Marvel fans have been treated to two MCU outings in the past month, with The Fantastic Four: First StepsNow showing at the pictures and.Eyes of Wakanda receiving a surprise early release on Disney+.
Eyes of Wakanda is the easier one to place on the timeline as its four episodes take place in 1260 BC, 1200 BC, 1400 AD and 1896 AD, officially making it the earliest MCU outing on the timeline (excluding flashbacks, like in Eternals which stretched back to 5000BC).
On the other hand, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is basically impossible to say where it's set in the timeline.
That's because the new movie takes place in a separate universe (Earth-828) than the 'main' MCU (Earth-616). It's not specified the exact year that The Fantastic Four takes place, but we've long been told it's in the 1960s.
Technically, that puts it between Agent Carter and Captain Marvel as one of the earliest MCU outings. However, we also know that the Fantastic Four do cross over into the main universe thanks to the Thunderbolts* post-credit scene.
They'll also be in Avengers: Doomsday so for now, it's cleanest to just watch after Thunderbolts*. If Doomsday specifies a particular time jump, then we can adjust the timeline to reflect that, but since The Fantastic Four is standalone, there's no issue wherever you decide to watch it.
If it leaves you hankering for a rewatch of the entire MCU as well, we're here to help with the definitive guide of how to watch the entire MCU in order, including movies, TV shows, TV specials and One-Shot shorts.
Watch the entire MCU on Disney+
(While we've got you, were you looking for Star Wars' timeline? We've got that covered. X-Men's movie order? Help yourself. What about DC Comics movies' chronological order? Easy peasy. All the Spider-Man movies? We've got them all caught up in a web.)
(Oh, and if you're wondering why we haven't included Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Morbius it's because even though their credit scenes feature MCU crossovers, the movies themselves aren't MCU movies.)
What's the right way to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe films?
Before diving into your Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) rewatch, you may be pondering whether there's a definitive sequence for watching all the films and TV programmes released thus far.
Basically, there isn't a definitive order, and it's really down to you to figure out the optimal way to approach the MCU.
If you're looking for a bit of structure, there are essentially two key methods for rewatching the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
You've got two options: either view everything as it came out, or watch it all in the order it happened in the story, which means you'll be hopping back and forth a bit.Marvel Phases.
Should you be planning a massive rewatch, you'll find nearly all Marvel Cinematic Universe films and television series available onDisney+at this moment. The sole exceptions involveThe Fantastic Four: Initial Forays, the Spider-Man trilogy and Thunderbolts*.
Where to view Marvel Cinematic Universe films in the order they were released.
If you're after the simplest approach to viewing the Marvel Cinematic Universe from start to finish, then follow the order in which the films and series were released – be warned, however, that this still involves watching a considerable amount of content.
You might be able to shorten this list if you skip watching.Agents of SHIELD or the NetflixDespite sharing recurring characters and being considered part of the MCU, it's now confirmed that these shows aren't actually canon.The MCU's Holy Timeline.. Rather, they occur in alternative timeframes, yet remain part of the official story.
Of course, we're aware that actors such as Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio made a comeback asDaredevil and Kingpin in She-Hulk and Hawkeye, respectively, and are now officially back in their own show, but just don't think about it too much.)
Catch the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Disney+.
This all shifted in the telly world from Phase 4 onwards, as any show after...WandaVision Played a significant role in the MCU, at times even crucial for grasping the events of the films they tied into.
In the following list, movies are in bold type, shorts are in italics and TV shows and one-off specials are neither.
(We've left X-Men '97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man off this list as they're not part of the main MCU timeline.)
1. Iron Man (May 2008)
2. The Incredible Hulk (June 2008)3. Iron Man 2 (April 2010)4. Thor (April 2011)5. Captain America: The First Avenger (July 2011)6. The Consultant one-shot on the Thor DVD (September 2011)
7. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer one-shot on the Captain America: The First Avenger DVD (October 2011)
8. The Avengers (aka Avengers Assemble) (April 2012)9. Item 47 one-shot on the Avengers Assemble DVD (September 2012)
10. Iron Man 3 (April 2013)11. Agent Carter one-shot on Iron Man 3 DVD (September 2013)
12. Agents of SHIELD season 1 (September 2013 – May 2014)
13. Thor: The Dark World (November 2013)14. All Hail the King one-shot on the Thor: The Dark World DVD (February 2014)
15. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (March 2014)16. Guardians of the Galaxy (July 2014)17. Agents of SHIELD season 2 (September 2014 – May 2015)
18. Agent Carter season 1 (January 2015 – February 2015)
19. Daredevil season 1 (April 2015)
20. Avengers: Age of Ultron (April 2015)21. Ant-Man (July 2015)22. Agents of SHIELD season 3 (September 2015 – May 2016)
23. Jessica Jones season 1 (November 2015)
24. Agent Carter season 2 (January 2016 – February 2016)
25. Daredevil season 2 (March 2016)
26. Captain America: Civil War (April 2016)27. Team Thor one-shot on the Captain America: Civil War DVD (August 2016)
28. Agents of SHIELD season 4 (September 2016 – May 2017)
29. Luke Cage season 1 (September 2016)
30. Doctor Strange (October 2016)31. Team Thor: Part 2 one-shot on the Doctor Strange DVD (February 2017)
32. Iron Fist season 1 (March 2017)
33. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (April 2017)34. Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 2017)35. The Defenders season 1 (August 2017)
36. Inhumans season 1 (September 2017 – November 2017)
37. Thor: Ragnarok (October 2017)38. The Punisher season 1 (November 2017)
39. Runaways season 1 (November 2017 – January 2018)
40. Agents of SHIELD season 5 (December 2017 – May 2018)
41. Black Panther (February 2018)42. Team Darryl one-shot on the Thor: Ragnarok DVD (February 2018)
43. Jessica Jones season 2 (March 2018)
44. Avengers: Infinity War (April 2018)45. Cloak & Dagger season 1 (June 2018 – August 2018)
46. Luke Cage season 2 (June 2018)
47. Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 2018)48. Iron Fist season 2 (September 2018)
49. Daredevil season 3 (October 2018)
50. Runaways season 2 (December 2018)
51. The Punisher season 2 (January 2019)
52. Captain Marvel (March 2019)53. Cloak & Dagger season 2 (April 2019 – May 2019)
54. Avengers: Endgame (April 2019)55. Agents of SHIELD season 6 (May 2019 – August 2019)
56. Jessica Jones season 3 (June 2019)
57. Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2019)58. Runaways season 3 (December 2019)
59. Agents of SHIELD season 7 (May 2020 – August 2020)
60. WandaVision (January 2021 – March 2021)
61. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (March 2021 – April 2021)
62. Loki (June 2021 – July 2021)
63. Black Widow (July 2021)64. What If...? season 1 (August 2021 – October 2021)
65. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (September 2021)66. Eternals (November 2021)67. Hawkeye (November 2021 – December 2021)
68. Spider-Man: No Way Home (December 2021)69. Moon Knight (March 2022 – May 2022)
70. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 2022)71. Ms Marvel (June 2022 – July 2022)
72. Thor: Love and Thunder (July 2022)
73. I Am Groot season 1 (August 2022)
74. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (August 2022 – October 2022)
75. Werewolf By Night (October 2022)
76. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (November 2022)77. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (November 2022)
78. Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (February 2023)
79. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (May 2023)
80. Secret Invasion (June 2023 – July 2023)
81. I Am Groot season 2 (September 2023)
82. Loki season 2 (October 2023 – November 2023)
83. The Marvels (November 2023)84. What If...? season 2 (December 2023)85. Echo (January 2024)
86. Deadpool & Wolverine (July 2024)87. Agatha All Along (September 2024 – October 2024)88. What If...? season 3 (December 2024)
89. Captain America: Brave New World (February 2025)
90. Daredevil: Born Again season 1 (March 2025 – April 2025)91. Thunderbolts* (May 2025)92. Ironheart season 1 (June 2025 – July 2025)93. The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 2025)94. Eyes of Wakanda (August 2025)
MCU timeline: How to watch the MCU in chronological order
This is the ultimate watch order for MCU completists to watch events of the MCU play out in chronological order, but there are some rules we've had to impose to make it as straightforward as possible.
If something takes place in multiple time periods, such as Eternals, we've put it where the bulk of the movie or TV show takes place.
Chronologically speaking, Thunderbolts* is the latest outing in the MCU, taking place in mid-to-late 2027.
As mentioned above, we've put The Fantastic Four: First Steps after it for now as it's in a separate universe and might not make sense to watch early on in your MCU watch. But if you're dedicated, then it's after Agent Carter season two.
Deadpool & Wolverine technically takes place before the majority of Phase 4 in March 2024, but given that the movie features gags about the Multiverse, it probably makes sense to watch it after everything else even if there's no real connection to wider MCU events.
We'd also suggest watching both seasons of Loki after Avengers: Endgame, not only because that's when 2012's Loki breaks off into his own timeline, but also because the events of the second season establish how the multiverse was created which is a major part of Phase 4 onwards.
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As mentioned above, What If...? also exists in its own space and could technically be watched any time given that it involves multiple universes and timelines.
We've lined up all three series of the programme in the order they happened, but honestly, you could dip into any episode whenever you fancy during your massive MCU viewing session.
We'd suggest watching What If...? after Loki However, that's the programme that brings the multiverse into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And don't even get us started on Agents of SHIELDThe last series of 's unfolds largely in a different reality before ultimately rejoining the primary MCU timeline. To keep things simple, watch the whole thing after series six – it'll all click into place then.
X-Men '97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manare even further removed from the primary sequence of events thanWhat If...?, which is why they've been omitted from the timeline, which is arranged in order of when things happened.
Beyond that, it's usually quite simple, even when the concept of multiple universes is involved.
As with the list showing release dates, the films are in.bold type, shorts are in italics...and neither are television programmes or individual, standalone specials.
1. Eyes of Wakanda
2. Captain America's debut film: *The First Avenger*.3. Agent Carter (one-shot on Iron Man 3 DVD)
4. Agent Carter, series 1.
5. Agent Carter, series 2.
6. Captain Marvel (mid-credit scene set after Infinity War)
7. Iron Man8. Iron Man 29. The Incredible Hulk10. The Consultant (one-shot on the Thor DVD)
11. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (one-shot on the Captain America's origin story.DVD)
12. Thor13. The Avengers (aka Avengers Assemble in some regions)14. Item 47 (one-shot on the Avengers Assemble DVD)
16. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (series 1, episodes 1 through 7)
16. Thor: The Dark World
17. Agents of SHIELD (season 1, eps 8-16) 18. Iron Man 319. All Hail the King (one-shot on the Thor: The Dark World DVD)
20. Captain America: The Soldier of Winter21. Agents of SHIELD: Series 1, episodes 17 through 22.
22. Guardians of the Galaxy23. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 224. I Am Groot (series 1)
25. I Am Groot (season 2)
26. Daredevil (season 1)
27. Agents of SHIELD (season 2, eps 1-10)
28. Jessica Jones (season 1)
29. Agents of SHIELD (season 2, eps 11-19)
30. Avengers: Age of Ultron31. Agents of SHIELD (season 2, eps 20-22)
32. Daredevil (season 2, eps 1-4)
33. Luke Cage (season 1, eps 1-4)
34. Daredevil (season 2, eps 5-11)
35. Luke Cage (season 1, eps 5-8)
36. Daredevil (season 2, eps 12-13)
37. Luke Cage (season 1, eps 9-13)
38. Ant-Man39. Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 1-10)
40. Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 11-19 – split due to new story arc)
41. Iron Fist (season 1)
42. Captain America: Civil War43. Team Thor (one-shot on the Captain America: Civil War DVD)
44. Team Thor: Part 2 (one-shot on the Doctor Strange DVD)
45. Black Widow (watch credits scene after Avengers: Endgame)
46. Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 20-22)
47. The Defenders (season 1)
48. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 1-6)
49. Doctor Strange50. Black Panther51. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 7-8)
52. Agents of SHIELD: Slingshot (season 1, eps 1-6)
53. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 9-22)
54. Spider-Man: Homecoming55. Thor: Ragnarok56. Team Darryl (one-shot on the Thor: Ragnarok DVD)
57. Inhumans (season 1)
58. The Punisher (season 1)
59. Runaways (season 1)
60. Agents of SHIELD (season 5, eps 1-10) – allowing for time travel craziness
61. Jessica Jones (season 2)
62. Agents of SHIELD (season 5, eps 11-18)
63. Cloak & Dagger (season 1)
64. Cloak & Dagger (season 2)
65. Luke Cage (season 2)
66. Iron Fist (season 2)
67. Daredevil (season 3)
68. Runaways (season 2)
69. The Punisher (season 2)
70. Jessica Jones (season 3)
71. Ant-Man and the Wasp (watch credits scene after Infinity War)
72. Avengers: Infinity War73. Agents of SHIELD (season 5, eps 19-22) – concurrent with Infinity War74. Agents of SHIELD (season 6) – takes place in Endgame's five-year time jump
75. Agents of SHIELD (season 7) – takes place in Endgame's five-year time jump
76. Runaways (season 3) – seems to take place post-Snap mostly
77. Avengers: Endgame78. Loki (season 1) (allowing for timey-wimey, alternate timeline weirdness)
79. Loki (season 2)
80. What If...? (season 1)
81. What If...? (season 2)
82. What If...? (season 3)
83. WandaVision
84. Deadpool & Wolverine
85. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
86. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
87. Eternals88. Spider-Man: Far From Home89. Spider-Man: No Way Home90. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness91. Hawkeye
92. Moon Knight
93. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever94. Echo
95. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
96. Ms Marvel
97. Thor: Love and Thunder98. Ironheart (season 1)
99. Werewolf by Night100. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
101. Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania102. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3103. Secret Invasion
104. The Marvels105. Agatha All Along
106. Daredevil: Born Again (season 1)
107. Captain America: Brave New World108. Thunderbolts*
109. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
How to watch Marvel movies in order
Not interested in the TV shows of the MCU? We get it. There's only so many hours in the day, after all, so we've simplified the timeline to just focus on the movies.
We've stuck to the release order here so if you're a total newcomer to the Marvel universe, you can watch the series as everybody else did. If you want to go in timeline order, then just refer to the movies in the chronological order above.
(With just movies in this list, we've done away with the bold and italic formatting as there's no need to differentiate between them.)
Phase 1
1. Iron Man (May 2008)
2. The Incredible Hulk (June 2008)
3. Iron Man 2 (April 2010)
4. Thor (April 2011)
5. Captain America: The First Avenger (July 2011)
6. The Avengers (aka Avengers Assemble) (April 2012)
Phase 2
7. Iron Man 3 (April 2013)
8. Thor: The Dark World (November 2013)
9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (March 2014)
10. Guardians of the Galaxy (July 2014)
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron (April 2015)
12. Ant-Man (July 2015)
Phase 3
13. Captain America: Civil War (April 2016)
14. Doctor Strange (October 2016)
15. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (April 2017)
16. Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 2017)
17. Thor: Ragnarok (October 2017)
18. Black Panther (February 2018)
19. Avengers: Infinity War (April 2018)
20. Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 2018)
21. Captain Marvel (March 2019)
22. Avengers: Endgame (April 2019)
23. Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2019)
Phase 4
24. Black Widow (July 2021)
25. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (released in September 2021)
26. Eternals (November 2021)
27. *Spider-Man: No Way Home*, released in December 2021.
28. *Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness*, released in May 2022.
29. *Thor: Love and Thunder*, released in July 2022.
30. *Black Panther: Wakanda Forever*, released in November 2022.
Phase 5
31. Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (released in February 2023)
32. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, released in May 2023.
33. *The Marvels*, scheduled for release in November 2023.
34. *Deadpool & Wolverine* – coming in July 2024.
35. Captain America: Brave New World is slated for release in February 2025.
36. Thunderbolts* (May 2025)
Phase 6
37. *Fantastic Four: First Steps* is slated for release in July 2025.
Future Marvel Cinematic Universe films and television programmes.
• Marvel Zombies – 3 October 2025
• Wonder Man – December 2025
• Series 2 of Daredevil: Born Again – March 2026
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day – 31 July 2026
• Avengers: Doomsday – 18 December 2026
• Vision Quest – 2026
• Avengers: Secret Wars – 17 December 2027
• Blade – TBA
• X-Men – TBA
• Armor Wars – TBA
You can watch every MCU movie and TV show, barring The Fantastic Four: Initial Forays, the Spider-Man trilogy and Thunderbolts* on Disney+ right now.
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