Superhero movies have always been popular. From Christopher Reeve’s first outing as Superman in 1978, there’s always been some sort of comic book adaptation in the works. For decades, the biggest superheroes on our big screens were Batman and Superman. But that all changed in 2008 when Robert Downey Jr donned his armour for the first time. Since then, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (affectionately referred to as the MCU) has become the biggest movie franchise of all time. Spanning 32 films (at the time of writing) and over a decade of hype and action, Marvel movies have earned nearly $28 billion dollars around the world.
The interconnected nature of the MCU makes watching and re-watching all the movies part of the fun. And the launch of Disney Plus means that all the MCU films (including at least one of the three Tom Holland Spider-Man films) are available to stream on the same platform. But the big question is, which order do you watch them in?
Don’t let unreliable broadband ruin your Marvel movie marathon.
Do you prefer to watch all the films as they were originally released, starting with Iron Man and finishing with Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3? Do you want to watch the events as they would have happened and prefer the Marvel chronological order? Do you watch all the Marvel movies or just watch the best ones and get to Endgame as quickly as possible?
You don’t have to decide right now. Check out our guide on how to watch Marvel movies in order to see which you like best.
There’s a fair amount of time-jumping in the MCU, with some films set in the past, some in the future, and some jumping around between both. In fact, it’s pretty much the basis for the entire plot of Endgame. After having watched all the films at least once, some fans prefer to watch the Marvel films in chronological order, starting with Captain America: The First Avenger and ending with the latest MCU release, which at the moment is Thor: Love and Thunder.
Watching the MCU films in chronological order is a fun way to see all the callbacks, Easter eggs and foreshadowing you may have missed the first time you watched the films. For example, Nick Fury calling in Captain Marvel after the events of Infinity War has added impact when you’ve already watched them meet in the Captain Marvel solo film.
This isn’t 100% accurate thanks to Marvel’s famous mid- and post-credits causing some overlap, specifically in Captain Marvel, Black Widow and Ant-Man and The Wasp. Not to mention the flashbacks in Eternals taking place a few thousand years ago. But for the most part, here’s how to watch all the MCU films in Marvel chronological order:
Captain America: The First Avenger (1942)
Captain Marvel (1995)
Iron Man (2008)
Iron Man 2 (2011)
The Incredible Hulk (2011)
Thor (2011) - six months before Avengers
The Avengers (2012)
Iron Man 3 (2012) - six months after The Avengers
Thor: The Dark World (2013) - after Avengers but before Ultron
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) - after Avengers but before Ultron
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Ant-Man (2015)
Captain America: Civil War (2016) - after Ultron and before Infinity War
Black Widow (2016, excluding post-credits scene) - right after Civil War
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2016) - after Civil War and before Infinity War
Doctor Strange (2016-2017)
Black Panther (2017)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017) - after Ultron, and before Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War (2017)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2017) - takes place at the same time as Infinity War since the post-credit scene takes place during the snap.
Avengers: Endgame (2017-2022)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2023)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2023)
Eternals (2023, excluding flashbacks)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2024)
Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2025)
Thor: Love and Thunder (2025)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2025)
Ant-Man: Quantumania (2025)
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3 (2025)
Don’t let unreliable broadband ruin your Marvel movie marathon.
If you want to go one step further, you could integrate the Disney Plus Marvel TV shows in your next rewatch. While WandaVision was released first, Loki begins during the events of Endgame, which themselves take place in 2012. So here’s how to watch the MCU movies and TV shows in chronological order:
Captain America: The First Avenger (1942)
Captain Marvel (1995)
Iron Man (2008)
Iron Man 2 (2011)
The Incredible Hulk (2011)
Thor (2011) - six months before The Avengers
The Avengers (2012)
Loki – begins after The Avengers in 2012, but is still best watched after Endgame.
Iron Man 3 (2012) - six months after The Avengers
Thor: The Dark World (2013) - after Avengers but before Ultron
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) - after Avengers but before Ultron
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Ant-Man (2015)
Captain America: Civil War (2016) - after Ultron and before Infinity War
Black Widow (2016, excluding post-credits scene) - right after Civil War
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2016) - after Civil War and before Infinity War
Doctor Strange (2016-2017)
Black Panther (2017)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017) - after Ultron, and before Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War (2017)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2017) - takes place at the same time as Infinity War since the post-credit scene takes place during the snap.
Avengers: Endgame (2017-2022)
WandaVision (2022) – three weeks after Endgame
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2023) – six months after Avengers: Endgame
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2023) – eight months after Endgame
What If...? (xxxx) – as this spans the entire multiverse there’s no set date, but it's best watched after Endgame.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2023)
Eternals (2023) - excluding flashbacks over almost 7,000 years ago
Hawkeye (2023)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2024)
Moon Knight (2025)
Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2025)
Ms Marvel (2025)
Thor: Love and Thunder (2025)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2025)
She-Hulk (2025)
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2025)
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3 (2025)
Like me, you might prefer to watch the Marvel movies in the order in which they were intended – that is, the order they were originally released in. This is how to watch the Marvel movies in release date order:
Iron Man (2008)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Thor (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The Avengers (2012)
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)
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)
WandaVision (2021)
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)
Loki (2021)
Black Widow (2021)
What If...? (2021)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Eternals (2021)
Hawkeye (2021)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Moon Knight (2022)
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)
Ms. Marvel (2022)
Thor: Love And Thunder (2022)
She-Hulk - Disney Plus show (2022)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (November 11, 2022)
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (December 2022)
Speaking at the world-famous San Diego Comic-Con 2022, the president of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige confirmed the release dates of the next phase of MCU films and TV shows, which kicked off in February 2023.
Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (Feb 17, 2023)
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023)
Secret Invasion (June 21, 2023)
The Marvels (November 10th, 2023)
Loki, Season 2 (Summer, 2023 - TBC)
Captain America: New World Order (May 3, 2024)
Daredevil: Born Again (Spring, 2024)
Thunderbolts (July 26, 2024)
Blade (September 6, 2024)
Echo (2024)
Ironheart (2024)
Agatha: Coven of Chaos (Winter 2023/2024)
Marvel hasn't revealed too much about Phase 6 of the MCU. They did, however, announce the titles and release dates of three major films within the next slate of productions:
Fantastic Four (February 14, 2025)
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (May 2, 2024)
Avengers: Secret Wars (May 1, 2026)
Don’t let unreliable broadband ruin your Marvel movie marathon.
If you're brand new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and want to catch up on the movies without having to watch all 32, here's a shortlist of MCU films that you need to watch in order for it all to make sense.
Iron Man
Avengers Assemble
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Captain America: Civil War
Thor: Ragnarok
Black Panther
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Endgame
Spider-Man: No Way Home
There will be characters that pop up that you're not immediately familiar with (Captain Marvel and Dr. Strange), and the odd reference that you'll miss, but on the whole, you'll get the gist of what's been happening in the MCU and get to watch the best, funniest and most impactful moments throughout.
Some hardcore Marvel fans have gone as far as wanting to watch the 29 MCU films in order of their rating on review platforms like IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. Though this would mean you’re watching the films completely out of order, it could be a nice way to save the best for last as it were. If you started your MCU binge with The Incredible Hulk – a movie that many of us don’t really consider as part of the MCU – and work towards the final two installments of the Avengers.
*Accurate as of November 2022
Avengers: Infinity War (IMDb score: 8.4)
Avengers: Endgame (IMDb score: 8.4)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (IMDb score: 8.3)
Guardians of the Galaxy (IMDb score: 8.0)
Iron Man (IMDb score: 7.9)
Thor: Ragnarok (IMDb score: 7.9)
Captain America: Civil War (IMDb score: 7.8)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (IMDb score: 7.8)
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 (IMDb score: 7.6)
Doctor Strange (IMDb score: 7.5)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (IMDb score: 7.4)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (IMDb score: 7.4)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (IMDb score: 7.4)
Black Panther (IMDb score: 7.3)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (IMDb score: 7.3)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (IMDb score: 7.3)
Ant-Man (IMDb score: 7.3)
Iron Man 3 (IMDb score: 7.2)
Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (IMDb score: 7.1)
Thor: Love and Thunder (IMDb score: 7.0)
Avengers Assemble (IMDb score: 7.0)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (IMDb score: 7.0)
Thor (IMDb score: 7.0)
Iron Man 2 (IMDb score: 7.0)
Captain America: The First Avenger (IMDb score: 6.9)
Captain Marvel (IMDb score: 6.8)
Thor: The Dark World (IMDb score: 6.8)
Black Widow (IMDb score: 6.7)
The Incredible Hulk (IMDb score: 6.7)
Eternals (IMDb score: 6.4)
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (IMDb score: 6.2)
This, however, is a very subjective list, I personally would never have put Dr Strange above Black Panther. So you might want to tweak this particular list to suit your own opinion.
The events that take place in the MCU universe span thousands of years, and the time taken to watch all the movies in this universe is fairly long too. With 32 films released over 17 years, each phase of the MCU seemed to introduce longer and longer movie runtimes, with the epic Avengers finale clocking in at just over three hours long.
So how long would it take for you to watch all the MCU movies? Here are all the MCU films in order of shortest to longest:
The Incredible Hulk: 1 hour 52 minutes
Thor: The Dark World: 1 hour 52 minutes
Thor: 1 hour 55 minutes
Doctor Strange: 1 hour 55 minutes
Ant-Man: 1 hour 57 minutes
Ant-Man and The Wasp: 1 hour 58 minutes
Thor: Love and Thunder: 1 hour 58 minutes
Guardians of the Galaxy: 2 hours 2 minutes
Iron Man 2: 2 hours 4 minutes
Captain America: The First Avenger: 2 hours 4 minutes
Captain Marvel: 2 hours 4 minutes
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: 2 hours 4 minutes
Iron Man: 2 hours 6 minutes
Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: 2 hours 6 minutes
Spider-Man: Far From Home: 2 hours 9 minutes
Iron Man 3: 2 hours 10 minutes
Thor: Ragnarok: 2 hours 10 minutes
Shang Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings: 2 hours 12 minutes
Spider-Man: Homecoming: 2 hours 13 minutes
Black Panther: 2 hours 14 minutes
Black Widow: 2 hours 14 minutes
Captain America: The Winter Soldier: 2 hours 16 minutes
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: 2 hours 17 minutes
Avengers: Age of Ultron: 2 hours 21 minutes
The Avengers: 2 hours 23 minutes
Captain America: Civil War: 2 hours 27 minutes
Spider-Man: No Way Home: 2 hours 28 minutes
Avengers: Infinity War: 2 hours 29 minutes
Eternals: 2 hours 36 minutes
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: 2 hours 41 minutes
Avengers: Endgame: 3 hours 1 minute
This means that, as of now, the total MCU runtime is 68 hours and 36 minutes. So if you wanted to watch the entire Marvel timeline, non-stop, back-to-back, it would take you well over two and a half days.
Call me old-fashioned, but I think it’s best to watch the Marvel movies for the first time in the order they were released. With all the post-credit teasers, plot twists, and character development, the release order gives you the best introduction to each Marvel character and their place in the wider MCU.
Don’t let unreliable broadband ruin your Marvel movie marathon.