AdricDePsycho wrote:Spoilers for Iron Man 3 and Thor 2:
2. Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World ARE necessary to Phase 2. Iron Man 3 shows Tony get through the aftereffects of the Avengers. He destroys his old suits made during his PTSD to start over with a clean slate (he even calls it a Clean Slate program), which includes Ultron, initially created so that he doesn't have to be Iron Man anymore. Thor: the Dark World shows how Thor got back to Earth, and him deciding to stay. THEY ARE ALL NECESSARY, BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL CONNECTED.
So first off, I didn't read the article, because I don't like how Cracked handles Marvel articles. Moving on, I like IM3 and Thor 2, but I don't think I'd call either necessary to phase 2. Very little in either movie directly pertains to Avengers 2, or events in other phase 2 movies. I'd have to rewatch IM3 to be sure, but I don't recall anything in it that is needed to set up Age of Ultron, nor anything in AoU that relies heavily on IM3. Sure, it's a good movie, but I wouldn't call it necessary. Likewise with Thor 2. Him getting back to Earth is something that could pretty easily be explained in the movie, and in a pretty short scene too. Hell, I'm not sure how necessary Winter Soldier is either. (Though I imagine that'll be a lot more important once Civil War hits). Whedon stated that he made the movie knowing that a lot of people will have only seen the first Avengers, if even that, so he's going to try to convey the important information in the film itself.
Joss Whedon wrote: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."
Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing any of those movies. I'm a big fan of the MCU, and I've enjoyed all of them except Hulk. But you don't need to have watched any other phase 2 movies for Age of Ultron to make sense. You don't really have to have even seen any other MCU movie.