming 11 years and 21 movies into one video. But instead of tackling the MCU movie by movie, because honestly, you don't need to hear Thor summarized. It's New Mexico, there's a robot, we've all seen it. Let's do this a little differently. Character by character. Who they are, where they came from, what happened to them in Infinity War, and whether or not they got snapped in the, you know, the snap. I am not calling it the decimation. Too late, Feige. It's the snap, and you're stuck with it. Let's start with the very first Avenger, Captain America, as very first seen in Captain America, the First Avenger. It's World War II and Steve Rogers, a scrawny but determined kid from Brooklyn, dreams of serving his country. Steve's all-around wholesomeness qualifies him to be given a super soldier serum to become Captain America, a science experiment slash mascot to aid the war effort. Cap is kept out of combat until he hears that his best friend, James Bucky Barnes, has been captured and decides to rescue him. Cap is assisted by industrialist Howard Stark, who helped develop the serum, and British agent Peggy Carter. Rogers finds and rescues Bucky. I thought you were dead. I thought you were smaller. And discovers technology powered by a very mysterious, extremely powerful object called the Tesseract. The tech is being developed by the villainous Red Skull, the head of HYDRA, a sinister group even more bent on world domination than the Nazis. Hail HYDRA. Hail HYDRA! That's pretty evil. On a mission to defeat HYDRA, Bucky appears to fall to his death from a speeding train. Steve is haunted by his failure to save his friend. I can't get drunk. Did you know that? Later, Steve commandeers a plane loaded with weapons on its way to the US. He defeats the Red Skull, who disappears into a Tesseract-generated portal, but with no way to land the plane safely, Cap crashes it in the Arctic, breaking the date he promised Peggy. You're gonna need a rain check on that dance. All right. With Steve presumed dead, Peggy goes on to become one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D., a covert agency designed to protect the Earth from the worst scum of the... Oh wait, no, that's the Men in Black. However, after seven decades on ice, Cap is found and woken up by S.H.I.E.L.D. and its current director, Nick Fury. You've been asleep, Cap. The Tesseract has reemerged, and Cap agrees to help S.H.I.E.L.D. find it and defeat it. Hydra's secret weapon. This mission leads to the formation of a super team of heroes called the Avengers, which Captain America becomes the de facto leader of. Later, Steve goes to work for Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. full time. This is also when he meets and befriends former Air Force and pararescue airman Sam Wilson, who will later strap on wings to become the Falcon. Also around this time, he records a series of PSAs and fitness challenge videos, which will be shown to high school kids for years to come. So, you got detention. Plus, Cap finally builds up the courage to visit his old flame, Peggy Carter, now a very old woman who's suffering from dementia. This has been so long. It turns out that Hydra has had agents embedded in S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades, and Cap faces off against Hydra's top assassin, the Winter Soldier, who's actually, you'll never guess. Okay, it's Bucky, who was recovered in the 40s and brainwashed by Hydra to become an amnesia-ridden cryogenic hitman. Cap and Bucky have a brutal fight, but Steve is able to reawaken his best friend's humanity. Your name is James Buchanan Barnes. Shut up! Bucky disappears, and sadly, Peggy Carter dies in her sleep, and Steve is a pallbearer at her funeral. Rest in peace, Agent Carter, and also TV's Agent Carter. Soon after, the government tries to force all superheroes to register as government agents. Steve disagrees. We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own. This sets him at odds with many of the other Avengers. Following a terrorist attack in Vienna, which is orchestrated by Avenger hater Helmut Zemo, but blamed on the Winter Soldier, the Avengers square off and have a big ol' fight. Now, what is the name for that thing where people from the same team fight one another? I don't know. Things go from bad to worse when it's revealed that a brainwashed Bucky killed Howard Stark, something that really doesn't sit well with fellow Avenger and Howard's son, Tony Stark. Cap and Tony have a huge fight, resulting in Cap literally throwing down his shield. Bucky heads to the high-tech African nation of Wakanda, where they have the medical technology to undo his mental programming, and Cap goes into hiding with the other heroes who stood against the government with him, waiting for the next challenge. Let's go from the first Avenger to the latest one, Captain Marvel. And no, not all the Avengers are captains, just these two. Back in the 90s, Carol Danvers was a skilled fighter pilot for the U.S. Air Force. Unwittingly working with an alien Kree named Mar-Vell, Carol is injured when a Tesseract-fueled experimental engine explodes, infusing her with superpowers but also wiping her memory. Carol is recovered by the Kree and trained as a member of Star Force, basically Kree Special Forces. Eventually, she winds up back on Earth to fight a shape-shifting species called the Skrulls, alongside a young CIA operative turned SHIELD agent named Nick Fury. You're not from around here. It's hard to explain. Eventually, Carol, Fury, and Goose the Flerken, who is not a cat, find the Tesseract and Carol learns that the Kree, who she thought were her friends, have actually been manipulating her. And the Skrulls, who she thought were her enemies, are actually innocent beings looking for a home. Captain Marvel goes super-cyan on some Kree, then decides to venture out into space and save more Skrulls, but leaves Fury with a beeper that he can use to call her whenever he really, really, super-duper, seriously needs help. I wonder if that will ever come back into play. Working with Captain Marvel gave Nick Fury his first brush with aliens, including Goose the Flerken, who again only looks like a cat, but is responsible for his infamous eye injury. This encounter with intelligent alien life and a glimpse at the awesome powers out there in the Marvel cosmos give Fury the inspiration to start the Avengers Initiative. She's just the beginning. Gathering together people with extraordinary abilities who could respond if the Earth was ever in jeopardy from supernatural or intergalactic threats. Then for a long time, nothing huge happens that we know of. Fury rises to the level of S.H.I.E.L.D. director and vastly expands the agency's scope. Over a decade later, S.H.I.E.L.D. co-founder Howard Stark's son Tony reveals to the world that he's a superhero named Iron Man. I am Iron Man. And Fury recruits him to join the Avengers. I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative. And don't forget, Fury also helps to reawaken Captain America. You've been asleep, Cap. It turns out that the timing is impeccable because rogue Asgardian Loki uses the Tesseract, that thing again, to open a portal to deep space, allowing aliens known as the Chitauri to attack New York en masse. Fortunately, Fury's newly formed Avengers are able to close the wormhole and end the threat. Following the Battle of New York, Fury starts work on Project Insight in collaboration with World Security Council member Alexander Pierce. I'm gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen. Unfortunately, turns out that Pierce is secretly a member of HYDRA. I hate when that happens. After a death fake-out, Fury helps to foil Pierce's plans and take down S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, then goes covertly to Europe to find and expose more HYDRA cells. Since then, Fury's been around, but more in the background than the guy pulling the strings. I'm not the director of anybody. Just an old man. It's also important to point out two very important S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who have worked under Fury, Agent Maria Hill and Agent Phil Coulson. Hill is known for being Fury's right-hand woman, and Coulson is known for helping to assemble the Avengers, the team, dying in the Avengers, the movie, and being resurrected on television's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which features no Avengers. Enough of these boring heroes. Let's talk about the guy who put this whole Avengers storyline in motion, Thanos. Thanos is an extremely powerful, purple, muscular, bald, thick... Wait, what was I saying? Oh, yes. Thanos is an extremely powerful alien from the ruined planet of Titan. Watching his planet crumble, he became convinced that the only way to save the universe was to kill half of all living creatures to protect the finite number of resources available. At first, Thanos pursued this little experiment by conquering worlds himself, killing half of the population at random. But eventually he realized he'd never be able to kill enough people manually, so he decided to round up six immensely powerful gems called Infinity Stones, elemental objects that control things like space, time, and reality. Thanos' plan involves putting them all into a lovely little gauntlet so he can wield their combined power and make his wildest mass-murder dreams come true with a literal snap of his fingers. At first, Thanos tasked subordinates with rounding up the stones, but they proved either incompetent or untrustworthy, so he decided to take care of it himself. We'll catch up with Thanos when we recap Infinity War, but first, more heroes. Let's move on to Nick Fury's first on-screen Avenger recruit, Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. When we first meet Tony, he's running the weapons and technology company that his father, Howard Stark, founded, Stark Industries. Tony's assisted by an AI system of his own design named Jarvis. How refreshing it is to finally see you His bodyguard, Happy Hogan, and his faithful assistant, Pepper Potts. I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including occasionally taking out the trash. Stark's liaison with the government is U.S. Air Force officer James Rody Rhodes. While in Afghanistan to demonstrate his latest weapon to top military brass, Stark's convoy gets attacked, embedding shrapnel in his chest. While in captivity, Tony and a scientist named Ho Yinsen build a device called an arc reactor to keep the shrapnel from reaching Tony's heart. Bonus, the reactor can also power a super suit that allows him to become Iron Man. After escaping, Tony vows to stop selling weapons, focusing instead on refining arc reactor technology and his multiple suits. But because he's a compulsive egotist, he also takes a public victory lap. I am Iron Man. This public display puts him on Nick Fury's radar to become an Avenger. I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative. In the ensuing years, Iron Man continues doing hero work, keeping him so busy that Tony names Pepper his replacement as CEO of Stark Industries. Yeah, done deal. Rody also gets a suit with even more weaponry and is dubbed War Machine. Oh yeah, and Don Cheadle takes over the part of Rody in Iron Man 2. Somebody else had it yesterday. After some serious PTSD following a near-death experience during the Battle of New York, Tony acknowledges his love for Pepper and has surgery to finally remove the shrapnel pieces from his heart. During a mission to destroy a hidden Hydra base, Tony sees a chilling vision of the Avengers' possible future during an early encounter with a mutant, I mean a miracle, named Wanda Maximoff. Terrified by what he's seen and the threats that continue to face the Avengers, Tony creates artificially intelligent software which he calls Ultron, designed to protect the planet. What if the world was safe? Sadly, Ultron goes full James Spader and decides to wipe out humanity instead. Ultron plans to upload himself into an indestructible synthetic body powered by an Infinity Stone, but instead Tony puts Jarvis in there creating an entirely new being, Vision. Altogether, the Avengers defeat Ultron at the Battle of Sokovia, but at great cost. The violence and chaos make the public scared of the Avengers and superheroes in general, prompting the United Nations to issue the Sokovia Accords. This new law would put the Avengers under the control of the United Nations. Tony agrees to sign. We need to be put in check. But as we mentioned before, Captain America doesn't. That disagreement coupled with the revelation that Cap's friend Bucky killed Tony's parents creates a rift in the Avengers that still hasn't been fully resolved. After the big superhero throwdown, Cap gets away while Tony assumes control of Earth's mightiest heroes. Are you Tony's stank? An Avenger who made her first appearance in Iron Man 2 is Natasha Romanoff, better known as Black Widow. Natasha was recruited at a young age by the KGB and underwent extreme training to become one of the world's greatest spies and assassins. Eventually recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D., we first meet her undercover at Stark Industries as a young executive named Natalie Rushman, there to gauge whether or not S.H.I.E.L.D. should recruit Iron Man to join the Avengers. Once the Avengers have actually assembled, Nat teams up on several missions with Captain America. You know, if you ask Kristen out from statistics, she'd probably say yes. When HYDRA successfully takes over S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Widow uploads all of S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA's classified files to the internet, revealing their crimes to the world. This also reveals all of her personal secrets, requiring her to go undercover and create a new identity. I blew all my covers. I gotta go figure out a new one. After a little will-they-won't-they with fellow Avenger Bruce Banner. Missed my window. Did we? Nat returns to the team with Captain America to lead the new Avengers, where she ultimately sides against Tony in the Avengers Civil War. Boy, it must be hard to shave a double agent thing. And then goes underground. Natasha's on-again, off-again squeeze, Bruce Banner is a man of many faces. Back when he was still Edward Norton, Bruce was accidentally exposed to a massive amount of gamma radiation, causing him to transform into the Green Hulk when he gets angry. Ed Norton's subsequent search for a cure to Hulkism leads him into a clash with the abominable Emil Blonsky on the streets of Harlem, but let's skip ahead. Black Widow tracks down Bruce a year later, now that he's Mark Ruffalo, working as a doctor in India. She convinces him to come back to the U.S. and help track down the Tesseract. Once back home, Banner bonds with Tony over their shared love of science. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled, and I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster. And helps him save New York from the Chitauri while revealing his Hulk-controlling secret. I'm always angry. He also takes part in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s assault against HYDRA bases, helps Tony design the Ultron program, and then helps the Avengers defeat Ultron once it turns out that this was all a really bad idea. Around this time is when Bruce gets a lot closer with Natasha Romanoff. Hey, big guy. Sun's getting real low. But they don't ever actually get together. He got totally Hulk-blocked. Sorry. Don't turn green. I won't. Banner grows despondent about his monstrous alter ego, and following the Battle of Sokovia, decides not to return to his friends. Taking advantage of some time alone in the Avengers Quinjet, Hulk takes off. Literally. He leaves Earth behind. Eventually flying into a wormhole and landing on the remote planet of Sakaar. There Hulk becomes a famous gladiator fighting for the pleasure of a mysterious Jeff Goldblum-y being known as Grandmaster. He remains in his Hulk form this entire time, and it almost seems like his Bruce Banner side is going to disappear completely. No Banner, only Hulk. That is until his old pal and fellow Avenger Thor pulls Banner out by playing a recording of Natasha for him. That's so sweet. And they make their escape from Sakaar. A re-Hulked Bruce winds up alongside Thor and a number of Asgardian refugees on a big spaceship, and everything seems like it's gonna work out okay. Until another massive ship shows up captained by a mysterious B... It's Thanos. Let's learn more about Hulk's new BFF. Thor Odinson is the God of Thunder and Odinson. Son. Hailing from the realm of Asgard. Thor starts out as kind of an asshat. You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy. And you are an old man and a fool. But after being banished to Earth by his father and stripped of his powers, he eventually proves himself, gets them back, and joins the Avengers. Thor and his brother Loki have a falling out which results in Loki literally falling out of Asgard and landing on Earth where he wields the power of the Tesseract to attack Earth on Thanos' orders. It doesn't end well for him. After New York, Thor defeats a dark elf named Malekith and joins the fight against Ultron. Thor also begins to have visions involving both the Infinity Stones and the eventual destruction of Asgard. Following the Battle of Sokovia, he leaves the Avengers and Earth to scour the galaxy for the remaining Infinity Stones. You think you could find out what's coming? I do. He doesn't find any. Didn't find any. Following Odin's death, Thor's long-lost sister Hela shows up and smashes his super-powered hammer Mjolnir. I mean, let us get ready. We weren't ready. Defeated, Thor is captured by badass warrior Valkyrie on the planet Sakaar, delivered to the Grandmaster, and set up as a gladiator. And that's where he runs into his old friend the Hulk. Yes! We know each other. He's a friend from work. And decides to bust out of there. Joining him are a rock monster named Korg. Made of rocks, as you can see, but don't let that intimidate you. An insect named Meek, the internet's Tessa Thompson. Dranks. And Loki, who's swinging more toward the love in his love-hate brotherly relationship with Thor. They all escape Sakaar and return to Asgard, which they promptly allow Surtur the fire demon to destroy in order to defeat Hela. Thor, his crew, and the surviving Asgardians leave aboard a spaceship, which is soon confronted by a mysterious... Yeah, it's Thanos. The first Thor movie also introduced perhaps the most grounded Avenger, Hawkeye. Hawkeye begins as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents who's also, like, really good at shooting arrows. We're fighting an army of robots. And I have a bow and arrow. Hawkeye, real name Clint Barton, is also responsible for recruiting Black Widow and bringing her to the good side, resulting in a close, non-romantic bond between them. During the Avengers' fight against Ultron, in need of a place to regroup and recover, the team visits Clint's farm, where he reveals to his friends for the first time that he has a wife and kids. These are smaller agents. After Ultron is defeated, Clint retires from avenging. But during the Sokovia Accords controversy, he joins Cap's side. Cap needs our help. Come on. Clint is also a part of the group that gets arrested and sent to super prison after the big throwdown at an airport in Germany. But Captain America breaks him out, at which point Hawkeye and fellow Avenger Ant-Man take government deals, allowing them to serve out the remainder of their sentences under house arrest. Now, we don't know for sure what happens after that, but based on Clint's haunted expression in the Endgame trailers, it seems like a safe bet that some of that family got snapped. The Maximoff twins keep popping up, so let's put a bow on those two. Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, and Pietro Maximoff, Quicksilver, grew up in the Eastern European country of Sokovia. Following an attack on their home, perpetrated using Stark weaponry, the two were orphaned. Looking for revenge, they agreed to undergo HYDRA experiments. This is the age of miracles, Doctor. Wanda received a combination of powers, the ability to read people's minds and put them in trances, the ability to move objects with her mind, and the power to generate and manipulate energy beams. Pietro became fast. That's it. You didn't see that coming? Following the Avengers' raid of the facility where they were created, Wanda and Pietro are recruited by Ultron. You will tear them apart from the inside. After a while, it's pretty clear that this Ultron guy is nuts. How could you? So the Maximoffs switch sides and join Team Avengers. The twins are very opposed to the creation of an Ultron-killing sentient android called Vision. You were saying? But they're overruled once Thor memorably brings the Avenger to life with a lightning bolt and gives him a name. I've had a vision. Setting disagreements aside, they all team up to save the world from Ultron's bots. But Pietro dies heroically in the battle because Joss Whedon wrote that movie, and it's the law that someone must die heroically in a Joss Whedon project. About one year after the showdown with Ultron, Scarlet Witch is in Lagos and, along with Captain America, accidentally contributes to an explosion that costs a number of innocent lives. This incident, along with the massive battle against Ultron, leads to the creation of the Sokovia Accords, the mandate requiring superheroes to register as government agents. Wanda plays ball and stays at Avengers HQ under the watchful eye of Vision. They bond over some poorly made paprikash. In my defense, I haven't actually ever eaten anything before. Ultimately, Hawkeye shows up, and the two of them ditch Vision and head for Germany. Wanda more than holds her own in the big airport showdown, but Vision is distracted by his concern for her. I'm sorry. Which contributes to him accidentally hitting War Machine mid-flight, causing him to fall and break his back, resulting in partial paralysis. Wanda is arrested but set free by Cap and goes into hiding, and she and Vision totally have a thing going on. Across the universe is another super team we need to talk about, the Guardians of the Galaxy. Let's quickly tackle these one at a time, shall we? Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord, because that's what his mommy used to call him, My little Star-Lord, was born on Earth and for a long time thought that he was a full-blooded, 100% natural human. But while Mom was an Earthling, his father, Ego, was an ancient and powerful being known as a Celestial. Space pirate Yondu was hired to reunite Peter with his dad, but he basically adopted Peter instead and raised him to also be a space pirate, or as they call it in space, a Ravager. Fellow Guardian Gamora also lost her parents when Thanos invaded her world and decimated the planet's population, but spared Gamora and adopted her as his daughter. I hate it, my life. Not as much as her adopted sister, Nebula, who was forced to fight Gamora growing up, constantly losing, and also forced to undergo brutal cybernetic enhancements. You were the one who wanted to win, and I just wanted a sister! Guardian Drax's home world met a similar fate to Gamora's. Troops led by the cruel Kree soldier, Ronan the Accuser, under the direction of Thanos, invaded his planet and killed half the population. You killed my wife. You killed my daughter! So he committed himself to a single-minded quest for revenge against both Ronan and Thanos, and that's basically all you need to know. I have famously huge turds. Oh, right, yes, he has famously huge turds. Moving on to Rocket, who is a genetically-enhanced raccoon-looking creature. Ain't no thing like me, except me. Rocket is a technological genius as well as an expert pilot, marksman, and military tactician. You're cybernetically engineered to be a douchebag. Years of painful experiments have also made him angry, distrusting, and generally misanthropic. Why'd it have to get me? He works as a mercenary alongside Groot, a living tree who only speaks the phrase, I am Groot. The Guardians originally come together in a long quest to get an Infinity Stone, the Power Stone. Beautiful. Which Yondu was hired to obtain. But the Guardians' bigger problem is that Ronan the Accuser is also looking for the Power Stone on behalf of Thanos, naturally. It certainly looks like Ronan has won until Quill manages to take hold of the Infinity Stone with his bare hands. He's surprised, but you shouldn't be because I already told you that he's half-celestial. Using the Power of the Stone, Quill kills Ronan and puts it back in its orb for safety. In the process, Groot sacrifices himself for the group in the big final battle. We are done. But they're able to plant a part of him and grow a new baby Groot. Peter Quill and Gamora also totally have a thing for each other that they are really afraid to admit. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is short on long-term mythology, but we do get lots of setup for a character named Adam Warlock via a race known as the Sovereign. That, my child, is the next step in our evolution. The way Marvel does things, don't be shocked if he pops up somewhere soon. I think I shall call him Adam. Otherwise, the Guardians meet the empath Mantis who's initially working for Peter's dad, Ego. If I touch someone, I can feel their feelings. Peter is reunited with his pops, which he's initially psyched about, but Ego turns out to be pretty much a psychopath. And when Peter learns that Ego is responsible for the death of his mother, he kills his dad right back. Also, Peter and Gamora confirm their feelings for each other. Oh, also, also, Nebula and Gamora work out their differences and Nebula leaves to go kill Thanos on her own. Oh, and Yondu dies. Ugh, he was Mary Poppins, y'all. I'm Mary Poppins, y'all! Let's knock out the few remaining Avengers, starting with Ant-Man. Scott Lang was an electrical engineer and family man who ended up going to jail, for noble reasons, but still, jail. That's where he befriended his cellmate, the ace storyteller, Louise, who was released from prison one year before Scott. After his release from prison, Scott is recruited by inventor Hank Pym and his daughter, Hope Van Dyne, to keep their technology from falling into the wrong hands. She doesn't think that we need you. We don't. Through the use of nonsense known as Pym Particles, Hank has created the Ant-Man suit, which can shrink someone down very, very small, or as we'll soon discover, grow someone up very, very big. Also, Hank and Hope have technology that allow them to control ants, because sure. Hank and his wife, Janet Van Dyne, used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D., doing superhero duty as the original Ant-Man and Wasp. On a mission, Janet shrunk to subatomic size and became lost in the mysterious Quantum Realm, where space and time lose all meaning. In the aftermath of her sacrifice, Hank quit being Ant-Man and left S.H.I.E.L.D. Eventually, Scott masters using the Ant-Man suit. He beats Hank's rival from work or whatever, and eventually, Hope joins him as the Wasp. Scott is recruited to join Captain America's team during Civil War. Ah, this is awesome. Which is where we first learn that he can grow super big, but at great physical cost. He's briefly imprisoned at the raft, but ultimately ends up getting sentenced to house arrest and probation. Hank and Hope are furious with him for stealing their suit for a team-up film, and not even a central role. It was a matter of national security that Cap needed help. Cap? But they get over it quickly because they need Scott's help getting Janet back from the Quantum Realm. Their plan works, and Janet returns home. One of the MCU's newest heroes is Black Panther, real name T'Challa, born in the African nation of Wakanda, which hides itself away from the rest of the world to protect the incredible technology developed from mining the Wonder Material Vibranium. T'Challa is the son of Wakandan King T'Chaka, and here's the thing about being King of Wakanda, you also get to be the superhero Black Panther. This means you ingest a heart-shaped herb, which gives you a variety of powers, including enhanced speed, healing, and strength, not to mention an indestructible Vibranium suit. T'Challa becomes the new Black Panther when his father is killed in a terrorist attack in Vienna, you know, the one that Helmut Zemo pulled off but blamed on the Winter Soldier. Now King of Wakanda, we meet T'Challa's confidants, including Okoye, the dedicated, extremely intimidating, and occasionally wig-throwing head of T'Challa's personal guard, the Dora Milaje. Plus there's Wakandan spy and T'Challa's sometime girlfriend, Nakia, and the leader of Wakanda's isolationist mountain tribe, the Jabari, M'Baku. The cue to T'Challa's James Bond is his sister, technical whiz kid and genius, Shuri. Black Panther goes on a few missions, including tracking down Vibranium thief, Ulysses Klaue, before being challenged for his throne by a cousin he didn't even know about, Eric Killmonger. Ultimately, T'Challa wins the throne and defeats his cousin before welcoming Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, to Wakanda for reprogramming. Okay, Marvel largely skipped this Spider-Man's origin, so we will too. Meet Peter Parker, an ordinary kid from Queens who, if fan theories are to be believed, once visited the Stark Expo in an Iron Man helmet. Later, as a teenager, he gets bitten by a radioactive spider and acquires superhuman powers. Peter decides to use his powers for good and goes viral on YouTube as New York's latest superhero. This piques the curiosity of Tony Stark, who tracks Peter down, makes him a fancy new Stark industry suit, and recruits him to come to Germany and fight Captain America. Peter does well and goes back to high school, where his crush's dad turns out to be the supervillain Vulture. Whoops! Tony exchanges fatherly advice with Peter. If you're nothing without this suit, then you shouldn't have it. Who eventually discovers that the real super suit was inside himself all along. After Peter takes down Vulture, Tony invites Peter to join the Avengers full-time, but he turns it down because he knows he needs more time to be a kid. Tony pretends like it was a test. It was not a test. And now to the Avenger who spoiled the title for this Avengers movie last year. No, not Mark Ruffalo. We're in the Endgame now. When we first meet Dr. Stephen Strange, he's a selfish, arrogant surgeon who's involved in a horrific car accident that renders him unable to work with his hands. His search for a cure leads him to a fictional Asian but also Tilda Swinton is there place called Kamar-Taj. Rather than worry about his hands, the ancient one instead trains Dr. Strange in the mystic arts. The doc also learns some humility and compassion, which is very helpful because he is supposed to be a good guy. It's not about you. Strange becomes the protector of the Eye of Agamotto, a relic that houses the Time Stone. It gives him the ability to manipulate time and aids him in defeating the apocalyptic being Dormammu who resides in the Dark Dimension and tries to take over Earth. Along with his fellow sorcerers, including his most trusted colleague Wong, Strange is also tasked with protecting New York's Sanctum, one of three bases for Earth's Masters of the Mystic Arts. Oh, and he has a cloak that's almost definitely a sentient being. Wow, you are seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you? So last year, all of these major characters collided in the last, last Avengers movie, Infinity War. How did we get where we are? Let's recap, shall we? Out in space, Thor's ship of refugees has been decimated, but the God of Thunder manages to survive Thanos' onslaught. Loki isn't so lucky and has his neck snapped by the Mad Titan. I mean, we think, that guy has a strange ability to keep dying and coming back, but this seems pretty bad. Thanos kicks Hulk's ass, but before he can deliver a killing blow, the powerful Asgardian Heimdall uses the last bit of his power before dying to blast Hulk through space to Earth. Thor is thrown out into deep space and left for dead, but he's rescued by the Guardians of the Galaxy. Star-Lord doesn't like him very much. You will not be taking our pod today, sir. But Rocket and Groot take to him right away. At this point, the team splits up. Thor goes with Rocket and a now teenage Groot to Nidavellir, the Dying Star Axe Factory, which is also my favorite David Bowie album. And oh boy, does family-sized Tyrion Lannister deliver, making him a new power axe named Stormbreaker, but only after Thor takes the full force of a star. Meanwhile, Quill, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis try to stop Thanos from getting the Reality Stone, but he's already snagged it. Thanos gets away with Gamora, straight up humiliating the Guardians. Together, Thanos and Gamora go to the planet Vormir to retrieve another Infinity Stone, the Soul Stone, which requires Thanos to sacrifice something he truly loves, which ends up being his daughter Gamora. So Gamora's dead, but on the upside, we finally found out where the Red Skull's been hanging out all these years. Back on Earth, Bruce crash lands in New York and warns Tony and Doctor Strange about the coming of Thanos. Thanos is coming, it doesn't matter who you're talking to or not. But, you know, way too late for them to actually do anything to prepare. Bruce tries to help out during the Space Wizard fight in New York, but for whatever reason, the Hulk refuses to come out and smash. No! This remains a significant issue for Bruce throughout the entirety of Infinity War. Screw you, you big green ass! Tony exchanges quips with Thanos's henchman, Ebony Maw. Get lost, Squidward. Who still manages to kidnap Doctor Strange and his precious Time Stone. Tony and Spider-Man stow away into space, take out Ebony Maw, and commandeer the ship for themselves. The plan is to fly to Planet Titan, the home of Thanos, and take the fight to him. Thanos has been inside my head for six years since he sent an army to New York, and now he's back. After getting a heads up from Bruce Banner, Cap, Black Widow, and Falcon find Vision and Wanda, who are having a secret lover's getaway in Scotland. Thanos sends some goons to snatch the Infinity Stone out of Vision's head, but our heroes fight them off and escape. From there, they all head to Avengers HQ in upstate New York. Bruce and Natasha have a super awkward reunion. Yeah, I'm back. Hi, Bruce. This is awkward. And then it's on to Wakanda, where Steve and Bucky are reunited, and it feels so good. The plan is to use super genius Shuri and Wakanda's technology to remove the Infinity Stone from Vision's head without killing him, then have Wanda use her powers to destroy the stone and thwart Thanos. Sadly, Tony Stark's words from the first Avengers movie come back to haunt them. Not a great plan. Thanos' army arrives before Shuri can complete the procedure. Over on Titan, Tony, Spidey, and Doctor Strange are joined by Star-Lord Drax and Mantis. Are you yawning? While waiting for Thanos, Strange uses the Time Stone to view in advance all of the possible outcomes of the showdown, seeing 14,605,000 potential timelines. Spoiler alert, he concludes that there is only one timeline that ends with Thanos' defeat. When the big purple fella does arrive, they all gang up on him and nearly get the Infinity Gauntlet. But in the midst of the skirmish, Star-Lord figures out what happened to Gamora. He angrily lashes out in a crucial moment, breaking Mantis' mental link with the not very jolly purple giant, and pretty much loses the battle for the team. Not pretty much, entirely. Curse you, Pratt, you adorable lunkhead. Once the good guys have lost, Doctor Strange makes a key decision. He trades Thanos the Time Stone for Tony Stark's life. Thanos expresses a begrudging respect for Tony. I hope they remember you. Then heads to Earth to finish Operation Snap My Fingers and get the last Infinity Stone. That's bad news for the Avengers, who already have their hands full with Thanos' army of Venoms. Until Thor, Groot, and Rocket teleport in and start to turn the tide. Bring me Thanos! But Thanos himself turns up to get the stone he needs, which is planted deep in Vision's noggin. Cap puts up a good fight, and Scarlet Witch does use her powers to destroy the Mind Stone and Vision before Thanos can claim it. But Thanos uses the Time Stone to undo all her hard work and completes his quest. Thor takes one last shot at Thanos, but regrettably, he aims a bit too low. You should have gone for the head. And the big guy is able to get a good snap off, killing half of all living creatures in the universe. Bummer. I don't feel so good. In Wakanda, we see Bucky, Scarlet Witch, Groot, Black Panther, and Falcon disintegrate. On Titan, Guardians Quill, Mantis, and Drax all vanish, and Tony holds a frightened Peter Parker as the boy disintegrates. Right before he also dusts, Doctor Strange tells Tony that this was the only way, indicating that maybe this is what happened on that 1 in 14 million timeline where they win? Hopefully? On the West Coast, Scott Lang has chosen a very inconvenient time to return to the Quantum Realm to retrieve more quantum things. Hank, Janet, and Hope all get dusted, leaving Scott trapped in an insidious cliffhanger that hopefully Endgame will resolve. I mean, it has to, right? I've seen the trailers. And elsewhere, both Nick Fury and Maria Hill are on the dusting block, but Fury uses his special beeper to call in help from Captain Marvel mere moments before turning to ash. On Titan, only Tony and Thanos' cybernetically-enhanced adopted daughter, Nebula, remain. In Wakanda, Bruce Banner, Captain America, War Machine, Black Widow, M'Baku, Okoye, Thor, and Rocket are left stunned. And on the Thanos Ranch, the big guy retires to grow his space crops and smile wistfully into the distance. But there's one character who we haven't mentioned who may hold the key to all of this, and that character is Stan Lee. Though it initially appeared that legendary Marvel Comics writer and editor Stan Lee was just having a great time making cameos in all the MCU movies, Guardians 2 confirmed that he is actually a cosmic being known as the Watcher Informant. He lives out various lives throughout space and time and then relates his adventures to an ancient godlike alien race known as the Watchers who monitor and watch over the universe. And it's been confirmed that Stan Lee slash the Watcher Informant will return to make one last observation in Endgame. Ah, guys, oh, gee. And there's one other character that I'm sure we need that last revelation to finally settle the debate on, Ivan Vanko's bird. We all know that Ivan Vanko, also known as the villain Whiplash, blew himself up at the end of Iron Man 2, but his bird didn't, and I'm not talking about his old bird. I mean his new bird, the one that Justin Hammer got him, not the one back in Russia. That one's still in the possession of Hammer Industries, but who's been caring for that new bird? And more importantly, did it survive the snap? We need these answers, and we need you to keep watching these videos so we can keep making them. That's our recap of Avengers leading into Endgame. We'll see you next time.