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Marvel Marathon: A Complete Guide to Watching Every Movie and TV Show in Order

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2 hours ago

March 19, 2026

The MCU started with the release of Iron Man in 2008. Since then, there’s been a huge number of films, TV shows, web series, and one-shots. The universe has grown in characters and complexity and, even for the most ardent Marvel fans, it’s a serious challenge to watch everything and get your head around the timeline.

We’ve put together an in-universe chronological timeline of the Marvel movies, shows, and more, so you know which order to watch everything in. Alternatively, if you’d prefer to watch them in the order that they actually came out, we’ve also put together a release date order for all the shows and films.

Marvel has issued its own official timeline for the movies in the book Marvel Studios: The First Ten Years, which does its best to give specific years for when the various films are set (up to, but not including, Captain Marvel & Avengers: Endgame):

Marvel’s Official Timeline

1943-1945: Captain America: The First Avenger

1995: Captain Marvel

2010: Iron Man

2011: Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor

2012: The Avengers, Iron Man 3

2013: Thor: The Dark World

2014: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

2015: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man

2016: Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming

2016/2017: Doctor Strange

2017: Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man & the Wasp

For reference, we’re now in Phase 6, which is the final segment in the Multiverse Saga. This kicked off with The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

You can also read 5 forgotten MCU characters that need their futures resolved, and if the Avengers: Doomsday trailer doesn’t do these 3 things, I riot.

How to watch the Marvel movies and TV shows in chronological order

There are a couple of disclaimers to our list below. First up, the timeline gets more complex as it goes on, so it gets harder to order the films perfectly. For example, Doctor Strange begins just before Captain America: Civil War but takes a time jump and ends way after it, while Black Panther kicks off shortly after Civil War, but the whole story likely plays out before the bulk of Doctor Strange.

It doesn’t help that Marvel broke its own timeline. There are a few little inconsistencies dotted around the place, but the most egregious is Spider-Man: Homecoming, which claims to take place eight years after the New York attack in the first Avengers. That would set the film in 2020 – two or three years after Avengers: Infinity War, which Marvel itself claims is set in 2017 despite ample evidence that the Snap took place in the spring of 2018.

It’s a pretty minor gaffe in the scheme of things, but it’s a reminder not to take the MCU’s chronological timeline too seriously – even Marvel itself can’t keep it all straight, so as long as you watch things in roughly the right order you’ll be fine.

If you want visual reminders, Marvel has now released every single post-credit scene up to Endgame (including Captain Marvel’s) in order in one giant X thread, so you can revisit every little tease as the MCU was built up.

Marvel.com also has its own timeline order. However, we have only used this to inform the shows in the Phase Four and Phase Five sections, as parts of the list conflict with previous ones from Marvel Studios. For example, it claims that Thor: The Dark World takes place before Iron Man 3, which would set this film in 2013, and not 2012 as previous sources stated.

Disney+ updated its list in January 2024 to include Netflix Marvel shows, and we have reordered our own list based on this.

We’ve split everything into Marvel’s ‘phases’, but there are some grey areas: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was made within Phase Three, but is set almost immediately after its predecessor; Captain Marvel was one of the final Phase Three films, but is set before most of Phase One, and some of the TV shows sit awkwardly between the different movie phases.

In addition, though Marvel claims that Spider-Man: Far From Home is the last film in Phase Three, it takes place after the first two Disney+ shows – so we’ve adjusted the order to accommodate for this.

Without further ado, here’s our chronological ordering of the Marvel film universe as it stands right now. The films are in bold, TV shows are not. You can watch the majority of the films and shows by signing up for Disney+, except for those that are exclusively in cinemas – these are marked with an asterisk.

“` You can also purchase box sets of all the phases from HMV and Amazon in the UK, as well as Walmart and Amazon in the US.

Phase One: 1943-2012
– Captain America: The First Avenger
– Agent Carter (seasons one and two)
– Agent Carter (one-shot)
– The Fantastic Four: First Steps
– Captain Marvel
– Iron Man
– Iron Man 2
– The Incredible Hulk
– A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor’s Hammer (one-shot)
– Thor
– The Consultant (one-shot)
– The Avengers (Avengers: Assemble in the UK)

Phase Two: 2012-2015
– Item 47 (one-shot)
– Iron Man 3
– All Hail the King (one-shot)
– Agents of Shield (season one: episodes 1-7)
– Thor: The Dark World
– Agents of Shield (season one: episodes 8-16)
– Captain America: The Winter Soldier
– Agents of Shield (season one: episodes 17-22)
– Guardians of the Galaxy
– I Am Groot season 1 (episode 1)
– Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
– I Am Groot season 1 (episodes 2-5)
– I Am Groot season 2
– Daredevil (season one)
– Jessica Jones (season one)
– Agents of Shield (season two: episodes 1-19)
– Avengers: Age of Ultron
– Agents of Shield (season two: episodes 20-22)
– Ant-Man
– Daredevil (season two)
– Luke Cage (season one)
– Agents of Shield (season three: episodes 1-19)
– Iron Fist (season one)
– The Defenders (season one)

Phase Three: 2015-2023
– Captain America: Civil War
– Black Widow
– Agents of Shield (season three: episodes 20-22)
– Black Panther
– Spider-Man: Homecoming
– The Punisher (season one)
– Agents of Shield (season four: episodes 1-8)
– Doctor Strange
– Agents of Shield: Slingshot (web series)
– Agents of Shield (season four: episodes 9-22)
– Jessica Jones (season two)
– Inhumans
– Runaways (season one and two)
– Cloak and Dagger (season one)
– Luke Cage (season two)
– Iron Fist (season two)
– Daredevil (season three)
– Thor: Ragnarok
– The Punisher (season two)
– Jessica Jones (season three)
– Cloak and Dagger (season two)
– Runaways (season three)
– Agents of Shield (season five, episodes 1-19)
– Ant-Man and The Wasp
– Avengers: Infinity War
– Agents of Shield (season five, episodes 20-22)
– Agents of Shield (season six)
– Agents of Shield (season seven)
– Avengers: Endgame

Phase Four: 2023-2025
– Loki season 1
– What If…? season 1
– Marvel Zombie
– WandaVision
– Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
– Deadpool and Wolverine
– The Falcon And The Winter Soldier
– Spider-Man: Far From Home
– Eternals
– Spider-Man: No Way Home
– Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
– Hawkeye
– Moon Knight
– Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
– Ironheart
– Echo
– She-Hulk
– Ms. Marvel
– Thor: Love and Thunder
– Werewolf By Night
– The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

* – not available on Disney Plus

Recent releases like Marvel Zombies, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and Ironheart are explained further in the timeline. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in an alternate universe, Marvel Zombies follows an episode of What If…?, and Ironheart is set after Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in Phase Four. Deadpool and Wolverine deals with time travel and references the film Logan, making its placement in the timeline uncertain. Daredevil: Born Again has events expected to occur before 2027. The storyline of Captain America 4 spans across both 2026 and 2027, with the two timelines overlapping rather than one directly following the other.

Thunderbolts* is set in 2027, indicating that it takes place after the events of Captain America 4, possibly running concurrently with the events of Born Again or after them.

It is important to note that Loki exists in its own separate branch of time. While the first episode begins in 2012 during the Battle of New York, the show gains more clarity within the larger context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it delves into topics like the Infinity Stones and Kang.

Similarly, What If…? features stories scattered throughout the MCU timeline, requiring viewers to have a good understanding of previous films to fully grasp the narrative.

Spider-Man: No Way Home draws inspiration from other Spider-Man universe films, but these are not officially included in the MCU timeline. The same applies to non-Marvel Studios films featuring Marvel characters like Fox’s X-Men, the Blade series, and Ghost Rider.

While not currently part of the ‘official’ timeline on Disney+, Agents of Shield, Inhumans, Cloak and Dagger, and The Runaways reference events in the sacred timeline, as seen in Loki season 1.

To watch the Marvel films and TV series in the order they were released, a simpler approach is to follow the chronological order of their release dates. This list includes all MCU releases up to the present day, providing a comprehensive viewing guide for fans.

Upcoming Marvel projects include Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, The Punisher Special Presentation, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, VisionQuest, X-Men ’97 Season 2, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 2, Avengers: Doomsday, Avengers: Secret Wars, Nova, Shang-Chi 2, Armor Wars, and Doctor Strange 3, each adding new layers to the expansive Marvel universe. Transform the following sentence into the passive voice:

“The supervisor will assign the tasks to the employees tomorrow.”

“The tasks will be assigned to the employees by the supervisor tomorrow.” Transform the following sentence into a question:

“Tom and Sarah went to the movies last night.”

Did Tom and Sarah go to the movies last night?