Disney+ has published a 15-title watchlist designed to bring audiences up to speed before Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters this December. While the selection covers everything from the original X-Men movies to The Fantastic Four: First Steps, there is one particularly strange omission: 2023's The Marvels.
The list is made up of X-Men, X2, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Loki, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Captain America: Brave New World, Deadpool & Wolverine, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
For the most part, it makes sense. The list establishes the original Avengers, introduces the Multiverse, brings in the Fox X-Men, and catches viewers up with several characters expected to play major roles in Avengers: Doomsday (we'd have swapped out Captain America: Brave New World for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, but to each their own).
However, leaving out The Marvels is legitimately surprising given how important its post-credits scene seemed.
The movie ended with Monica Rambeau stranded in another universe after using her powers to help stabilise a collapsing wormhole. She subsequently woke up in a medical facility and encountered a variant of her mother, Maria Rambeau, now Binary. More importantly, Kelsey Grammer's Beast then walked into the room, seemingly confirming that Monica had landed on Earth-10005, the X-Men Universe.
That felt like a pretty obvious setup for Avengers: Doomsday. Instead, neither Teyonah Parris nor Lashana Lynch has been announced for the movie, even with Kelsey Grammer's Beast among the returning X-Men characters. Brie Larson's Captain Marvel is similarly absent from the cast, of course, which suggests The Marvels has been sidelined after flopping at the box office.
One increasingly popular theory is that the mother and daughter have perished in an Incursion before the events of Avengers: Doomsday. There has already been speculation that missing characters such as Jean Grey and Storm died while saving their reality, and the Russos have been deliberately vague when asked about the fates of absent X-Men.
Of course, Disney+ may simply be prioritising the movies and TV show most directly relevant to Avengers: Doomsday, rather than attempting to create a comprehensive MCU watchlist. Heck, this may have even been put together by some intern and isn't necessarily straight from the desk of Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.
Still, putting X-Men and X2 on the list while excluding the movie that brought an Earth-616 hero to the X-Men Universe feels like a baffling choice. Either way, we'd expect Avengers: Doomsday to provide some answers this December.
In Avengers: Doomsday, beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered. The movie is set to be released on December 18.