In 2008, Marvel's Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk, came out. Movies have not been the same since, arguable for the better. In the early 2000s we were treated by the first two X-Men and Spider-Man films, and unfortunately due to some unfortunate rewrites- the third installment was released for both, but something was missing- these are two of Marvels most popular properties- think back to the 90's and try to remember the Animated Series for X-Men, and Spider-Man. Sometimes random heroes would show up in the show, The Spider-Man Series however, had guests such as the The Punisher, and the X-Men even crossed over! The animated series for me was a huge part of Saturday Mornings, so I have a huge fondness for Marvel- their comics, and TV and Films. What they did with these cross overs was set the groundwork for the current Marvel Universe, and this is the kind of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that I want to see some day. The good news is that, each phase brings us closer to this amazing continuity and cross over. Due to copyright issues and licensing Marvels Heroes and properties were divided among 5 different studios. Although, with Captain America Civil War, Spider-Man was introduced into the MCU! (YES!)

(source: http://www.thegeektwins.com/2014/02/visual-guide-t...)

These films, are great because they are all double edged swords. The first is that any of these can be seen as stand alone films for someone who doesn't really care about established continuity, or for a die hard Marvel geek. This scratches the surface of the established continuity in Marvels' Cinematic Universe. What makes this continuity so amazing is that each post credits scene if watched from beginning to end, hints at the next movie, and makes these the most binge-worthy films, and these post credits scenes have been a part integral to the set-up of future films and teases new villains, to settings. To summarize, each film shows the origins of the titular Avenger, from Thor, to the Hulk, to Iron Man, we don't get a Hawkeye, Nick Fury, or a Black Widow stand alone film yet though unfortunately. After the events of the Avengers, it changed everything in the MCU- after Phase one it led directly into Agents of Shield, and the show is running parallel to the MCU, but it gets deeper than that. Which I will explain over various articles because there is just so much to write about. So really my big idea here is that, each and every single Marvel movie works wonderfully as a stand alone film, but I personally think that each film is a piece of a super-film that is divided by phases courtesy of Marvel. If you watch all the movies in order, you get a wonderful treat, name drops, cameos and post credit scenes. These films are simply a treat. If you haven't bought into the hype, it's never to late to watch the movies in pairs. I always recommend watching the the Netflix originals after you've seen phase one. My favorite Marvel movies in order: 1) The Avengers, 2) Guardians of the Galaxy, 3) Ant-Man, 4) The Incredible Hulk, and last but not least, 5) Captain America: Civil War. It was really tragic to have to cut out so many movies. Largely, I can say there hasn't been a single one of the Marvel Films I didn't like. I liked all of them, and I would consider all of them worth watching from beginning to finish.