Watching Marvel movies in order is becoming trickier as each new film is released. It can be confusing figuring out which TV shows and blockbusters will go where during a marathon of the marvel cinematic universe.
We currently have 25 MCU movies that are taking in a similar universe. These movies are connected by similar characters & events. So, you would be excused for being confused about how all the movies are fit together and in what order you should watch them.
The MCU broke new ground in 2012 after The Avengers, which combined dissimilar heroes from their respective films (Iron Man & Captain America) into a single team-up film before breaking them up into their sequels. This way of telling stories is used a lot in comics. But serializing a story over many films with diverse characters and tones was never done before. And is still a gold mine for compelling storylines.
In this blog, we are providing a chronological order list of marvel movies events. These MCU movies are highly recommended. Therefore, if you are in the mood to binge-watch a franchise, here are the best methods to watch it.
The order of these lists also closely follows its own comprehensive MCU timeline, when each event takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
What are Marvel Movies – MCU Movies
The Marvel cinematic universe is the USA based on a media franchise. They share universal series of superhero films which is produced by Marvel studio. The movies are based on USA-based comic book characters. And that is published by Marvel comics.
Additionally, the television series, digital series & literature are part of this franchise. The shared universe is similar to the Marvel universe of comics, which is based on common plot elements, settings, cast members, and characters. Basically, there are 3 phases in the franchise known as “The Infinity Saga,” which are described below. The 4th phase began with the series WandaVision, which debuted in January 2021, on the other hand, the first theatrical film in this phase is Black Widow, which was released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in July 2021.
- 1st Phase – Iron Man (2008) was the first MCU film, which ended in the crossover film The Avengers (2012).
- 2nd Phase: This phase started with Iron Man 3 (2013), which ended with Ant-Man (2015).
- 3rd Phase: This phase began with Captain America: Civil War (2016), which ended with Spider Man (2019)
How to Watch Marvel Movies in Chronological Order
We can start with a chronological order movie that is known as Marvel Cinematic Universal timeline. Therefore, the MCU timeline includes phase 4 Black Widow, Shang-Chi & Eternals.
Now we describe how to watch the given MCU movies in chronological order. That starts with Captain America & ends with the introduction of Eternals in the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) whisk.
The most recent film in the chronological timeline is Spider-Man: Far from Home, which was released in 2019. But it is set in 2023 due to the Endgame time jump. According to reports, Eternals is set after eight months after Avengers: Endgame and Far From Home. While the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home is set much later.
There are many fans of MCU movies. Therefore, they believe that this is the best way to watch MCU movies as elements. Due to the different characters are introduced and interact with them. In this way, if you are a long-term fan, you will probably enjoy watching Marvel movies. Here’s the list of marvel movies in the order shown below that you can see how they line up with the film.
The Chronological Order – Marvel Movies:
Here’s the following chronological order of the Marvel movies from 2021:
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- Captain Marvel
- Iron Man
- Iron Man 2
- The Incredible Hulk
- Thor
- The Avengers
- Thor: The Dark World
- Iron Man 3
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Guardians of the Galaxy 2
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Ant-Man
- Captain America: Civil War
- Black Widow
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Black Panther
- Doctor strange
- Black Panther
- Thor: Ragnarök
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Ant-Man & The Wasp
- Avengers: Endgame
- Spider-Man: Far from Home
- Shang-Chi & The Legends of the Ten Rings
- Eternals
Black Widow, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange are all set around the same time. But they are set over varying lengths of time, which makes ordering them difficult.
The movie Black Widow is the first movie of phase 4 because it takes place entirely within the context of Captain America: Civil War. The director of Shang-Chi (Daniel Cretton) revealed the martial arts hero’s film. The Eternal is set long before the origin story of Captain America. Accordingly, the timeline is becoming more & more chaotic as time passes.
The film Wanda Vision was released first in phase 4 but in the given timeline of the MCU. It is almost certain that The Falcon & the winter soldier comes first. All of these shows are all set before Eternals.
The animated series of MCU is – What If – and it is like the movie Loki. It is set in the vast universe. Therefore, it revolves around events we have seen on big and small screens.
The 4 Phases of Marvel Movies in Order – The Release Date
Furthermore, you can watch marvel cinematic universe movies with the following release dates. Here are the given below list, you may read more.
This is the order Marvel Studios intended you to watch the movie, and you will see how the movies got bigger and better over time – especially after Disney took over and started ramping up the budgets.
You can also check out our official Marvel Phase 4 hub for more information. Here are the Marvel Phase 4 movie and TV show release dates.
Phase 1
- 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 2
- 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 3
- Captain America: Civil War – 2016
- Doctor Strange – 2016
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – 2017
- Spider-Man: Homecoming – 2017
- Thor: Ragnarök – 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 4
- Wanda Vision – TV show
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – TV show
- Loki – TV show
- Black Widow – 2021
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – 2021
- Eternals – 2021
- Hawkeye – TV show
The Disney Plus Marvel Movies – In Order
The ownership of marvel is owned by Disney. So, most of its movies are accessible on Disney plus if you are a Disney subscriber.
Two movies that are not available on Disney plus are Spider-Man & The Hulk. Because the distribution rights belong to Universal & Sony, respectively. You can buy these two movies on blue ray, DVD, and digital if you want a complete marvel movie marathon order.
Here are the US & UK-based Marvel movies in order on Disney Plus, which you can enjoy in the meantime of your choice.
- Iron Man
- Thor
- Iron Man 2
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Avengers
- Iron Man 3
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Thor: The Dark World
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Ant-Man
- Captain America: Civil War
- Doctor Strange
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
- Captain Marvel
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Avengers: Endgame
- Thor: Ragnarök
- Black Panther
- Ant-Man and the Wasp
- Black Widow
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
The Best Way to Watch – Marvel Movies in Order
We recommend watching the films in their original release order, that’s the order in which they were made. Unless you are a newbie to the MCU, all Easter eggs, post-credits scenes make the most sense viewed in this order.
It would be best if you did not watch marvel movies in chronological order. If you are unfamiliar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though the method sounds appealing in theory, it might actually ruin your MCU experience for a number of reasons.
Furthermore, when Captain Marvel becomes your second MCU film, you will miss out on all of the references and in-jokes established in the previous 17 films.
The Method to Download & Watch MCU Movies
A large number of Marvel movies in order are available to stream on Disney Plus. It is also possible to download the films from the service to watch them on the go. Here are the easy steps you need to take to get started.
- Open Disney Plus
- Search for the film you want to download on the home screen.
- To download Disney Plus, go to the bottom menu and select the download arrow icon.
- View and watch your downloaded titles in the “Downloads” section from the app’s bottom menu.
You need more storage to download and watch the different movies by using Disney plus app. The downloaded content will remain in the device memory if the device does not have a microSD card.
The different movies take a different number of MBs to download the movie. The movie will take high MBs if the resolution of the movie is high. The Disney Plus app’s default is to use high quality, which is six times better than standard quality. The medium quality is 50% better than the standard quality.
The Upcoming Marvel Movies & Series – In Order
In addition, we will update you on our page through the blog as new marvel movies & shows are added to the Disney plus and the timeline of phase 4. For now, here is the upcoming ultimate list of what to look forward to by release date of movies & shows:
The Upcoming Marvel Series:
- She-Hulk – [2022]
- Hawkeye – [November 24, 2021]
- MS Marvel – [Mid-2022]
- Moon Knight – [2022]
- The Marvels – [November 11, 2022]
- Secret Invasion – TBA
- Armor Wars – TBA
- Untitled Wakanda series – TBA
- Echo – TBA
- Agatha: House of Harkness – TBA
- Spider-Man: Freshman Year – TBA
The Upcoming Marvel Movies:
- Spider-Man: No Way Home – [December 17, 2021]
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – [March 25, 2022]
- Thor: Love and Thunder – [May 6, 2022]
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – [July 8, 2022]
- The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special – [Christmas 2022]
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantomania – [February 17, 2023]
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – [May 5, 2023]
- Fantastic Four – TBA
- Iron heart – TBA
- Loki season 2 – TBA
FAQs – About the Marvel Movies in Order
Q: Does the Incredible Hulk belong to the MCU?
A: In theatres, an American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character the Hulk, The Incredible Hulk, was released in 2008. The film is the 2nd in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Q: Does it make more sense to watch Marvel movies in chronological order or release order?
A: When you watch in chronological order, it does not feel any different than when you watch in release order. But it makes everything feel much more coherent. The two most significant changes come right out of the gate, as Captain America: The First Avenger (the 5th released movie) and Captain Marvel (the 21st released movie) jump to No. 1.
Q: What is the timeline of Black Widow?
Is Black Widow part of the MCU timeline? It’s worth clarifying that the story of Black Widow is set earlier in the Marvel timeline: right after Captain America: Civil War and before Avengers: Infinity War.
Q: How can I watch Marvel for the first time?
A: You can begin watching Season 1 after Iron Man 3 since it involves the use of Extremis and watches all the way to episode 7. You should also watch Episode 8 of Thor: The Dark World, in which the team deals with the mess that Thor left at Greenwich.
Q: What is the basis for the Marvel movies?
A: There are top 10 comic storylines that inspired the marvel cinematic universe.
- Annihilation: Conquest
- Avengers: Ultron Unlimited
- Black Panther Vol. 3
- Tales Of Suspense #39
- The Ultimate
- The Winter Soldier
- The Infinity Gauntlet
- Planet Hulk
- Iron Man: Extremis
- Civil War
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Marvel cinematic universe is a USA-based franchise. They share universal series of superhero films which is produced by Marvel studio. We have listed all the marvel movies that can be downloaded, or we can buy. A large number of Marvel movies are available to stream on Disney Plus. It is also possible to download the films from the service to watch them on the go. We also guide beginners on downloading and watching the marvel movies and TV series in order. In the last, we update the list of top upcoming marvel movies. So, you can share with your friends who are interested in Marvel jam.
