All Marvel Movies In Order: How To Watch MCU Chronologically

If you want to see the Marvel and Avengers movies in order as they happened in-universe, we’ve listed all the MCU movies and series in chronological order in one guide! You might be surprised to discover that the very first one is the animated series Eyes of Wakanda, an animated anthology that follows Wakandan warriors across four different stories dating as far back as 1260 B.C.

While Iron Man, set and released in 2008, can claim the banner as the first film to be released and kickstart the Marvel Cinematic Universe, within the story timeline, Chris Evans has got Robert Downey Jr. beat. That’s because Evans’ origin story as Captain America in Captain America: The First Avenger takes place in 1942. There, we’re also first fully introduced to the Tessarect, an energy cube that initializes the Infinity Saga, which climaxed with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

AfterThe First Avenger, you might also want to check out its spiritual companions, Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter and Agent Carter — the first is a 15-minute short film and the second is a two-season series — both of which focus on Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter character. Next would be The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which, although it takes place on an alternate version of Earth, is set in the 1960s.

After that the next movie set in the timeline is Captain Marvel, the blockbuster with a Blockbuster, set in 1995, with Brie Larson starring as the cosmic Carol Danvers. And then it’s time to hit the start with Iron Man and RDJ’s world-making turn as Tony Stark. The movies can be seen in release order after that and continue in the chronological timeline, except for 2021’s Black Widow, which is set in the immediate aftermath of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.

Through the epic finale of 2019’s Avenger’s Endgame (which essentially completed the first 3 phases of the MCU), there was a forward time jump of five years, placing most everything in Phase 4 and onward in the near future. Phase 4 started at the movies with Shang-Chi and invited its lineup of TV series to really do some heavy lifting, with Loki, WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye pushing the story forward. Then there was the gigantic one-two Spider-Man punch with Far From Home and No Way Home. Moon Knight, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder are all set chronologically by release after that. And the recent slew of films — Deadpool & Wolverine, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps — set up events leading up to 2026’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday.

So sure you can watch the MCU by release order, but if you want to take an alternate route and see the movies chronologically within the franchise’s own timeline (including the TV shows), check out our guide below! (Alex Vo)