Marvel Studios introduced the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man in 2008. Over a decade later, there are now 25 Marvel movies, with 13 upcoming Marvel movies and Marvel TV shows in development.
If you plan to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, here’s the best guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
Watch the Marvel Movies in Order
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time, with Avengers: Endgame the highest-grossing film upon release. [1]
The Marvel movies Infinity Saga is a collection of three phases. Phase One starts with Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Incredible Hulk, and the first Avengers movie.
Phase Two includes the Marvel films Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Ant-Man.
Phase Three, on the other hand, includes the Marvel movies Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Phase Four has begun with the release of the Marvel movies Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Chronological Order
1. Captain America: The First Avenger
We start off with the first MCU movie, Captain America: The First Avenger, which takes place right in the middle of World War Two. We become privy to Steve Rodgers, played by Chris Evans, enlisting to the military. He gets injected with a “super-soldier serum” and becomes the first Avenger.
2. Captain Marvel
The second Marvel movie is Captain Marvel. In 1995, a chance landing on Earth made Vers, or Carol Danvers, remember her previous life. She discovers that her powers came from a Kree explosion and that the Kree empire she had been serving had been manipulating her all along.
3. Iron Man
Iron Man is third on the list of MCU movies. Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey, Jr., is a genius engineer and CEO of Stark Industries who gets kidnapped by a terrorist group that wants him to create a weapon of mass destruction. Stark crafts an armored suit to help him escape instead.
In the post-credits scene of the Marvel Studios film, we see Nick Fury approach Stark and tell him that he’s not the only superhero in the world, insinuating the beginning of the Avengers.
4. Iron Man 2
Stark has assumed the Iron Man identity and uses his suit for peaceful means, but he discovers that the arc reactor keeping him alive is slowly poisoning his body. He gets inspiration from his father’s old documents and ends his palladium dependency.
5. The Incredible Hulk
The first and only Incredible Hulk Marvel movie did not cast Mark Ruffalo, but rather Edward Norton.
Bruce Banner is working to recreate the “super-soldier program” from World War II. However, the experiment fails, and the prolonged exposure to gamma rays causes him to transform into the Hulk whenever his heart rate rises above 200 beats per minute.
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6. Thor
Thor takes place the same year as Iron Man 2. An arrogant Thor is exiled to Earth, stripped of Mjolnir and all his powers. He begins life with Jane Foster, an astrophysicist looking for a bridge between different worlds.
7. The Avengers
The long-awaited team-up finally happens in the first Avengers movie. The Chitauri, an extraterrestrial race, is on Earth looking for the Tesseract. Loki is promised a powerful army in exchange for the Tesseract, which he steals successfully.
The Avengers do their best to protect New York and successfully obtain the Tesseract. Thor offers to return both Loki and the Tesseract to Asgard.
8. Iron Man 3
After almost dying during the New York battle, Stark has trouble sleeping and suffers from PTSD. He uses this time to create dozens of Iron Man suits, to the dismay of people around him.
Pepper Potts gets subjected to a faulty regenerative treatment called Extremis. Stark helps to get it stabilized, and he goes into surgery to remove the shrapnel near his heart.
9. Thor: The Dark World
Thor: The Dark World takes place during Loki’s hearing for his crimes on Earth. Dr. Jane Foster gets teleported to another world and accidentally absorbs the Aether, an Infinity Stone.
Malekith is awakened by this occurrence and attacks Asgard, wanting the Aether for himself. Thor and Malekith battle it out, with Thor’s mother dying in the process.
Shop The Marvel Collection Now10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier happen two years after the battle of New York. Steve Rogers is working for SHIELD and discovers that his best friend, Bucky Barnes, is the assassin working for Hydra, an opposing terrorist group. Alexander Pierce, SHIELD’s Secretary of Internal Security, is double-crossing and working with Hydra.
Also Read: Best Avengers Quotes
11. Guardians of the Galaxy
When Marvel Studios first released this, no one thought it would be a hit. One of the best Marvel movies tells the story of Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy. We get to know cybernetically modified raccoon Rocket, tree-like creature Groot, Drax the Destroyer, and Thanos’s adoptive daughter Gamora.
12. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 takes place just a few months after the first volume. We get to meet other lovable Marvel characters and learn about Peter Quill’s past. If you ask us, though, the best part of this movie is Baby Groot.
13. Avengers: Age of Ultron
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the team travels to Sokovia and raids a Hydra facility experimenting on humans. Two of their test subjects were Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch).
Stark creates Ultron from the artificial intelligence used in the experiment. Little did they know that Ultron plans to eradicate humanity, believing this will save Earth.
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14. Ant-Man
Scott Lang is an ex-criminal who unknowingly accepts a job to steal the Ant-Man suit for money. He briefly fights Falcon in the Avengers headquarters while attempting to steal a device and discovers the existence of the subatomic Quantum Realm.
15. Captain America: Civil War
The events of Captain America: Civil War happened a year after Ultron is defeated. The death of a few civilians leads the government to interfere with the Avengers’ business. The Avengers team is divided; on the one hand, Stark feels the guilt of having created Ultron, while Rogers trusts his own judgment more than that of politicians.
16. Black Widow
After Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, betrays Iron Man and helps Steve and Bucky escape, she is exiled. She gets in touch with her foster family from when she lived undercover from when she was a young girl.
17. Spider-Man: Homecoming
The first of the Spider-Man movies takes place a few months after Captain America: Civil War.
Peter Parker is fighting not only the bad guys in Spider-Man: Homecoming but also his own teenage hormones. Stark gives him a superior spider suit that, unfortunately, has a tracker to ensure no funny business. But is Spiderman from DC or Marvel?
18. Doctor Strange
The events of Doctor Strange and Spider-Man are happening at the same time. Dr. Stephen Strange is an arrogant neurosurgeon who loses his dexterity after a car accident. Desperate, he travels to the East and meets the Ancient One who restores his ability and teaches him mysticism and magic.
19. Black Panther
In Black Panther, we see T’Challa resuming the Wakanda throne after the untimely death of his father. The Black Panther position gets challenged by a man calling himself Killmonger, who revealed himself to be N'Jadaka, rightful heir to the throne.
20. Thor: Ragnarok
Thor: Ragnarok takes place two years after the battle of Sokovia. When he discovers that his father Odin is missing and that Loki has been posing as him for some time, he travels to Earth to seek help from Doctor Strange to find him.
21. Avengers: Infinity War
The whole of Avengers: Infinity War happens in a mere 48 hours. Thanos is collecting all six Infinity Stones, and the Avengers are beating him to it. The Infinity War movie ends with Thanos’s devastating snap that destroys half of humanity, including some of our favorite Avengers.
22. Ant-Man and The Wasp
Right before Thanos snaps his fingers, another story is taking place. Scott Lang is on house arrest following the events of Sokovia when he gets kidnapped by Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne (Wasp) to traverse into the Quantum Realm using the Ant-Man suit.
23. Avengers: Endgame
Twenty-three days after Infinity War, Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel) reaches Earth and helps the remaining heroes. They locate Thanos on an uninhabited planet and discover that he has destroyed all of the Infinity Stones.
In the last of the Avengers movies, they build a time machine and use it to travel the past to save the present.
24. Spider-Man: Far From Home
The second Spider-Man movie takes place eight months after Avengers: Endgame. Peter Parker is mourning the death of Tony Stark, who has become a father figure to him.
He refuses to join the new team of Avengers but discovers that he is one of the few the world can truly rely upon after a betrayal. But how many Spiderman movies are there?
25. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is one of the newest Marvel movies. Shang-Chi was just 14 years old when he was sent to kill the man who murdered his mother. Traumatized, he flees to the United States, but he finds that he cannot fully escape his past.
Let’s Wrap It Up!
And there you have it — all the Marvel movies in order for your next Marvel movie marathon! In this guide, we helped you figure out the complex Marvel movies timeline and let you know how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
Watch Marvel movies in order on Disney Plus. If you are interested in Marvel merch, check out our listings.
Shop The Marvel Collection NowReference:
- https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/31/the-13-highest-grossing-film-franchises-at-the-box-office.html
