Watching the Marvel movies in order can seem like a huge task given that there are 24 MCU movies in chronological order to work your way through.
In fact, the task before you may seem daunting, but that’s where we come in: this guide will give you a comprehensive overview of the MCU so far as well as the different watch orders in which you can enjoy the epic series.
We’ll explain how to watch the Marvel movies in release date order and chronological order as well as the lesser-known spaghetti order.
Each section breaks down the MCU timeline in an easy to follow format so you can binge away to your heart’s content.
That’s not all, either, as we can also include Disney Plus’ vast library with the genre-bending WandaVision, the action-packed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and high-concept Loki, (check out our breakdown of the jaw-dropping Loki ending for details), and the feel-good Hawkeye.
There are more MCU series on the way on Disney Plus too, including Ms Marvel, Moon Knight, She-Hulk and more.
Fortunately, it’s never been easier to watch all the Marvel movies in order as Disney Plus has nearly every movie, and they come in 4k too. Recently, the streaming platform has welcomed Black Widow to its stellar line-up, along with the martial arts movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
And now Eternals has come to cinemas, adding another movie to Marvel’s output with a slightly simpler place in the timeline (it takes place after Avengers: Endgame explicitly).
There are plenty of new Marvel movies set for a release soon, including; Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (November 11, 2022), The Marvels (February 17, 2023), Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3 (May 5, 2023), and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (July 28, 2023).
That’s not even counting the hotly anticipated Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 6, 2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8 2022) and an all-new incarnation of the Fantastic Four.
For more information on all of the above projects, check out our full guide to the upcoming Marvel movies and every upcoming Marvel series, which will make sure you don’t miss a thing.
With so many new additions on the way the MCU timeline can get a little muddled, but there are two main ways to watch Marvel movies in order, chronological order, which kicks things off with Captain America: The First Avenger, or Marvel movies in release order, which starts with Iron Man. When it comes to the best Marvel movies in order, it’s really down to you, we like seeing things in release order as they naturally developed, but always advocate giving the chronological order a go at least once.
With Phase 4 now well underway there’s no better time to get started. We’ve included all your options so get that Marvel movie marathon binge started now.
- All the upcoming Marvel movies
How to watch the Marvel movies in order: chronological order
Looking at the series in chronological order, it’s actually Captain America: The First Avenger that is set earliest, taking place during the Second World War where a skinny Steve Rogers is first dosed with the incredible Super Soldier Serum.
The latest film entry in the chronological timeline is Spider-Man: Far From Home, which was released in 2019 but due to the Endgame time-jump, actually takes place in the year 2023. Apparently new 2021 film Eternals is set around the same time as Far From Home (about eight months after Avengers: Endgame), while the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home will be set later still.
Some fans believe that this is the best way to watch the MCU movies as elements are introduced as the characters in the story encounter them – for instance, this method makes Nick Fury’s Infinity War cameo more satisfying, as viewers will already have the context provided by Captain Marvel (released in cinemas the following year).
However, there are other cases in which this is a detriment, such as Ant-Man and the Wasp, which is largely set before the events of Infinity War, but its own post-credits scene spoils the ending to the epic crossover movie.
Here’s the Marvel movies in chronological viewing order:
- Captain America: The First Avenger (1942)
- Captain Marvel (1995)
- Iron Man (2010)
- Iron Man 2 (2011)
- The Incredible Hulk (2011)
- Thor (2011)
- The Avengers (2012)
- Iron Man 3 (2012)
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Ant-Man (2015)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Black Widow (2016, excluding post-credits scene)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2016)
- Doctor Strange (2016-2017)
- Black Panther (2017)
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2017)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (2017)
- Avengers: Endgame (2017-2022)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2023)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2023)
- Eternals (2023, excluding flashbacks)
The recently released Disney Plus shows both take place after the events of Far From Home, although they were released out of order. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was intended to be the first Marvel series to launch on the service, but suffered a substantial delay due to filming interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
WandaVision was released first, but in the timeline of the MCU, it is likely that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier actually comes first. All of these shows are set earlier than Eternals.
- Loki (after Endgame, but outside of the main timeline – read more on Loki’s timeline)
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2023)
- WandaVision (2023)
- Hawkeye (2023
Marvel’s What If…? is set outside the main timeline, as it takes place in various parallel realities.
Marvel movies in order: release date order
If the chronological order sounds a little too confusing, there is also the option to simply watch in release date order, which also neatly categorises the MCU story into four distinct “phases”.
The first three phases make up what is now referred to as the Infinity Saga, beginning with the introduction of the Avengers characters and ending with the time-hopping mega-event that was Avengers: Endgame.
Watching this method will send you on the same journey that millions of Marvel fans all over the world have enjoyed, allowing you to watch first-hand how the MCU grew from a fairly grounded superhero flick to an all-out space opera.
It’s true that watching this way will mean you see some events outside of their in-universe order, i.e. the origin of Captain America or the first meeting between Nick Fury and Captain Marvel, but this doesn’t cause any serious storytelling problems.
In release date order, the MCU begins with 2008’s Iron Man and continues all the way up to 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, with several new movies to be added to that list later this year.
Phase One
- Iron Man (May, 2008)
- The Incredible Hulk (June, 2008)
- Iron Man 2 (May, 2010)
- Thor (May, 2011)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22, 2011)
- Avengers Assemble (May 4, 2012)
Phase Two
- Iron Man 3 (May, 2013)
- Thor: The Dark World (November, 2013)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April, 2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (August, 2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (May, 2015)
- Ant-Man (July, 2015)
Phase Three
- Captain America: Civil War (May, 2016)
- Doctor Strange (November, 2016)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May, 2017)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (July, 2017)
- Thor: Ragnarok (November, 2017)
- Black Panther (February, 2018)
- Avengers: Infinity War (April, 2018)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (July, 2018)
- Captain Marvel (March, 2019)
- Avengers: Endgame (April, 2019)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (July, 2019)
Phase Four
- Wandavision (TV series)
- The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (TV series)
- Loki season 1 (TV series)
- Black Widow (9th July 2021)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (3rd September 2021)
- Eternals (5th November 2021)
- Hawkeye (24th November 2021)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (17th December 2021)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (6th May 2022)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (8th July 2022)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (11th November 2022)
- Moon Knight (TV show – 2022)
- She-Hulk (TV show – 2022)
- Ms Marvel (TV series- mid-2022)
- Secret Invasion (TV show – 2022)
- The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (TV special – December 2022)
- The Marvels (17th February 2023)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (5th May 2023)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (28th July 2023)
Future MCU movies and TV shows
- Blade (Movie – TBA)
- Fantastic Four (Movie – TBA)
- Ironheart (TV show – TBA)
- Armor Wars (TV show – TBA)
- Wakanda Series (TV show – TBA)
- Echo (TV show- TBA)
- Agatha: House of Harkness (TV Show – TBA)
- Spider-Man: Freshman Year (Animated TV Show – TBA)
- Loki season 2 (TV Show – TBA)
Marvel movies on Disney Plus
As Marvel is owned by Disney, you can watch most of the MCU movies whenever you like if you’re a subscriber to the studio’s very own streaming service: Disney Plus.
That said, there are a few movies missing from the platform at the time of writing, specifically The Incredible Hulk (as it is owned by Universal) and Tom Holland’s recent Spider-Man movies (as they were co-produced with Sony Pictures).
Fortunately, The Incredible Hulk is available to rent on Amazon from just £2.49, while Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far From Home are available to purchase digitally.
You also have a few more TV series coming to Disney Plus. You’ve probably already watched WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and the animated series What If…, with Hawkeye currently being released on Disney Plus.
As well as these series, we have coming up:
- Ms Marvel (mid-2022)
- She-Hulk (2022)
- Moon Knight (2022)
- Secret Invasion (2022)
- The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (December 2022)
- Ironheart (TBA)
- Armor Wars (TBA)
- Wakanda Series (TBA)
- Echo (TBA)
- Agatha: House of Harkness (TBA)
- Loki season 2 (TBA)
- Spider-Man: Freshman Year (Animated TV Show – TBA)
What’s the best way to watch the Marvel movies in order?
!["Captain]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2019/03/captain-marvel-1fb17b4.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413" "\"Captain")
While the choice is yours entirely, we’d recommend just watching in plain ol’ release order – it’s the order in which the films were produced and so, ultimately, the order in which they are best viewed…. at least if you’re an MCU newbie, with post-credits scenes, Easter eggs and so on all making the most sense viewed in this order.
We would advise against using the chronological order if you’re a total newcomer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the method sounds appealing in theory, there are several reasons why it could actually hamper your overall experience of the MCU.
First off: you may struggle to remember the background of certain characters. Captain Marvel, for instance, will be introduced in the second film in the list, but won’t be mentioned again until more than 40 screen hours later.
Also, making Captain Marvel your second MCU movie means you miss out on the in-jokes and references established over 17 preceding entries.
However, there is something to be said for ardent Marvel fans revisiting the saga chronologically, as this will give more depth to the backstory of some key characters and brings a new understanding of the MCU timeline (e.g. many don’t realise that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 and 2 are set mere months apart).
- How to watch all the DC Extended Universe movies in order
- All the upcoming Marvel movies
Best Marvel movies
Another factor that might help you decide which order to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies is their review scores, which have varied a little over the years.
We’ve ranked the franchise below according to their IMDb scores, decided by the consensus of a large number of fans, and it’s little surprise to see the two most recent Avengers films come out on top.
- Avengers: Endgame (IMDb score: 8.4)
- Avengers: Infinity War (IMDb score: 8.4)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (IMDb score: 8.1)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (IMDb score: 8)
- Avengers Assemble (IMDb score: 8)
- Iron Man (IMDb score: 7.9)
- Thor: Ragnarok (IMDb score: 7.9)
- Captain America: Civil War(IMDb score: 7.8)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (IMDb score: 7.7)
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 (IMDb score: 7.6)
- Spider-Man: Far from Home (IMDb score: 7.5)
- Doctor Strange (IMDb score: 7.5)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (IMDb score: 7.4)
- Black Panther (IMDb score: 7.3)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (IMDb score: 7.3)
- Ant-Man (IMDb score: 7.3)
- Iron Man 3 (IMDb score: 7.2)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (IMDb score: 7.1)
- Black Widow (IMDb score: 7)
- Thor (IMDb score: 7)
- Iron Man 2 (IMDb score: 7)
- Captain Marvel (IMDb score: 6.9)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (IMDb score: 6.9)
- Thor: The Dark World (IMDb score: 6.9)
- The Incredible Hulk (IMDb score: 6.7)
- Eternals (IMDb score: 6.4)
Best Marvel series on Disney Plus
!["Loki"]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/06/60bfda1e2feb6f00181edab9-0220189.jpeg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"second-loki-leak-lady-loki\"")
We can also see the IMDb scores for each of the series released as part of the MCU’s Phase Four and were released on Disney Plus.
- Loki (IMDb score 8.3)
- Hawkeye (IMDb score 8.1)
- WandaVision (IMDb score 8.0)
- What If…? (IMDb score 7.5)
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (IMDb score 7.3)
It is worth noting that we are only including the series that count as part of the MCU phases and not including the Marvel Netflix series or ABC and Hulu shows.
Hawkeye still has episodes remaining and so will be updated when this has been completed.
Marvel Studios’ Netflix series according to their IMDb ratings can be found below.
- Daredevil (IMDb score 8.6)
- The Punisher (IMDb score 8.5)
- The Defenders (IMDb score 8.3)
- Jessica Jones (IMDb score 7.9)
- Luke Cage (IMDb score 7.3)
- Iron Fist (IMDb score 6.4)
We think it’s safe to say that Iron Fist is the least popular of these shows!
How to download and watch Marvel movies
As we laid out above, most of the Marvel movies are available to stream on Disney Plus. However, you can also download the films from the service to watch on the go. Here’s your step-by-step guide.
- Open your Disney Plus app (see how to download here).
- At the home screen, search for the film you want to download to your device.
- Tap on the download arrow icon at the bottom menu of the Disney Plus app.
- To see and watch your downloaded titles, visit the “Downloads” tab on the app’s bottom menu.
You can download an unlimited number of movies from the Disney Plus mobile app. Your downloaded shows will only be able to watch so long as you’re a subscriber to the service.
You can also buy, rent and download each Marvel movie on Amazon (you do not need to be an Amazon Prime customer to do this).
Wondering what else you can watch on Disney Plus? Take a look at our best Disney Plus series guide or the best Disney Plus movies.
- For the latest news and expert tips on getting the best deals this year, take a look at our Black Friday 2021 and Cyber Monday 2021 guides.
Upcoming MCU movies and shows
!["WandaVision"]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/02/Agatha-Harkness-70bca16.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Agatha")
We’ll update this page as new movies and shows are added to Disney+ and Phase 4 of the MCU timeline, but, for now, we’ve rounded up your ultimate list on what to look forward to by release date:
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (17th December 2021)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (25th March 2022)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (6th May 2022)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (8th July 2022)
- Ms Marvel (mid-2022)
- She-Hulk (2022)
- Moon Knight (2022)
- The Marvels (11th November 2022)
- The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (Christmas 2022)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (17th February 2023)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (5th May 2023)
- Fantastic Four (TBA)
- Secret Invasion (TBA)
- Ironheart (TBA)
- Armor Wars (TBA)
- Untitled Wakanda series (TBA)
- Echo (TBA)
- Agatha: House of Harkness (TBA)
- Loki season 2 (TBA)
- Spider-Man: Freshman Year (Animated TV Show – TBA)
You can sign up to Disney+ for £1.99 for the first month (usually £7.99, ends 14th November)
Check out more of our movies coverage or visit our TV guide to see what’s on tonight.