How to Watch Marvel Movies in Order
Like Star Wars, Marvel doesn’t release its new movies and series in chronological order, which makes marathoning sessions more confusing. This just means there are more ways to explore this MCU universe. Whether you’re a newbie or a Marvel veteran, 5-Minute Crafts has covered all spoiler-free ways to watch MCU movies and shows in the order of events and in order of their releases.
1. Chronological order
This order is ideal for diehard fans of Marvel movies who wish to take in every bit of the MCU. It may seem a bit complicated than the release date order, but it aligns the timelines perfectly.
Here’s how your marathoning may look:
1. Captain America: The First Avenger
2. Agent Carter (season 1)
3. Agent Carter (season 2)
4. Agent Carter (one-shot on Iron Man 3 DVD)
5. Captain Marvel
6. Iron Man
7. Iron Man 2
8. The Incredible Hulk
9. The Consultant (one-shot on the Thor DVD)
10. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer (one-shot on the Captain America: The First Avenger DVD)
11. Thor
12. The Avengers
13. Item 47 (one-shot on the Avengers Assemble DVD)
14. Iron Man 3
15. All Hail the King (one-shot on the Thor: The Dark World DVD)
(continued...)
16. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 1, episodes 1-7)
17. Thor: The Dark World
18. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 1, episodes 8-16)
19. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
20. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 1, episodes 17-22)
21. Guardians of the Galaxy
22. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
23. Daredevil (season 1)
24. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 2, episodes 1-10)
25. Jessica Jones (season 1)
26. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 2, episodes 11-19)
27. Avengers: Age of Ultron
28. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 2, episodes 20-22)
29. Daredevil (season 2, episodes 1-4)
30. Luke Cage (season 1, episodes 1-4)
(continued...)
31. Daredevil (season 2, episodes 5-11)
32. Luke Cage (season 1, episodes 5-8)
33. Daredevil (season 2, episodes 12-13)
34. Luke Cage (season 1, episodes 9-13)
35. Ant-Man
36. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 3, episodes 1-10)
37. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 3, episodes 11-19)
38. Iron Fist (season 1)
39. Captain America: Civil War
40. Black Widow (do watch the credits scene after Avengers: Endgame)
41. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 3, episodes 20-22)
42. The Defenders (season 1)
43. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 4, episodes 1-6)
44. Doctor Strange
45. Black Panther
(continued...)
46. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 4, episodes 7-8)
47. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot (season 1, episodes 1-6)
48. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 4, episodes 9-22)
49. Spider-Man: Homecoming
50. Thor: Ragnarok
51. Inhumans (season 1)
52. The Punisher (season 1)
53. Runaways (season 1)
54. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 5, episodes 1-10) — allowing for time travel craziness
55. Jessica Jones (season 2)
56. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 5, episodes 11-18)
57. Cloak & Dagger (season 1)
58. Cloak & Dagger (season 2)
59. Luke Cage (season 2)
60. Iron Fist (season 2)
(continued...)
61. Daredevil (season 3)
62. Runaways (season 2)
63. The Punisher (season 2)
64. Jessica Jones (season 3)
65. Ant-Man and the Wasp (do watch credits scene after Infinity War)
66. Avengers: Infinity War
67. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 5, episodes 19-22) — concurrent with Infinity War
68. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 6) — happens in Endgame’s 5-year time jump
69. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 7) — happens in Endgame’s 5-year time jump
70. Runaways (season 3) — happens post-snap, but with no references to it
71. Avengers: Endgame
72. Loki (for timey-wimey, alternate timeline weirdness)
73. What If...?
74. WandaVision
75. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
2. Release date order
This order is ideal for the newcomers to the Marvel movies. In this order, the movies are in phases. The inception of a phase means introducing new and important characters to the audience. And the end of a phase means a natural end to a story arc. This order includes both movies and Disney Plus shows.
Your watchlist in release order may look like this:
Phase 1:
1. Iron Man
2. The Incredible Hulk
3. Iron Man 2
4. Thor
5. Captain America: The First Avenger
6. The Avengers
Phase 2:
7. Iron Man 3
8. Thor: The Dark World
9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
10. Guardians of the Galaxy
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron
12. Ant-Man
Phase 3:
13. Captain America: Civil War
14. Doctor Strange
15. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
16. Spider-Man: Homecoming
17. Thor: Ragnarok
(continued...)
18. Black Panther
19. Avengers: Infinity War
20. Ant-Man and the Wasp
21. Captain Marvel
22. Avengers: Endgame
23. Spider-Man: Far From Home
Phase 4:
24. WandaVision (Disney+ series)
25. Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+ series)
26. Loki season 1 (Disney+ series)
27. Black Widow
(continued...)
28. What If...? (Disney+ series)
29. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
30. Eternals
31. Hawkeye (Disney+ series)
Upcoming phase 4 (and beyond) movies and TV shows:
32. Spider-Man: No Way Home (December 17, 2021)
33. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 6, 2022)
34. Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8, 2022)
35. Ms. Marvel (TV show — expected summer 2022)
36. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (November 11, 2022)
37. The Marvels (February 17, 2023)
38. Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023)
39. Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania (July 28, 2023)
40. Blade (TBD)
41. Fantastic Four (TBD)
42. Deadpool 3 — TBA
43. She-Hulk (TV show — TBA)
44. Moon Knight (TV show — TBA)
45. Secret Invasion (TV show — TBA)
46. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special — December 2022
47. Ironheart (TV show — TBA)
48. Armor Wars (TV show — TBA)
49. Wakanda (TV show — TBA)
50 What If...? Season 2 (TV show — TBA)
51. Loki season 2 (TV show — TBA)
52. I Am Groot (TV show — TBA)
53. Echo (TV show — TBA)
54. Agatha: House of Harkness — TBA
55. X-Men ’97 — TBA
56. Spider-Man: Freshman Year — TBA
57. Marvel Zombies — TBA
Bonus: non-cinematic Marvel universe movies
These movies surely belong to Marvel but not the MCU. You can add these movies to your watchlist for an extra dose of Marvel, and some of them are not meant to be missed:
1. Captain America (1944) (15-chapter serial film; Marvel was then known as Timely Comics)
2. Howard the Duck (1986)
3. The Punisher (1989)
4. Captain America (1990)
5. The Fantastic Four (1994)
6. Men in Black (1997)
7. Blade (1998)
8. X-Men (2000)
9. Blade II (2002)
10. Spider-Man (2002)
11. Men in Black II (2002)
12. Daredevil (2003)
13. X2 (2003)
14. Hulk (2003)
15. The Punisher (2004)
16. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
17. Blade: Trinity (2004)
18. Elektra (2005)
19. Fantastic Four (2005)
20. Man-Thing (2005)
21. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
22. Ghost Rider (2007)
23. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
24. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
25. Punisher: War Zone (2007)
26. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
27. X-Men: First Class (2011)
28. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)
29. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
30. Men in Black 3 (2012)
31. The Wolverine (2013)
32. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
33. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
34. Fantastic Four (2015)
35. Deadpool (2016)
36. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
37. Logan (2017)
38. Deadpool 2 (2018)
39. Venom (2018)
40. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
41. Dark Phoenix (2019)
42. The New Mutants (2020)
43. Morbius (2022)
