Every Spider-Man Movie & TV Show You Need To Watch Before 'Avengers: Doomsday'

While it might not be a one-to-one comparison, it’s worthwhile for any Spider-Man fan to check out the 1990s Spider-Man animated series for a clue about what Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars could be like. The Fox Kids show is a fun peer to fellow superhero successes like X-Men (1992) and Batman: The Animated Series (1992), and serves as a fairly faithful television adaptation of the Wall-Crawler.

One of the final big arcs in the show is an adaptation of the “Secret War” storyline from Marvel Comics, which features several heroes from across the Marvel Universe brought together to Battle-World to face off for the fate of the universe. The stakes of the conflict and seeing Spider-Man involved in such an epic struggle serve as a good teaser for what the MCU Peter Parker could be awaiting with the next two Avengers movies.

As the introduction of the MCU Spider-Man, Captain America: Civil War is a crucial piece in how this universe’s version of Peter Parker works. Introduced as a surprisingly capable wildcard in Captain America and Iron Man’s growing conflict, Tony Stark recruits the young Spider-Man to his side. While Peter mostly factors into the second act of the film, his debut is a memorable one and cemented Tom Holland as a star in the making that audiences could invest in.

With an older Peter likely taking a more proactive role among the heroes of the next Avengers movies, given his own status as a more seasoned hero compared to the prospective Young Avengers or the ragtag antiheroes of Thunderbolts* (2025), Captain America: Civil War is worth revisiting for Spider-Man’s first encounter with The Avengers.

As the first solo film for Spider-Man in the MCU era, Spider-Man: Homecoming does a great job showcasing where this Spider-Man can fit into the larger tapestry of the universe. A far more street-level and grounded film in the franchise that takes as much inspiration from The Breakfast Club (1985) as it does from other superhero flicks like Superman (1978), Spider-Man: Homecoming highlights the emotional core of the character and strengthens the dynamic that exists between Peter and Tony Stark.

With Robert Downey Jr. set to play Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, it’s important to see how this relationship develops across the MCU. Homecoming is also easily one of the most lightweight and purely entertaining MCU movies, only really requiring Civil War and the first Avengers (2012) to understand fully. 

Part one of the most ambitious swings the MCU has taken to date, Avengers: Infinity War uses Spider-Man in clever (and devastating) ways to highlight the stakes of the conflict. Accompanying Iron Man and Doctor Strange into space to directly face off against Thanos, Spider-Man offers some crucial levity during the tense epic.

This could be what Spider-Man brings to Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, with his quick wit and relatable personality helping alleviate some of the darker moments. It also makes his fate as one of the heroes snapped away by Thanos all the more devastating, given how much the audience has come to love Spider-Man. If you need a reminder of how important Peter Parker is to the heroes and the audience, then Infinity War is the film to revisit.

Luckily, fans only had to wait a year for the next entry in the overarching Infinity Saga, as Avengers: Endgame closed out the story in grand fashion. While Spider-Man is absent for most of the film, which instead serves as a swan song for the original Avengers roster before killing off/writing out some of the established heroes, he does have a memorable appearance in the third act as one of the heroes brought back for the final battle.

Peter’s ability to survive a massive battle is a good indicator of how dynamic and important he may be in some of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars’ biggest moments, which will take on more intensity going forward because Spider-Man will likely lack the tech and weapons in the Stark-designed costume that Peter wears in this film.

Dealing directly with the emotional fallout of Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a crucial watch for MCU Spider-Man fans going forward. The overall adventure isn’t the most impactful on the larger universe, although the post-credits tag where Mysterio reveals Spider-Man’s identity to the world sets up a lot of tension for Peter’s next adventure. However, the focus on Spider-Man mourning his mentor, Tony Stark, serves as a solid way to approach the character coming into his own after being more of a student than the typically solo hero of other adaptations.

Come Avengers Doomsday, if Doom gets to unmask himself and has some connection to Stark, Peter’s grief and guilt over Tony’s death in Endgame might make Far From Home a crucial emotional point in the overarching MCU story.

The biggest cinematic Spider-Man story to date, Spider-Man: No Way Home brought back more than just the MCU’s Peter Parker for an adventure that expanded to a multiversal scale. Peter’s efforts to magically rewrite Mysterio’s actions in the previous movie result in several enemies from other dimensions popping into the MCU. Alongside the Spider-Men of Spider-Man (2002) and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Peter Parker must face off with the worst villains of the franchise’s past and deal with an uncertain future.

As the last place audiences get to see Peter Parker ahead of the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, No Way Home also brings the hero to the multiverse in a way that feels like it’ll be vitally important given the stakes of the next two Avengers movies. Due to those elements, this is likely the most important Spider-Man movie fans need to watch ahead of Avengers: Doomsday, simply because it’s the last time we’ve seen the character. 

While these movies might not have crossed over with the MCU as of yet, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has the kind of multiversal stakes and thematic weight that will likely influence Spider-Man’s future adventures. Seeing different variants of the Wall-Crawler is one of the biggest immediate appeals of the animated Oscar-winning film, but the way it reinforces the story of Peter Parker while also shifting primary focus to Miles Morales is nothing short of amazing.

Given the likely scale of Secret Wars, the multiversal storytelling of these animated movies, and the popularity of No Way Home’s crossover, don’t be surprised if the characters introduced in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse make some kind of appearance in Doomsday and Secret Wars. It is also, simply put, one of the best superhero movies ever made. So, it’s always worth a rewatch.

The sequel to Into the Spider-Verse is every bit as ambitious as the film that preceded it. Whereas the previous film had pretty clear moral lines, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse confronts larger questions about the importance of destiny and weighing the costly few against the larger masses.

This is the sort of conflict that fuels the stories of Doomsday, Secret Wars, and the entire Incursions storyline that they’re adapting from the comics, making it a good precursor for the kind of sacrifices and stakes necessary for these films to work. While it might not directly impact the Doomsday and Secret Wars narrative, the similar themes, scope, and stakes make this a great movie to watch ahead of Doomsday.