It's time to brush up on watching the Marvel movies in order. With the Thunderbolts post-credits scene setting up Avengers: Doomsday (which is now filming), you've got about a year to get cracking on an MCU marathon or a rewatch of all of the 50-plus movies and shows to get up to date with the story of Marvel Studios' universe of heroes and villains.
But where do you start? And what's the best way to watch the MCU in 2025? Below, we'll take you through how to watch the Marvel movies and shows in order, including a chronological list drawn from the Marvel timeline.
For beginners, there's also the MCU release date order from Iron Man all the way through to the current latest release in Thunderbolts.
How to watch the Marvel movies in order – release order
The release date order is the best way for MCU newcomers and those who want to keep things simple and straightforward in their MCU re-watches. We'll kick things off with 2008's Iron Man.
Here is how to watch the Marvel movies and shows in release date order.
Marvel Phase 1
- Iron Man (2008)
- The Incredible Hulk (2008)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- Thor (2011)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
- The Avengers (2012)
Marvel 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)
Marvel Phase 3
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Doctor Strange (2016)
- Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2017)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
- Black Panther (2017)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
- Captain Marvel (2019)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Marvel Phase 4
- WandaVision (2021) [Disney Plus]
- Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) [Disney Plus]
- Loki season 1 (2021) [Disney Plus]
- Black Widow (2021)
- What If...? (2021) [Disney Plus]
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
- Eternals (2021)
- Hawkeye (2021) [Disney Plus]
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
- Moon Knight (2022) [Disney Plus]
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
- Ms. Marvel (2022) [Disney Plus]
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
- I Am Groot (2022) [Disney Plus]
- She-Hulk (2022) [Disney Plus]
- Werewolf By Night (2022) [Disney Plus]
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special (2022) [Disney Plus]
Marvel Phase 5
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
- Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (2023)
- Secret Invasion (2023) [Disney Plus]
- Loki season 2 (2023) [Disney Plus]
- The Marvels (2023)
- What If...? season 2 (2023) [Disney Plus]
- Echo (2024) [Disney Plus]
- Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
- Agatha All Along (2024) [Disney Plus]
- What If...? season 3 (2024) [Disney Plus]
- Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
- Daredevil: Born Again season 1 (2025) [Disney Plus]
- Thunderbolts (2025)
To make the release date order easier to read, we've divided the list into Phases, beginning with 2008's Iron Man and leading right up to the most recent Marvel release as of writing, 2025's Daredevil: Born Again.
Need more context? The MCU is split into Phases, with the end of a Phase typically indicating a natural end to a story arc. The beginning of a Phase, therefore, signals the introduction of new, important characters.
Phases 1-3 are often referred to as the Infinity Saga and feature the assembling of the OG Avengers, including Captain America, Hulk, and Iron Man.
Phases 4-5, meanwhile, form part of the new Multiverse Saga and are punctuated by the arrival of fresh characters, X-Men teases, and more experimental works. As shown by the Thunderbolts ending, it's all leading to Phase 6's date with Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
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How to watch the Marvel movies in chronological order
Below, you'll find the best-recommended way to watch the Marvel movies in chronological order.
For this list, we use Marvel's own 'Official Timeline' book as well as its own updated chronological order on the Marvel website and on Disney Plus. Both have eased many of our temporal-based headaches.
Better yet, this chronological list will make you see the MCU in a different light by starting with Captain America: The First Avenger in the 1940s and working your way up to the MCU present day in (roughly) 2027. That now includes Netflix's Marvel shows and Marvel's One Shots for the full picture. But feel free to ignore those if you aren't in a completionist mood.
- Captain America: The First Avenger (1943-1945)
- One Shot: Agent Carter (1946)
- Captain Marvel (1995)
- Iron Man (2008)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- The Incredible Hulk (2010)
- One Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer (2010)
- Thor (2010)
- One Shot: The Consultant (2011)
- The Avengers (2012)
- One Shot: Item 47 (2012)
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Iron Man 3 (2013)
- One Shot: All Hail the King (2013)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2014)
- I Am Groot seasons 1-2 (2014)
- Daredevil season 1 (2014)
- 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)
- Marvel's Defenders (2016)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Black Widow (2016)
- Black Panther (2016)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2016)
- The Punisher season 1 (2016)
- Doctor Strange (2016-17)
- 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 (2017)
- Jessica Jones season 3 (2017)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Avengers: Endgame (2018-2023)
- Loki (outside of our conception of time, but around here!)
- Loki season 2 (also outside of our conception of time!)
- What If...? (multiverse)
- WandaVision (2023)
- Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings (2024)
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2024)
- Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2024)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2024)
- Eternals (2024)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2024)
- Hawkeye (Christmas 2024)
- Moon Knight (2025)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2025)
- Echo (2025)
- She-Hulk (2025)
- Ms. Marvel (2025)
- The Marvels (2025)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2025)
- Werewolf By Night (2025)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2025)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2026)
- Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (2026)
- Secret Invasion (2026)
- Agatha All Along (2026)
- Captain America: Brave New World (2026/2027)
- Daredevil: Born Again (2027)
- Thunderbolts (2027)
As you can imagine, this chronological order a little less straightforward than the prior release date list. But we now have official confirmation of where most of the MCU stands.
The 20th Century side of the Marvel timeline only features Captain America's WW2 exploits, Captain Carter's post-war adventures, and Captain Marvel's blockbuster-era '90s origins.
From there, Iron Man takes place in 2008 before 'Fury's Big Week' in 2010, a bizarre period of time that sees several Marvel movies taking place in the same week. Other major milestones include 2012's Battle of New York (as seen in The Avengers), The Snap in 2018, and the Endgame time skip up to 2023.
We've now reached 2026 and 2027, with a handful of steps back in time in entries such as Deadpool and Wolverine (which takes place first in 2018, then in 2024). The most recent project chronologically is Thunderbolts, which appears to take place in 2027, although its post-credits scene occurs over a year later in the lead-up to Doomsday.
For more on that, you'll need our guide on where Thunderbolts takes place on the Marvel timeline.
Marvel has also revealed the exact months or rough windows of when things happened in the MCU, but honestly, that doesn't specifically matter if you're just planning to sit down and consume them without doing what amounts to homework.
All you need to know is everything is now officially correct above if you want to watch the Marvel movies in chronological order, even if Marvel Studios doesn't always take the best care with its timeline. Our advice? Try not to think too hard about it.
Upcoming Marvel movies and shows
What's next in the MCU? Marvel has laid out plans for Marvel Phase 5 – which began in 2023 – and beyond. Out of the current list, the most recent Marvel release is Thunderbolts.
We also have Ironheart to look forward to, which starts Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams.
Fantastic Four is going to kick off Marvel's Phase 6, but Blade is currently no longer on the release schedule.
On the TV side of things, 2025 is proving exceptionally busy. A new Marvel trailer has given a glimpse at six new series, meaning that this year's calendar year will be the joint-busiest MCU year ever (nine, tied with 2021). You can see them all, from Eyes of Wakanda to Wonder Man, down below.
For now, though, here's a taste of the confirmed Marvel movies and shows coming out over the next few years; it's the perfect way to futureproof your upcoming MCU binge-watches.
Marvel Phase 5
- Ironheart: June 24, 2025 (Disney Plus series)
Marvel Phase 6
- Fantastic Four – July 25, 2025
- Eyes of Wakanda: August 6, 2025
- Marvel Zombies: October 2025
- Wonder Man: December 2025
- Untitled Marvel Movie – February 13, 2026
- Avengers: Doomsday – May 1, 2026
- Spider-Man 4 – July 31, 2026
- Untitled Marvel Movie – November 6, 2026
- Avengers: Secret Wars – May 7, 2027
- Untitled Marvel Movie – July 3, 2027
- Untitled Marvel Movie – November 5, 2027
TBA (unreleased):
- Armor Wars – TBA
- Black Panther 3 – TBA
- Shang-Chi 2 – TBA
- Vision Quest – TBA
- X-Men – TBA
Can I watch the Marvel movies in order on Disney Plus?
Yes, you can now watch the vast majority of the MCU on Disney Plus. That wasn't always the case, however.
Up until very recently, multiple Marvel movies and shows (including the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies) weren't on the Disney streaming service.
Things got even better when Netflix's Defenders series, including Daredevil, were also added to Disney Plus.
Now, only a handful of names are missing. Among those making the Marvel movies and shows list incomplete are recent theatrical releases Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts, but we expect them to land on Disney Plus in the next three-to-four months.
- Iron Man
- The Incredible Hulk
- 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
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Ant-Man
- Captain America: Civil War
- Doctor Strange
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Black Panther
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Captain Marvel
- Ant-Man and the Wasp
- Avengers: Endgame
- Spider-Man: Far From Home
- WandaVision
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
- Loki
- Black Widow
- What If...? seasons 1-3
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
- Eternals
- Hawkeye
- Moon Knight
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
- Ms. Marvel
- She-Hulk
- Thor: Love and Thunder
- Werewolf By Night
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
- Secret Invasion
- Guardians of the Galaxy 3
- Loki season 2
- Echo
- The Marvels
- Deadpool and Wolverine
- Agatha All Along
- Daredevil: Born Again
Are Spider-Man, X-Men, and Daredevil canon to the MCU?
Then there's the complicated question of how X-Men, Spider-Man, and Netflix's Defenders series (Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones) fit into the Sacred Timeline.
As of 2025, the Marvel Netflix shows are officially canon. Daredevil: Born Again is the latest entry, and continues the story of Charlie Cox's Man Without Fear.
If you're short on time (and interest), everything here is technically skippable if you're only focusing on the MCU, though we'd certainly recommend the mainline Daredevil series on Disney Plus (formerly Netflix) before moving on to Born Again.
If you want to tackle Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and The Punisher, then you're going to want to know the watch order. Luckily, we have exactly the piece you're after: how to watch The Defenders Saga in order. The list is also below:
- Daredevil season 1
- Jessica Jones season 1
- Daredevil season 2
- Luke Cage season 1
- Iron Fist season 1
- The Defenders
- The Punisher season 1
- Jessica Jones season 2
- Luke Cage season 2
- Iron Fist season 2
- Daredevil season 3
- The Punisher season 2
- Jessica Jones season 3
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (non-Defenders Saga movie)
- Hawkeye (non-Defenders Saga show)
- She-Hulk episode 8 (non-Defenders Saga show)
- Echo (non-Defenders Saga show)
- Daredevil: Born Again
X-Men, meanwhile, exist completely outside of the MCU as part of (formerly) Fox's X-Men cinematic universe on Earth-10005. But things are getting complicated when it comes to mutants thanks to Hugh Jackman’s recent return as Wolverine – as well as if the events of The Marvels post-credits scene head where we think they're heading.
Deadpool and Wolverine firmly places the Fox X-Men movies outside of the MCU – but only after we see how they directly affect the Sacred Timeline and how the TVA is aware of their existence. A Deadpool and Wolverine deleted scene has also made reference to the Sacred Timeline being the universe to focus on in the MCU. That (confusingly) makes those X-Men movies canon in the wider multiverse of the MCU before removing them as a concern entirely.
Basically, the door on the Fox X-Men movies is closed for now, and they exist on the outskirts of the MCU instead of firmly within it. Only time will tell us how mutants will factor into the cinematic universe going forward. For now, you can watch them separately with our guide on how to watch the X-Men movies in order. The list is also below.
- X-Men
- X2: X-Men United
- X-Men: The Last Stand
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine
- X-Men: First Class
- The Wolverine
- X-Men: Days of Future Past
- Deadpool
- X-Men: Apocalypse
- Logan
- Deadpool 2
- X-Men: Dark Phoenix
- New Mutants
- Deadpool & Wolverine
Finally, how does Spider-Man fit into the Marvel movies order? The simple answer is only Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home are in the MCU, as well as Tom Holland's appearances in other Marvel films such as Avengers: Infinity War.
Spider-Man-centric properties such as the Venom trilogy or Kraven are part of Sony's Spider-Man universe and should be treated as a separate entity, even if there is some occasional crossover.
Now we're getting to the confusing bit: the multiverse. Thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home, we have had various Spider-Man villains from throughout the multiverse travel into the MCU. To fully understand everyone's motives and intentions in No Way Home, you need to have watched a fair few older Spider-Man movies.
These take place on alternate timelines: one where Tobey Maguire is Spider-Man, and another where Andrew Garfield is Spidey. For a full deep dive into watching these movies, then check out our guide to how to watch the Spider-Man movies in order.
Long story, short: Tom Holland's Spider-Man currently exists in the MCU, with the other Sony Spider-Man movies existing (broadly speaking) in the multiverse and aren't a concern for this watch order. Don't expect them to appear again into the main Marvel universe anytime soon, though.
Need more? Here are the best movies on Disney Plus and the best shows on Disney Plus. For more watch guides, be sure to dive into how to watch Demon Slayer in order and how to watch Attack on Titan in order.
