How to watch the Marvel movies in order
It’s becoming a tremendous endeavor to figure out how to view the Marvel movies on chronological sequence. This Marvel Cinematic Universe storyline is getting more complicated with each new movie or TV program that Marvel Studios publishes, making it harder for fans to understand where each tale fits into the studio’s overall plan.
It will only get harder to keep pace of everything as additional Marvel movies plus Disney Plus episodes are planned for release in 2022 and beyond. In contrast to a number of many other Phase 4 projects, Thor: Love and Thunder (a next MCU movie to hit theatres) won’t have any multiversal aspects, but fans will still question where it fits into the main chronology. We are left to figure out how to view the Marvel movies on sequence on our own as Marvel itself does not provide a comprehensive list of where each film and television series belongs on that chronology.
However, if you require assistance, let us serve as your guide. The two greatest ways to view the MCU films in chronological sequence are outlined here, along with which of those two is our favorite method of streaming them. Or, if you want to go old school, watch them on a DVD.
How many Marvel movies are there, and how should they be watched?
The MCU now has 28 theatrical releases. Iron Man, released in 2008, served as the franchise’s launchpad, and Doctor Strange with in Multiverse of Madness, released in May 2022, serves as its bookend.
Even by end of 2022, that number is anticipated to reach 30. There will be 33 movies available when the entire Marvel Phase 4 movie slate debuts, several of which are already listed in our top superhero movies guide. That is, unless Phase 4 also sees the release of Blade, Fantastic Four, as Well as the Thunderbolts, in which case the total will increase to 36. Therefore, the question of what order to see the Marvel movies together will only get more difficult to answer.
How to view the Marvel films in sequence of release
The Marvel films will be watched in the sequence of the years they take place in, so let’s begin with the chronological order of the films.
You’ll begin with the WWII origin narrative of Captain America and finish in Doctor Strange 2, who we believe takes place in the early years of 2024. We’ll get to the MCU Disney Plus episodes that are based upon Doctor Strange’s second solo film (which features a lot of fan favorite appearances) shortly.
The problematic part about Eternals, which also has a stylish appearance in the conclusion, is that there are memories to eras before Captain America was created. However, we have positioned Eternals shortly before With no Way Home in the MCU chronology to avoid any more misunderstandings.
Some other timeframes are also unclear. For instance, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Black Widow all take place around the same time. (Read about the finale of Black Widow here.) Where these MCU films fall in relation to one another is difficult to determine without an accurate chronology breakdown from Marvel Studios. We thus tried our research with the information at our disposal.
Since Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel TV series have also been taken into consideration, thus we have also included them. Thus, this post is no longer strictly about the Marvel movies in sequence, but wants must, eh?
Both series actually occur prior Spider-Man- Far From Home since WandaVision actually occurs a few weeks after Avengers: Endgame and The Falcon as well as the Winter Soldier takes place six months after Endgame. We recommend viewing Loki after Avengers: Endgame because it is actually place following 2012’s The Avengers but in a different timeline.
What If…?, the first animated series in the MCU, is like Loki. Since it is situated in a larger multiverse, it revolves around things that have happened on both large and tiny screens. A year after Endgame, Hawkeye takes place, while Moon Knight, like Doctor Strange 2, appears to take place in the “current day,” which would be about 2024.
Finally, Ms. Marvel co-creator Sana Amanat claims that the film will take place either one two years (i.e., 2025 or 2026) after Endgame. Amanat has acknowledged that it is challenging to pinpoint Ms. Marvel’s precise location in the MCU’s expanding and muddled timeline.
The Marvel movies may be seen in chronological sequence using the following method, which also includes Hollywood studio’s Disney Plus series:
- In Captain America: The First Avenger, WWII is the setting.
- In 1995, Captain Marvel is released.
- 2008 is the year that Iron Man is set.
- Iron Man 2 occurs after the events of Iron Man.
- Unknown period of time, before the Avengers
- Events in Thor take place 6 months before Avengers
- The Avengers is set around 2012.
- The events of Iron Man 3 occur six months later. Infinity War
- Thor: Dark World: Before Ultron and after the Avengers
- Captain America: Winter Soldier, pre-Ultron and post-Avengers
- In 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume. 1 will be released.
- It takes place after the events of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume.
- In 2015, Avengers: Age of Ultron will release.
- 2015 is the year of Ant-Man.
- Post-Ultron, before the Infinity War, in Captain America: Civil War
- Black Widow – just following the American Civil War
- Pre-Infinity War, post-Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Doctor Strange is a 2016 film.
- Black Panther is a 2017 movie.
- Pre-Infinity War and post-Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok
- The 2017 Avengers: Infinity War movie
- Uncertain but excellently placed between Infinity War as well as Endgame is Ant-Man and The Wasp (so around 2017)
- Beginning in 2017 and ending in 2022, Avengers: Endgame
- After three weeks, WandaVision Thor: The Dark World
- Six months after Endgame, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
- Eight months after the events of Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home is set.
- After The Avengers in 2012, Loki is best viewed after Endgame.
- What If…? season 1 is best seen after Endgame even if it technically spans the whole multiverse.
- The year 2022 is supposedly the setting for Shang-Chi as well as the Legend of the Ten Rings.
- The MCU film Eternals is set in the “current day,” although it spans 7,000 years of history.
- The first ten minutes of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is primarily set in the “current” day of the MCU, occur immediately after Far From Home.
- Hawkeye takes place one year after Endgame, in 2024; Moon Knight, in 2024; Doctor Strange inside the Multiverse of Madness, 3 months after The no Way Home, somewhere in 2024; and Ms. Marvel, one to 2 years after Endgame, in the vicinity of 2025 and 2026.
How to watch the Marvel movies in release date order
Would you like to find out how to watch the Marvel movies in order? Try this list instead.
Learn how to watch every Marvel movie in order by reading the information below. Despite being a television series, it starts in 2008 to Man of Steel and ends in 2022 with Ms. Marvel.
Once more, we’ve placed the MCU TV series next to the motion pictures. This is because Black Widow was released before TV shows like WandaVision. They must thus be placed next to other movies from the same time period.
In order to see the Marvel movies in order, follow these guidelines:
Stage 1
- Iron Man (2008)
- The Incredible Hulk (2008)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- Thor (2011)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
- The Avengers (2012)
Stage 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)
Stage 3
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Doctor Strange (2016)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
- Thor: Ragnarok (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)
Stage 4
- WandaVision (TV show, 2021)
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TV show, 2021)
- Loki (TV show, 2021)
- Black Widow (2021)
- What If…? (TV show, 2021)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
- Eternals (2021)
- Hawkeye (TV show, 2021)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
- Moon Knight (TV show, 2022)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
- Ms Marvel (TV show, 2022)
What is the best order to see the Marvel movies?
How should you see the Marvel movies on sequence is a perennial debate. While some people like to watch the Marvel timeline unfold in chronological order, purists would argue that the sequence determined by release dates is the best.
Our judgement? The easiest approach to binge watch all of the Marvel movies is to watch them in the sequence of their release. Sure, chronological sequence is a fantastic option and one devoted fans may want to attempt, but from the perspective of the MCU timeline, it can still feel a little disorganized.
When Captain America awakens in modern-day New York, the conclusion of his WWII-set narrative nonetheless plays out from the late 2000s. Soon after, he meets Nick Fury, although wouldn’t be the first time we’re meant to encounter the former SHIELD director; rather, it should have happened in 2008’s Iron Man, with both the events of that movie taking place before Captain America’s ending.
Therefore, we like to view the Marvel films in the sequence of their release. MCU fans will watch them in their own ways; some may even incorporate the TV episodes in their marathon binge-watching sessions. However, in our opinion, the solution to viewing the Marvel films sequentially is a straightforward one: binge all in the order in which they were released.
Which Marvel films will be released in 2022?
Here’s every upcoming Marvel Phase 4 project, as well as those that have been announced but may not fit into the current phase:
- Thor: Love and Thunder(July 8, 2022)
- I Am Groot(August 10, 2022)
- She-Hulk(August 17, 2022)
- Werewolf By Night Halloween Special(October 2022)
- Black PantherWakanda Forever(November 11, 2022)
- The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special(December 2022)
- Secret Invasion(expected in 2022)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania(February 17, 2023)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3(May 5, 2023)
- The Marvels(July 28, 2023)
- Fantastic Four(TBA)
- Blade(TBA)
- Loki season 2(TBA)
- Echo(TBA)
- Ironheart(TBA)
- Armor Wars(TBA)
- What If…? season 2(TBA)
- Black Panther spin-off series(TBA)
- Agatha: House of Harkness(TBA)
- X-Men 97(TBA)
- Spider-Man: Freshman Year(TBA)
- Marvel Zombies(TBA)
- Nova(TBA)
- Daredevil(TBA)
- Thunderbolts(TBA)
How to orderly watch the Marvel films on Disney Plus
Disney Plus allows you to view the Marvel movies on sequence, but some of them have a small catch. With the exception of The Incredible Hulk plus a few Spider-Man flicks, every MCU movie is accessible on the streaming service. In spite of their connections to the MCU, they aren’t legally a member of a Marvel Studios group since Universal and Sony hold the distributorship to them.
HBO Max offers The Incredible Hulk for streaming in countries where the service has already begun. The Spider-Man movies, however, were previously exclusively accessible through Netflix.
Select Spider-Man movies now are stream able via Disney Plus thanks to a new agreement between Marvel and Sony. Spider-Man from 2002, Spider-Man 2 from 2004, The Amazing Spider-Man from 2012, Spider-Man: Homecoming from 2017, and The Amazing Spider-Man from 2014 are all available on Disney’s streaming service. It’s unknown when more films featuring the webslinger will be released or whether future releases of Venom or Morbius will also be available on Disney Plus.
Marvel films, from greatest to worst
Which Marvel films are the best? We consider the Avengers films to be the MCU’s pinnacle. The best Marvel films of all time are Infinity War and Endgame, following Black Panther, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Iron Man, as well as Captain America: The Winter Soldier coming in close second.
But everything is a matter of opinion. While some fans believe the very first Avengers movie being the finest MCU ensemble picture ever made, others prefer Thor: Ragnarok to some of the aforementioned films.
In the table below, we’ve sorted the Marvel films and TV episodes according to IMDb user ratings. Some of the results are relatively predictable (no one likes The Incredible Hulk or Thor: The Dark World), but not all of them, in our opinion. Everyone believes Captain America: The First Avenger to be superior to Ant-Man and the Wasp, right?
To keep things as simple as possible, Sony’s Spider-Man spin-off movies are not included in this list of Marvel movies in chronological order. So likes of Venom & Morbius don’t actually exist inside the MCU unless Sony unequivocally admits it. As a result, they aren’t listed below, at least not for now.
- Avengers: Endgame(2019) – Rating: 8.4
- Avengers: Infinity War(2018) – Rating: 8.4
- Spider-Man: No Way Home(2021) – Rating: 8.3
- Loki (2021)– Rating: 8.2
- Guardians of the Galaxy(2014) – Rating: 8.0
- The Avengers(2012) – Rating: 8.0
- WandaVision(2021) – Rating: 7.9
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017)– Rating: 7.9
- Iron Man(2008) – Rating: 7.9
- Captain America: Civil War (2016) – Rating: 7.8
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier(2014) – Rating: 7.8
- Hawkeye (2021)– Rating: 7.6
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2(2017) – Rating: 7.6
- Doctor Strange(2016) – Rating: 7.5
- Moon Knight(2022) – Rating: 7.4
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings(2021) – Rating: 7.4
- Spider-Man: Homecoming(2017) – Rating: 7.4
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)– Rating: 7.4
- Black Panther(2018) – Rating: 7.3
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)– Rating: 7.3
- Ant-Man(2015) – Rating: 7.3
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier(2021) – Rating: 7.2
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness(2022) – Rating: 7.1
- Iron Man 3 (2013)– Rating: 7.1
- Thor(2011) – Rating: 7.0
- Ant-Man and the Wasp(2018) – Rating: 7.0
- Captain America: The First Avenger(2011) – Rating: 6.9
- Iron Man 2 (2010)– Rating: 6.9
- Captain Marvel(2019) – Rating: 6.8
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)– Rating: 6.8
- Black Widow(2021) – Rating: 6.7
- The Incredible Hulk(2008) – Rating: 6.6
- Eternals (2021)– Rating: 6.3
- Ms Marvel(2022) – 6.1