If you've maybe just subscribed to Disney+ and are looking to sit down in front of the television for a bunch of superhero movies, then you are going to want to know exactly what order you should watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in! Well, we've got exactly what you need, with a full list of the movies and when they take place so you won't miss a thing as you delve deep into this action-packed series of movies.
For the most part, you generally try to watch these in chunks marked by the Avengers movies. These are the most obvious markers that show when one of the films has taken place. However, some of them did occur at specific times that were referenced in some of them. We've tried to take into account as much as possible when they happened and order them accordingly. Some movies are a bit hard to place, and have even been ret-conned a bit in more recent movies. Spider-Man: Homecoming was supposed to have happened in 2020, but doesn't fit the timeline and what is referenced in Infinity War. Regardless of the actual times listed in the movies, we've laid these out in a way that should make sense if you were to watch them in order!
Marvel Movies in Chronological Order
Here's the list of the Marvel Movies in order of how you should watch them:
- Captain America: The First Avenger (Events take place during World War 2)
- Captain Marvel (Events take place in 1995)
- Iron Man (Events takes place in 2010)
- Iron Man 2 (Events takes place after Iron Man)
- The Incredible Hulk (Specific timing is unknown, but happen before the Avengers)
- Thor (Specfic timing is unknown, but happen before the Avengers)
- The Avengers (Events take place in 2012)
- Iron Man 3 (Events take place seven months after The Avengers)
- Thor: Dark World (After Avengers, Before Age of Ultron)
- Captain America: Winter Soldier (After Avengers, Before Age of Ultron)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (Sometime in 2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (Events take place after the first Guardians)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (Events take place in 2015)
- Ant-Man (Events take place in 2015)
- Captain America: Civil War (After Age of Ultron, Before Infinity War)
- Unreleased (May 1st, 2020): Black Widow (After Civil War)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (After Age of Ultron, Before Infinity War)
- Doctor Strange (After Age of Ultron, Before Infinity War)
- Black Panther (After Age of Ultron, Before Infinity War)
- Thor: Ragnarok (After Age of Ultron, Before Infinity War)
- Ant-Man and The Wasp (Majority of the movie takes place prior to Infinity War)
- Avengers: Infinity War (Events takes place in 2018)
- Avengers: Endgame (Starts in 2018, finishes in 2022)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (After Endgame)
- Unreleased (November 6th, 2020): The Eternals (Unknown)
- Unreleased (February 12th, 2021): Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Unknown)
- Unreleased (May 7th, 2021): Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Unknown)
- Unreleased (July 16th, 2021): Untitled Spider-Man: Far From Home Sequel (Unknown)
- Unreleased (November 5, 2021): Thor: Love and Thunder (Unknown)
- Unreleased (May 6th, 2022): Black Panther 2 (Unknown)
Marvel Movies in Release Order
If you just want to enjoy these movies in order of when they are released, then here's how you would watch them.
Phase One
- Iron Man (2008)
- The Incredible Hulk (2008)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- Thor (2011)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
- Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
Phase Two
- Iron Man 3 (2013)
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Ant-Man (2015)
Phase Three
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Doctor Strange (2016)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
- Black Panther (2018)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
- Captain Marvel (2019)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Phase Four (Dates Could Change!)
- Black Widow (2020)
- The Eternals (2020)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
- Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2021)
- Untitled Spider-Man: Far From Home Sequel (2021)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2021)
- Black Panther 2 (2022)
Even Further Into the Future
- Blade (TBD)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (TBD)
- Untitled Captain Marvel film (TBD)
- Untitled Fantastic Four film (TBD)
If you haven't gotten enough of the Marvel Universe just yet, there's a game coming out in 2020! You can find more information about that with this Marvel Avengers Game Characters List Guide!
