The MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) is well loved by many people all over the world. But for me, I was never interested in the MCU for many years in the past. I started watching MCU movies only in 2014, and it wasn't until year 2018 where I became a MCU fan. Why was that the case?
In January 2001, I watched Terminator 2: Judgment Day on television. That was the first English movie I watched in my life, and I really loved it. Since then, I had been watching English movies on television quite often, and there were several of them that I really liked. The MCU didn't exist at that time.
However by year 2004, I had lost interest in English movies. The reason was that English movies often depict settings that are very different from the environment I live in, and watching them somehow gave me the uncomfortable feeling that I'm being in another world.
Instead, I preferred watching Chinese drama series, as their settings are much more similar to the environment I live in. In 2006, I developed an interest in Taiwanese drama series. Taiwanese series are very long, each of them lasting for a few years. I watched and completed a total of three Taiwanese series over the years.
The first ever MCU movie, Iron Man 1 was released in 2008, and other MCU movies then followed. I heard about some of the movies, but I had no interest in watching them at all, simply because I didn't like English movies. I also wasn't interested in going to cinemas, as I had the impression that cinemas are unclean.
In February 2014, the third Taiwanese series I was watching came to an end. I decided not to start a new one, because I would be entering medical school in a few months time and I knew that I wouldn't have time to follow the series every day when I'm studying Medicine.
Not watching television made me feel bored at times, so I was looking for alternatives to Taiwanese series. In April 2014, I suddenly thought of Terminator 2: Judgment Day which I watched back in 2001. I wished to watch it again, so I bought its DVD. That was first time in many years where I watched an English movie.
After watching it, I could finally understand its plot, which I never really did in the past. It was a very good movie. I no longer felt uncomfortable about watching the very different setting of that movie compared to the environment I live in, probably because I was more mature at that time. That made me realised that English movies aren't that bad after all, and I became more open to watching them.
A month later in May 2014, my friends wanted to watch X-Men: Days of Future Past at the cinema to celebrate our completion of the A Level examination. I wasn't in favour of that idea because I still didn't like going to cinemas, but I really wanted to join the celebration so I had to agree. That was my first time going to a cinema.
As it turned out, my experience at the cinema was great and I really liked the movie. Coincidentally, the plot of X-Men: Days of Future Past had similarities with Terminator 2: Judgment Day. My friends later told me that X-Men: Days of Future Past is a Marvel movie and I became quite impressed with Marvel. However, this movie wasn't part of the MCU, which I didn't know at that time.
Since then, I had been watching English movies regularly, and I was particularly interested in Marvel movies. In August 2014, my friends invited me to watch Guardians of the Galaxy 1 at the cinema. I really liked the movie as it had very exciting plot and action. This was the first MCU movie I watched.
In June 2015, I watched Avengers: Age of Ultron. This movie featured many of the characters in the MCU. As I didn't know much about the MCU characters, I had difficulties understanding the plot of this movie, although I still enjoyed its action scenes.
I then watched Ant-Man 1 at the cinema in July 2015. This movie had some emotional elements which made it really great. Interestingly, the plot of this movie had similarities with Interstellar. The character of Ant-Man was introduced for the first time and I really liked him.
In August 2016, I watched Captain America: Civil War. This movie built on the events in previous MCU movies. As I hadn't watched many of the previous movies, I found it difficult to understand the plot of this movie. After that, I didn't watch another Marvel movie for quite some time.
In February 2018, I heard about the newly released Black Panther and its reviews seemed to be very good. I later found out that it's a Marvel movie, so I was interested in watching it. However, I couldn't watch it at that time because I was quite busy.
In April 2018, Avengers: Infinity War was released and a lot of people were talking about it. I definitely was interested to watch it, but I wanted to watch Black Panther first as I thought that Avengers: Infinity War would build on the events of Black Panther. However, some people were trying to spoil it, and I had to try hard to avoid the spoilers.
At that time, I was doing my medical elective in Middlesbrough, UK. I wasn't sure how to get to the nearest cinema to watch the movies. On 5 May 2018, Black Panther became available for streaming so I watched it online. I did enjoy the movie, but I felt that its reviews are overrated because it didn't have many exciting action scenes.
Just a day later on 6 May 2018, my friend invited me to watch Avengers: Infinity War at Cineworld, Middlesbrough and I went with him. This movie had connections to the previous MCU movies, many of which I hadn't watched. However, I could still understand most of its plot and I really liked it. I was really shocked by its ending.
On 18 May 2018, my friend once again invited me to watch Deadpool 2, another Marvel movie. I wondered why Deadpool wasn't affected by the events in Avengers: Infinity War, and my friend told me that Deadpool isn't part of the MCU. It was at that time where I understood that not all Marvel movies are MCU movies.
On 6 August 2018, I watched Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. What's unusual about this movie was that it had a total of five post-credits scenes. Interestingly, the plot of this movie had similarities with Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back. As a matter of fact, I was watching several Star Wars movies in the weeks before that.
After that, I watched Ant-Man and the Wasp on 14 August 2018. In this movie, there were two emotional stories running in parallel, and I found myself supporting both the opposing groups of characters. I really loved of ending of this movie, but it was ruined by the post-credits scene which was linked to Avengers: Infinity War. At that time, I had truly become a MCU fan.
During the Chinese New Year in February 2019, I and my cousins were in Kulim. One day, they were watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I joined them in the middle of the movie and I continued watching till the end. It was a great movie, but I missed out on the first half.
On 8 March 2019, I watched Captain Marvel. Contrary to some of its reviews on the Internet, this was a very good movie. I really liked the character of Captain Marvel, who's very strong and beautiful. This movie was about feminism which I really support. As 8 March is the International Women's Day, it was the perfect day to watch this movie.
On 22 March 2019, I rewatched Captain America: The Winter Soldier from the beginning until the end. This was one of the movies I had to watch in preparation for the oncoming Avengers: Endgame. Another of those movies was Thor: The Dark World. Unfortunately, I couldn't watch it as my laptop broke down unexpectedly.
I had been looking forward to Avengers: Endgame for quite some time and I could finally watch it on 28 April 2019. While it was a great movie overall, I felt that it could have been better. It made many references to previous MCU movies. As I hadn't watched some of them, I couldn't enjoy this movie to the fullest. There was a very sad scene in this movie which actually made me cry.
On 18 July 2019, I watched Thor: The Dark World. Many movie reviewers considered it to be one of the worst movies in the MCU. However in my opinion, this was a very good movie and it was definitely underrated. I also liked the character of Darcy Lewis in this movie a lot, who was criticised by many.
At that time, Spider-Man: Far From Home had just been released. I was interested to watch it, but I was hesitant because I have arachnophobia. I later found out from the Internet that it didn't have any scenes of realistic-looking spiders. I watched this movie on 25 July 2019 and I really enjoyed it. The scenes of Spider-Man flirting were so relatable.
Then, I watched Thor: Ragnarok on 6 August 2019. In the past, I used to think that it isn't a good movie, due to its name. After watching it, I realised it's so much better than what I thought. This movie had a bittersweet ending. Unfortunately, the first post-credits scene which led into Avengers: Infinity War, ruined its ending.
On 20 August 2019, I watched Spider-Man: Homecoming. It too didn't have any scenes of scary or realistic-looking spiders so I could watch it. There were elements of humour in this movie, which made it very interesting. I didn't really like the character of Spider-Man in the past, but I had become a fan of him at that time.
On 22 September 2019, I watched Doctor Strange. The theme and setting of this movie was rather different compared to other MCU movies, which might be why its reviews weren't very good. However, I still liked the movie. What the character of Dr Strange did in the climax of this movie was really smart and hilarious.
I watched Iron Man 3 on 27 December 2019. I still hadn't watched Iron Man 1 and 2 at that time, and many on the Internet recommended watching those movies first. However, I chose to go ahead with watching Iron Man 3 anyway. I could still understand most of its plot and I felt that it's a great movie.
In February 2020, I rewatched Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Age of Ultron, both of which I first watched a few years ago. This time, with better knowledge about the MCU and having watched many other MCU movies, I was able to fully understand the plot of both movies and I really enjoyed them.
Now, I am looking forward to Black Widow and The Eternals which will be released later in year 2020.
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