**WARNING**
Spoilers for all Marvel films NOT including Avengers Infinity War
The Avengers Saga Marathon is a special
fan made cut of every single film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the
events of each film edited into a chronological continuity. This was an idea
fans had near the release of the 2012 Marvel’s
The Avengers when they noticed some of the films overlapped timelines; not
to mention Captain America The First Avenger almost completely
taking place in the 1940’s. The name comes from a special cut of the first two
Godfather films called The Godfather Saga.
Sometime
in the early 1980’s, Francis Ford Coppola had an editor splice his two
masterpiece films The Godfather and The Godfather Part II in chronological
order; at this point Godfather Part III
was not even an idea. For those that don’t know, The Godfather Part II takes place in two different timelines
flashing between the rise of Don Vito Corleone and the current timeline for his
son Michael. The events of the first Godfather
film occurred between these two timelines. In The Godfather Saga, the film opens with the flashback events of Godfather Part II and follows the rise
of Vito Corleone until the flashbacks end. The next part shows old man Vito
with all his children and continues to tell the story of events in the first Godfather. Finally, the Saga ends with
Michael Corleone still running the family business and making decisions that
show just how far he has fallen. All together the spliced film was almost 8
hours long. It was thus split into 4 parts and aired as a mini-series on NBC.
While many critics believed this edited version really disrupts the flow of the
story, a continuity nerd like myself marveled at the concept
This
brings us to The Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2008, audiences that hung around
after the credits of Iron Man and saw
Sam Jackson as Director Fury of SHIELD tell Tony Stark that he was a part of a
bigger universe. Fans’ imaginations ran wild with possibilities but I doubt
anyone could have anticipated where we are today. In order of release we got Iron Man, then The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man
2, Thor, and Captain America The First Avenger. But if you look at the events of
the films you will see that the order in which they were released does not
follow a chronological continuity. There are reasons why some films came before
others, but so well done is each film, there is no reason we cannot apply the
same technique from The Godfather Saga.
And some fans did just that for phase one.
After the scene ends with Odin telling both boys they each were born to be kings, we jump to 1942 Norway where The Red Skull is storming a temple to find Odin’s Tesseract. From then the Saga continues with the rest of Captain America The First Avenger as it occurs in the 1940s. After Cap crashes in the water and the characters have their post-victory “celebration”, the film fades to black with the words “To be continued.”
The
next segment of the Saga is Iron Man.
There are only two edits done here. Instead of beginning with the HUMVEE scene,
we begin in Vegas where Tony Stark is being honored and given an award. Other
than that one change, the film progresses as normal until the end. 
The press conference at the end where Stark proclaims he is Iron Man is now cut between the beginning of Iron Man 2 in which Ivan Vanko is watching the press conference and his father dies in his arms. Vanko then goes on to make his own arc reactor and the film slams “To be continued.”
The
next few segments have events from The
Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 and Thor cut between each other as those
events have overlapping timelines.
An example of this is Agent Coulson leaving
Stark before Stark creates a new power source for his suit and goes to New
Mexico where the events of Thor are
already in motion. 
And in the post credit sequence for The Incredible Hulk, Stark already had his haircut from Iron Man 2 when he goes to meet General
Ross. There are different fan edits and thus some of these events may occur in
a different order, but the important point is that none of the three films
follow straight through.
The
total cut of all films edited together is around 10 hours. Then to end the
first phase with Marvel’s The Avengers,
you have a marathon lasting a little over 12 hours for Phase One. Much longer
than The Godfather Saga, but I would
argue more entertaining. And if you’ve seen all the films before, the pacing is
different and thus a new experience.
As time
progressed we got even more films that flashed back; thus making The Avengers Saga an ever changing
thing. Now if we were to continue in the Chronological Continuity tradition, when
we watch The Saga Cut we start with Odin’s father fighting The Dark Elves in Thor The Dark World. 
Then after The First Avenger, we have a few things
that occurred in the 1980’s. Ego visiting earth at the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. 
Quill
being abducted by Yondu at the beginning of the first Guardians film.
Hank Pym quitting SHIELD.
Then in the 90’s we have Winter
Soldier killing Stark’s parents.
T’Chaka going to Oakland to retrieve his
brother. 
And then the first time we see Tony Stark is in 1999 at the famous
conference in Europe when he meets the man who helped him build his armor. And
looking to the future, Captain Marvel
has been confirmed by Marvel Studio’s Master Producer Kevin Feige to be taking
place in the 1990’s.
After you cut those into The Saga Cut, the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps expanding. But it wasn’t just flashbacks in the films that need to be edited in; as the story continues events continue to overlap. Though the Guardians of the Galaxy films were released 3 years apart, they occur within the same year continuity-wise.
Spider-Man Homecoming takes place in
three different times. The beginning has Toomes’ crew cleaning up immediately
after the events of The Avengers, and
then jumps a couple years ahead to a day after Civil War and then again jumps ahead to two months after Civil War. 
Within this timeframe we have
Black Panther and Doctor Strange. Black Panther occurs just a week after the UN Bombing in Civil War and Doctor Strange takes place over the span of almost a year.
The
final film in continuity before Infinity
War is Thor Ragnarok. At the time
of Thor Ragnarok, Doctor Strange already has taken over as
master of the mystic arts when he kidnaps Loki. The adventure in the film plays
out but then there is the large and ominous ship that Thor and the survivors of
Ragnarok encounter in the mid credits sequence of the film. I haven’t seen the
film yet, but it does seem like Thanos’ assault will begin immediately after
Thor and Loki see that ship.
Is it necessary
to watch all the films in this order? No, absolutely not. Does Marvel want you
to watch them in this order? I doubt it. If Marvel Studios wanted audiences to
watch the films in a chronological continuity, then the marathon events that
have been taking place would be in this order. But for those that are massive
Marvel Fans who like to binge through the entire series before each new film,
why not change it up and watch the films in a different order. It may provide a
different perspective or allow for a new appreciation for certain films in the
series.
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