What is necessary to know before seeing The Avengers 2?

Question

Imagine you completely ignored the previous movies of Marvel Cinematic Universe but you suddenly want to see The Avengers 2:Age of Ultron that was recently released. You also never read comic books in your life.

What are the necessary informations you need to know before going to see the movie? For example, is watching The Avengers an absolute necessity? Or knowing that a team of super heroes had been active before enough to enjoy the new movie?

It's not a good question, and it borders on off-topic (primarily opinion based). — phantom42, Apr 23 '15 at 11:37
This differs from person to person. Some people take these movies very casually, some take it pretty seriously. You can't have a one-size-fits-all answer to this. — Stark07, Apr 23 '15 at 11:43
It's not opinion based. For example before watching a later movie about superhero X, you would probably benefit from seeing the origin movie. Thor has such a movie, Iron Man does, Captain America does, Black Widow doesn't, etc etc. — Gaius, Apr 23 '15 at 11:47
Do you need to know who the Hulk is before seeing a movie where there is this guy who becomes him? Is it explained in Avengers 2? Etc etc. — Gaius, Apr 23 '15 at 11:48
@phantom42 I think perhaps this is just poorly worded. There are already similar questions that have received plenty of upvotes and good answers. Like this one and this other one. — Dave Johnson, Apr 23 '15 at 12:34
The problem is that what you and I feel are necessary to know, or are sufficiently explained in this movie or that movie is a difference of opinion. There's also an issue of what sort of things you care about at all. It may not be referenced in AoU that Natasha was once secretly spying on Tony Stark as his assistant, but maybe I feel it makes a difference in the dynamic of their relationship. — phantom42, Apr 23 '15 at 12:57
We also already have this question (ignore the OP's misunderstanding of the word "foreshadow"), which is related. — phantom42, Apr 23 '15 at 13:04
We have a similar question for the first Avengers film, except it's asking which films are necessary to watch prior to seeing Avengers. If this was edited into a [tag:suggested-order] style question, it'd be on topic. — , Apr 23 '15 at 14:42

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

Official policy is that you don't need to have seen any other part of the MCU to enjoy Age of Ultron, except possibly for The Avengers. In an interview with AlloCiné, Whedon commented on this:

"I have to make my movie assuming that people will only have seen the first one, or possibly not even seen the first one. I can't assume that everybody went to see Thor [The Dark World], Captain America [The Winter Soldier], and Iron Man [3] in-between. I have to go from one movie to the next and be true to what's happened, but not be slavish to it... The model I'm always trying to build from, my guiding star, is The Godfather Part II where a ton has happened in-between and it's a very different movie [from The Godfather], but you don't need any information: it's there in the film."

In theory, watch The Avengers and you'll be good to go. You may not get the complete experience without having seen the other dozen MCU movies, but you shouldn't miss any of the important elements of the story.

Now that I've finally seen the movie, I confirm that Whedon was telling the truth. The main plot is perfectly comprehensible without having seen any other MCU movies. Having seen The Avengers is sufficient to introduce you to most returning characters (the Avengers themselves, Maria Hill, Fury, Erik Selvig) and to Loki's scepter.

There are a few passing references to events from other MCU movies, and references to the Infinity Stones, that won't make sense unless you've seen other movies:

James Rhodes (War Machine) and Sam Wilson (Falcon) each have brief appearances. They were introduced respectively in Iron Man (and in Iron Man 3 as War Machine) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The major plot twist from Captain America: The Winter Soldier and season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is referenced.

This event being the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. The fact that character have a hard time seeing the difference between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra is referenced at least once
Thor remarks that four of the Infinity Stones have emerged in the last four years, and they are shown in a montage. The Tesseract and Loki's Sceptre both featured prominently in The Avengers, although the Tesseract was introduced in Captain America, but the other two are from Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy. Keen covered the Infinity Stones in his answer here (No spoiler tags in use there, so be careful if you care about that sort of thing)

"We won't know until it comes out." It's out now in some countries. — phantom42, Apr 23 '15 at 13:05
@phantom42 I just removed that bit entirely; too opinion-y. I guess the big debate now is going to be if Whedon lived up to his promise — Jason Baker, Apr 23 '15 at 13:09

score -3 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 23 '15 at 13:52

-3

I'ld recommend catching up, by watching all the previous films in order of their release dates. OR or or skip 'age of ultron' and so keep a perfect record - of missing some of the best films ever made!!!.

answered Apr 23 '15 at 13:52

Ihor Sypko

1,360
2
11
22

And why would this imaginary self you refer to, having ignored all of Marvel All,even be aware or care about AOU?? – Ihor Sypko Apr 23 '15 at 13:56
3

best films ever made... Are you serious? Have you actually watched them?? – Daft Apr 23 '15 at 14:06
Serious and have watched them many times. They have not disappointed much, and are entertaining, so say many devotees. If you don't like them, what are you critics doing here or watching more than one or two? – Ihor Sypko Apr 23 '15 at 14:20
2

The sad part is you've probably never even seen Die Hard... – Daft Apr 23 '15 at 14:23
1

I have seen all the Die Hard films, what's your point? There is hardly a film I haven't seen, made in the last 80 years, except for the Twilight series. Your perspective is the sadness inducing factor. – Ihor Sypko Apr 27 '15 at 18:49

What is necessary to know before seeing The Avengers 2?

2 Answers2