'Avengers' Refresher: Get a Primer on What's Happened Before 'Age of Ultron'

The aptly titled Marvel Cinematic Universe is indeed an expansive place composed of stars, matter, and some very dark energy (we’re looking at you, Thanos), so we understand if you’ve lost track of what exactly has unfolded between the events of 2012’s The Avengers and its sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron.

There have been four movies in the three-year gap between Avenger assemblages: Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014), and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).  (Ultron marks the fifth entry in the MCU’s “Phase Two”; July’s Ant-Man will be the sixth and final Phase Two release.)

Of course, the events and developments of one MCU movie impact the next. Here’s a quick refresher on what all the main players have been up to as we head into Ultron, which essentially picks up right where The Winter Soldier left off:

Captain America: In The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers comes face to face with his old friend Bucky Barnes, whom Hydra has transformed into the titular killing machine. By the end of Soldier, Cap has gone rogue to expose Hydra’s complete infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. At the start Ultron, he is de facto leader of The Avengers.

Iron Man: As revealed in Iron Man 3, Tony Stark has been battling a severe case of PTSD following the A team’s ruinous rumble against Loki in The Avengers. After exposing the Mandarin and, with the help of Pepper Potts, taking down Aldrich Killian, Stark orders J.A.R.V.I.S. to destroy all of his Iron Man suits and undergoes surgery to have that life-threatening shrapnel removed from his chest.

Thor: After watching his brother, Loki, turn good in The Dark World — only to then watch Loki just as quickly perish (or does he?) — Thor throws down the hammer on the evil Malekith, booting his ugly butt back to his realm (Svartalfheim), where he’s killed by his own ship. With work still be done down on Earth, Thor politely declines the throne of Asgard.

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Hulk: Bruce Banner’s only appearance over the last four movies came during the post-credits of Iron Man 3, where he’s fallen asleep to the playing shrink to the ever-neurotic Stark. The last time we saw Banner in The Avengers, though, Hulk has just beaten the poop out of Loki and saved a freefalling Stark from smashing his spine.

Black Widow: Along with Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff played a key role in exposing Hydra at the end of Winter Soldier. Her tactics were slightly more diplomatic, though: She posed as a World Security Council member in order to trap Alexander Pierce, and is later seen testifying before the Senate.

Hawkeye: We haven’t seen poor Clint Barton since that shawarma-fest at the end of The Avengers.

Nick Fury and Maria Hill: The fiery S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Fury had to fake his own death in The Winter Soldier; with Hydra’s handprints all over the operation, he wasn’t sure who the hell to trust. Last we saw, he was holed up in a bed in Eastern Europe under the watch of his right-hand woman, Maria Hill.

Falcon: Sam Wilson becomes much more than Rogers’s jogging buddy over the course of Winter Soldier. With a super-powered wingpack, Wilson becomes Falcon and helps Cap take down Hydra and the compromised S.H.I.E.L.D. (though the Winter Soldier bangs up said wingpack pretty bad during a climactic clash).

War Machine/Iron Patriot: James Rhodes proved himself hero-worthy by the end of Iron Man 3: He saved the life of the president of the United States. And that’s why Rhodey’s a patriot.

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Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker: The former Nazi and current Hydra scientist surfaces during the mid-credits scene of The Winter Soldier, where he is experimenting on the Chitauri scepter wielded by Loki in The Avengers and touting his secret weapons, the supernatural twins Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

Thanos: The Mad Titan, who was behind the Loki-led Chitauri invasion of the first Avengers, also popped up as a key antagonist in Guardians of the Galaxy. Perhaps we will learn more about his endgame in Age of Ultron?

S.H.I.E.L.D.: Following the Winter Soldier revelation that Hydra has been secretly tampering with the organization’s operations for 50 years, S.H.I.E.L.D. is, by all intents and purposes, dunzo. For now, anyway…

Avengers: Age of Ultron opens Friday. Watch the cast talk about their costume upgrades: