With “Avengers: Infinity War” coming out this month, there is little time left to get caught up. It seems that there has been a new hit Marvel movie each year, with “Black Panther” breaking the box officeearlier this year.

While it may seem trivial, the importance of watching these films in order according to their release dates rather than by lead character (i.e., watching all the “Thor” movies in order without watching the intervening “Dr. Strange” or “Avengers” movies), can make the difference between enjoying the movie and just being confused the whole time. This was a common mistake made in 2016. People tried to watch “Captain America: Civil War” without watching “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and ended up wondering who all the characters were, from Ultron himself, to Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, to Thanos, who is unsurprisingly the next villain in the “Avengers” series.

1.”Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011)
Although this movie wasn’t the first to be released, it was the first to start the “Avengers” journey. If you want a more in-depth look at what happens while Steve Rogers is “out of commission,” you can see his now ex-girlfriend, Peggy Carter, help start S.H.I.E.L.D. in the TV show “Agent Carter.”
2. “Iron Man” (2008)
3. “The Incredible Hulk” (2008)
Mark Ruffalo is now well known as the Hulk but it was not always like that. The star of the original “Hulk” movie was Edward Norton, who was also the star of “Fight Club.”  Norton struggled to cooperate with Marvel, however, so Marvel decided to replace him. This installment is considered by many to be the worst of the Marvel movies.
4. “Iron Man 2” (2010)
5. “Thor” (2011)
Thor sets up a big part of the Marvel Universe for the first time. It introduces Thor’s brother, Loki, who is the villain for the first “Avengers” movie, and it also opens the movies up to the existence to aliens for the first time. Now, it seems impossible that there was ever a time in Marvel film and TV when there were no aliens. The main point of this movie was to set up the foundation of “The Avengers,” which it did well, though it’s not considered a great Marvel movie.
6. “The Avengers” (2012)
This is where the Avengers series started. In 2012, everyone and their mother couldn’t wait for the release of what was about to become one of the most epic crossovers. Making just over 1.5 billion in the box office, “The Avengers” started a chain of potential movies that were almost guaranteed to happen. Everyone wanted their favorite avenger to get their own movie, and why wasn’t Spider-man there? Infinity war almost has the same amount of hype the first “Avengers” movie got, which is saying a lot. In five years, after minor characters like Black Widow and Hawkeye get a movie, I bet we can expect another highly anticipated “Avengers” movie. Another character that got his start from this movie is Phil Coulson, who is a big part of S.H.I.E.L.D outside of the films. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, a Marvel TV show on Netflix follows Coulson after his “death” in “The Avengers,” and reveals what happens after aliens invade New York City. Now that the world knows that aliens exist, Coulson and the rest of his team try to keep the citizens of the world at bay, and stop the constant threat of of another alien attack
7. “Iron Man 3” (2013)
8. “Thor: The Dark World” (2013)
9. “Captain America: Winter Soldier” (2014)
10. “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014)
Chris Pratt, just about to finish role on the wildly famous t.v. show “Parks & Recreation,” was cast as Marvel hero Star-Lord, which was a shock to many. While he had the sense of humor Peter Quill needed, his character Andy Dwyer certainly didn’t have a superhero physique. Pratt showed the world that he was very capable of being a hard-core hero.
11. “Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2” (2017)
12. “Avengers Age of Ultron” (2015)
In “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” we get to see the Avengers act like a team. With the well-choreographed fight scenes and the newly developed banter they seem to have with one another, the film did a great job of making it seem like they had been doing the whole teamwork thing for a while. Of course, this newfound teamwork was short lived and ended when Tony Stark decided to to jump start a dormant peacekeeping program known as Ultron. New characters include Wanda and Pietro Maximoff and even Klaue, who is one of the villains in “Black Panther.”
13. “Ant-Man” (2015)
14. “Doctor Strange” (2016)
15. “Captain America: Civil War” (2016)
Possibly one of the most important movies to watch before “Infinity War” is “Captain America: Civil War.” This was a very political movie in the Marvel universe. Pressure is put on the Avengers when the government claims that too much destruction is happening on their part. Team Iron Man (Iron Man, Black Panther, Vision, Black Widow, War Machine, and Spider-Man) are on the side of the government while team Captain America (Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Ant Man) say saving the world is worth defying the government. This movie also fulfilled the dream of Spider-Man fans, adding him to the Avengers, and also guaranteeing a new Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland.
16. “Black Panther” (2018)
Set directly after his father dies in “Captain America: Civil War,” T’challa makes his way back home to Wakanda to assume his position as king. While Black Panther hasn’t been very active in any of the previous movies, he will be in “Infinity War.”
17. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” 2017
Considered the most realistic to the comics, this film kicks off a new Spider-Man series, changing things the other two attempts didn’t get quite right. (No offense to Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield). This movie decides not to go through the overplayed origin story that we all know, and even decides to skip the “Civil War” cameo that Spider-Man has. Overall, this story provides some much needed comedy after “Civil War.”
18. “Thor: Ragnarok” 2017
Wondering where the Hulk has been for the last few movies? Well, here he is on the other side of the galaxy. One of the funniest movies of the year, “Thor: Ragnarok” was the perfect movie to connect to the new Avengers movie. Thor, Loki, Hulk and new character Hela, played by Cate Blanchett, make for a suspenseful yet hilarious movie, the end of which seemed to connect directly to “Avengers: Infinity War.”