EVT’S MCU RE-WATCH

“I can do this all day.”

May 15, 2020

Next week I’m going to do something ridiculous. I’m going to watch 23 movies in 4 days. In about 87 hours to be precise.

Let’s back up.

In May of 2012, in anticipation of the release of THE AVENGERS, a movie theater in Chicago offered movie goers the chance to watch the five Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films that preceded the release of THE AVENGERS immediately prior to the midnight release. The deal was that you arrived at the movie theater around 10 or 11am on Thursday morning and watched movies all day leading up to the midnight premiere of THE AVENGERS. The shortest amount of time between movies was 15 minutes and the longest amount of time was only 45 minutes. Me and two of my buddies decided to do this thing.

We had a blast! It was fun. It was thrilling. It was stupid. It was a fantastic day and an amazing way to see THE AVENGERS for the first time. That said, there were some flaws. First, we only had movie theater food available. This was an upscale theater, so they did have a bar and restaurant, but we only had time to take advantage of that once. During that one break we scarfed down some flatbread pizzas and three crappy beers each. Other than that we ate a bunch of popcorn and Sour Patch Kids and drank a bunch of Coke (I also spilled much of a full Coke on my lap at one point, but that’s not important to this story.) Also, not having any decent length breaks in there was a challenge. Between that, no movement, and not much sunlight, it was a rough day. A great day! But a rough one.

It’s eight years later and there are now 23 movies in the MCU. A year ago, when AVENGERS: ENDGAME was released (the 22nd movie) there were again a few theaters in the country that offered the option to watch all 21 preceding moving in one marathon sitting leading up to the release. I read one journalist’s experience doing this. It sounded awful. But it only sounded awful because it had all the same problems that my 6 movie experience had back in 2012: no breaks, no real food, no sunlight, no exercise. Oh, also, this dude barely slept at all the whole time. Like I said, it sounds awful.

I like silly stunts. I love the MCU movies. I’ve seen them all multiple times—including seeing ENDGAME five times in theaters. So how could I do something as silly and fun as that experience in the theater in 2012, but without the major flaws and how could I expand it to cover the whole franchise? What would that look like?

Well, six movies in a day seems reasonable. I’ve done that once before, after all. Marvel’s films were released in “phases.” Phase 1 culminated in THE AVENGERS. Phase 2 was another six movies. Phase 3 got a little bit more silly with a total of eleven flicks. If you break Phase 3 into two days, you could basically watch 12-13 hours of movie each day and get through the whole series in 4 days. If you compare that to a job, that’s actually only 50 hours of work in four days. I’ve done weeks of work that were far more strenuous and less enjoyable than that.

But where would I find four days with that much free time? Oh wait, never mind. It’s the spring of 2020 and life is very strange right now. I’ve basically only got three commitments next week, each for only an hour. Frankly, I wanted some breaks in my viewing schedule anyway, so having a few meetings in there is really a feature, not a bug.

What are our other ground rules? Well, I’m watching movies at home. So the conditions are those of any other home viewing experience. I can pause for bathroom breaks whenever I want. I can go to the kitchen for food (not just popcorn and Buncha Crunch) whenever I want. I’ve got a nearly 10 month old son, so I’ll have dad responsibilities while I watch (he’s good at pulling himself up to a standing position, but not great at sitting down, so if you don’t keep a hand near him when he stands around, eventually he lands on his head).

Plus, I have another advantage: I can change the scenery whenever I want. I own all of these movies on BluRay, but I also own many of them digitally, plus they’re basically all available to stream on Disney+ or some other platform. This means I can watch them in my living room or basement on TVs, or I can watch them in the back yard on my computer. Or, and this is the silly one, I could stream one on my phone while I go for a walk. But that’s so much data to stream a movie like that! You’d think so, but Verizon keeps giving users a bunch of free data each month to help out “in these unprecedented times.” Seriously? I don’t leave my house! I’m not using data! I’m on wi-fi literally all the time. So I’ve got data to spare. I could easily go for a walk during THOR: THE DARK WORLD.

So there’s the plan. I’m going to do a grocery run this weekend specifically with this adventure in mind. Veggie platters, dried fruits, nuts, sparkling water – things that will keep me alert, but won’t make me feel like garbage and are still easy snacking. Plus get some things for meals that will be easy to prepare during my breaks, but won’t make me feel lethargic.

We’ll begin on Tuesday, May 19, which happens to coincidentally be my 36th birthday. If you’d like to follow along I’ll be posting on Facebook and Twitter periodically. If you’d actually like to watch something approximately when I’m planning to, here’s the schedule. All times listed below are approximate and are in eastern time.

Tuesday, May 19: Phase 1
9:00am – IRON MAN
11:00am – THE INCREDIBLE HULK
Lunch
2:00pm – IRON MAN 2
4:00pm – THOR
Dinner
7:30pm – CAPTAIN AMERICA
9:30pm – THE AVENGERS

Wednesday, May 20: Phase 2
8:00am – IRON MAN 3
10:10am – THOR: THE DARK WORLD
Lunch, plus a previously scheduled meeting
2:00pm – CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
4:15pm – GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
Dinner
7:30pm – AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
10:00pm – ANT-MAN

Thursday, May 21: Phase 3, Part 1
7:00am – CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
9:30am – DOCTOR STRANGE
Lunch, plus a previously scheduled meeting which necessitates the early start times this day if I want to get two movies in during the morning. It’s a rough morning, but I start with one of my favorites, so I think I’ll be okay.
1:30pm – GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2
3:45pm – SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
Dinner
7:30pm – THOR: RAGNAROK
9:45pm – BLACK PANTHER

Friday, May 22: Phase 3, Part 2 (only five movies this day!)
9:00am – AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
Lunch
12:30pm – ANT-MAN & THE WASP
2:30pm – CAPTAIN MARVEL
Dinner
6:00pm – AVENGERS: ENDGAME
9:00pm **Emotional Recovery Period**
9:30pm – SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME