How to watch the Marvel movies in order

News
By Contributions from , last updated

Here's how to watch the Marvel movies in order, both chronologically and in release order

The Avengers: Endgame poster shows many of the heroes you'll see when you watch the marvel movies in order
(Image credit: Marvel Studios/Twitter)

Across infinite timelines, this is the only one where you can experience the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe in the perfect order. While you wait for the next superhero spectacle to hit the big screen, why not dive back into the action and catch up on everything Marvel has delivered so far?

Lucky for you, Disney Plus makes it pretty effortless. With nearly every MCU blockbuster and series available in one place, it's no surprise that many fans find the streamer indispensable. It’s the go-to hub for the latest Marvel adventures.

If you've already marked your calendar for every upcoming Marvel release, the next big day isn't until 2026, with "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." That gives you plenty of time to make your way through every Marvel movie at least once.

But how should you watch the MCU? Our complete guide breaks it down into two approaches: release order, for those who want to relive the cinematic rollout, or chronological order, following the multiple tales as they unfold within the universe itself.

And while the most recent Marvel films and shows align closely in the timeline, our chronological viewing list ensures you experience the MCU in the most seamless way possible. So sit back, relax, and start watching. With our help, it's a snap.

We've placed the Marvel movies in order of the events that take place in the Infinity Saga first. It's weird, right, that the films weren't released in that order? Alas, the same is true for when you try to watch all the Star Wars movies in order. This order isn't exactly perfect either, with flashbacks here and there that break the strict narrative arc.

Marvel movies in order — chronological order (and shows too)

Chris Evans in Captain America: The First Avenger, one of the early Marvel movies

(Image credit: Jay Maidment/Paramount)

If you’ve seen most or all of the movies and you want to switch things up a bit, chronologically rewatching the Marvel movies in order, to see the events as they took place (with flashbacks thrown in just to throw you off), is a fun experiment.

Disney's own MCU timeline shows what order the shows and movies occur in, and even though the Disney Plus shows such as WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier are not Marvel movies, we can place them chronologically in the MCU. Monica Rambeau rejoins S.W.O.R.D. three weeks after she was snapped back into reality, so we can place WandaVision between Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Similarly, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes place three months after the blip brought everyone back, placing it after WandaVision but before Far From Home.

Disney Plus' own site places Loki (which goes all over the timeline) after Endgame. It also says three recent Disney Plus shows — Hawkeye, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel — take place in release order.

It's unclear when exactly Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 takes place, but in 2021 James Gunn said it's after Thor: Love & Thunder. This makes sense considering the Guardians Holiday Special (which was after that Thor movie) happens before Vol. 3.

That period in time is basically called "present day MCU" or at least that's the phrase that Disney's own description for Secret Invasion says. Disney's use of that terminology for this upcoming series makes us think it happens alongside of the other recent releases.

  • Eyes of Wakanda (Starts in 1260 B.C.E.)
  • Captain America: The First Avenger (World War II)
  • Agent Carter (1946)
  • The Fantastic Four: First Steps
  • Captain Marvel (1995)
  • Iron Man (2010)
  • Iron Man 2 (2011)
  • The Incredible Hulk (2011)
  • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (2011)
  • Thor (2011)
  • The Consultant (2011)
  • The Avengers (2012)
  • Item 47 (2012)
  • The Dark World (2013)
  • Iron Man 3 (2013)
  • All Hail the King (2014)
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (ca. 2014)
  • I Am Groot (2014)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2014)
  • Daredevil season 1 (2015)
  • Jessica Jones season 1 (2015)
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
  • Ant-Man (2015)
  • Daredevil season 2 (2015)
  • Luke Cage season 1 (2015)
  • Iron Fist season 1 (2016)
  • The Defenders (2016)
  • Captain America: Civil War (2016)
  • Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 1
  • Black Widow (2016)
  • Black Panther (2016)
  • Spider-Man: Homecoming (2016)
  • The Punisher season 1 (2016)
  • Doctor Strange (2016-2017)
  • Jessica Jones season 2 (2017)
  • Luke Cage season 2 (2017)
  • Iron Fist season 2 (2017)
  • Daredevil season 3 (2017)
  • Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
  • The Punisher season 2 (2018)
  • Jessica Jones season 3 (2018)
  • Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018)
  • Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
  • Avengers: Endgame (2023)
  • Loki season 1 (2023)*
  • What If...? season 1 (2023)*
  • WandaVision
  • Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)*
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2024)
  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2024)
  • Spider-Man: Far From Home (2024)
  • Eternals (2024)
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home (2024)
  • Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness (2024)
  • Hawkeye (2024)
  • Moon Knight (2025)
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2025)
  • Echo (2025)
  • She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2025)
  • Ms. Marvel (2025)
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2025)
  • Ironheart (2025)
  • Werewolf by Night (2025)
  • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2025)
  • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2026)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2026)
  • Secret Invasion (2026)
  • The Marvels (2026)
  • Loki season 2 (2026)*
  • What If...? season 2 (2026)*
  • Agatha All Along (2026)
  • What If...? season 3 (2026)*
  • Daredevil: Born Again (2026-2027)
  • Captain America: Brave New World (2027)
  • Thunderbolts (2027)

*outside of the main timeline

Marvel movies in order — release order (and shows too)

Iron Man in one of the early marvel movies

(Image credit: Credit: Zade Rosenthal/Paramount)

We recommend watching the Marvel movies in order of their release for a few reasons. It’s fun to see how the special effects and actors evolve over the years. You won’t feel as bad about skipping around if you don’t want to do a complete binge-watch, and, quite frankly, the release order tells a stronger narrative — watching a movie like Captain Marvel out of release order might be more confusing than enjoyable.

You'll see below that we've broken them out into Marvel's five Phases, the groupings it uses to show the major chapters of The Infinity Saga. This is the natural way to organize your own Marvel movie marathon. Netflix's Defenders Saga (Daredevil, The Punisher, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders) is technically set in the MCU but not an official part of the franchise, so you won't see those shows listed among Marvel's Phases. One-shots like 2014's All Hail the King are similarly absent from this list.

Phase One

  • Iron Man (May 2, 2008)
  • The Incredible Hulk (June 13, 2008)
  • Iron Man 2 (May 7, 2010)
  • Thor (May 6, 2011)
  • Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22, 2011)
  • Marvel’s The Avengers (May 4, 2012)

Phase Two

  • Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013)
  • Thor: The Dark World (November 8, 2013)
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4, 2014)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1, 2014)
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1, 2015)
  • Ant-Man (July 17, 2015)

Phase Three

  • Captain America: Civil War (May 6, 2016)
  • Doctor Strange (November 4, 2016)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May 5, 2017)
  • Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 7, 2017)
  • Thor: Ragnarok (November 3, 2017)
  • Black Panther (February 16, 2018)
  • Avengers: Infinity War (April 27, 2018)
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6, 2018)
  • Captain Marvel (March 8, 2019)
  • Avengers: Endgame (April 26, 2019)
  • Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2, 2019)

Phase Four

TV shows are listed with their premiere dates.

Phase Five

  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Feb. 17, 2023)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023)
  • Secret Invasion (June 21, 2023 — TV show)
  • Loki season 2 (October 5, 2023 — TV show)
  • The Marvels (November 10, 2023)
  • What If...? season 2 (December 22, 2023 — TV show)
  • Echo (January 9, 2024 — TV show)
  • X-Men 97 (March 20, 2024 — TV show)
  • Deadpool & Wolverine (July 22, 2024)
  • Agatha All Along (September 18, 2024 — TV show)
  • Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (January 29, 2025 — TV show)
  • Captain America: Brave New World (February 14, 2025)
  • Daredevil: Born Again (March 4, 2025 — TV show)
  • Thunderbolts* (May 2, 2025)
  • Ironheart (June 24, 2025 — TV show)

Phase Six

  • The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25, 2025)
  • Eyes of Wakanda (August 1, 2025 — TV show)
  • Marvel Zombies (September 24, 2025 — TV show)

Marvel movies in 2025 and beyond (and shows too)

Phase 6

  • Wonder Man (December 2025 — TV show)
  • Daredevil: Born Again season 2 (March 2026 — TV show)
  • Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31, 2026 — film)
  • Vision Quest (TBD 2026 — TV show)
  • Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2 (TBD 2026 — TV show)
  • Avengers: Doomsday (December 18, 2026 — film)
  • Avengers: Secret War (December 17, 2027 — film)

The best Marvel movies to watch

Say you don't want to watch every movie, but just the great ones. Sure, there are some gems out there — critics loved Black Panther and Thor: Ragnarok — but for every Endgame there's also a The Incredible Hulk (remember the pre-Ruffalo Hulk?). There is only one Eternals, though. Or at least there was until Quantumania lowered the bar.

So, for those trying to find the best MCU films, we have your back. We've organized the Marvel movies in order of their Rotten Tomatoes scores, which give us a wealth of insight into how these movies were critically received.

Marvel movies on Disney Plus

Endgame on Disney Plus

(Image credit: Future)

Almost all of the MCU Marvel movies are on Disney Plus, the streaming service that most MCU fans will want to have when they get the itch to rewatch the Avengers. The lone exceptions are the Sony "Spider-Man" movies, of which only the Tom Holland-led movies are part of the MCU canon. These are often on Disney Plus, but not always, as they're subject to separate deals made between Disney and Sony.

For more, read our full Disney Plus review.

Marvel movies not on Disney Plus

MJ and Spider-Man in Far From Home

(Image credit: JoJo Whilden)

As mentioned, only the three Tom Holland "Spider-Man" movies are ever absent from Disney Plus. At present, only one of them — Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) — is not currently on Disney's streaming service.

  • Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) Streaming on Fubo and Starz, and available for rental or purchase digitally on Amazon and other services.
See more Entertainment News
TOPICS
Alyse Stanley
Alyse Stanley
News Editor

Alyse Stanley is a news editor at Tom’s Guide, overseeing weekend coverage and writing about the latest in tech, gaming, and entertainment. Before Tom’s Guide, Alyse worked as an editor for the Washington Post’s sunsetted video game section, Launcher. She previously led Gizmodo’s weekend news desk and has written game reviews and features for outlets like Polygon, Unwinnable, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun. She’s a big fan of horror movies, cartoons, and roller skating. She's also a puzzle fan and can often be found contributing to the NYT Connections coverage on Tom's Guide

With contributions from

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.