An alternative to the Star Wars movie marathon for the holiday season is a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) marathon. In case you are up for it, you need to know how to watch the Marvel movies in order. This guide aims to explain how to watch the Marvel movies in chronological and release date order and offer an understanding of the MCU timeline.
But before we proceed with the Marvel movie order, let’s provide some context on why Disney Plus is the platform of choice to follow the franchise. Then, we will proceed with the best order to watch all Marvel movies released so far. There are two options here: watch the Marvel movies in chronological order or watch the Marvel movies in order of release.
Since Disney acquired Marvel in 2009, it has made over $18 billion from Marvel films. Disney Plus is a good starting point if you want to watch the Marvel movies in order, simply because it has most of them streaming in 4K.
The Two Most Sensible Marvel Movie Watch Orders
Watching Marvel movies in order can be done in two ways that make sense.
The first and most recommended one begins with Captain America: The First Avengers back in the days of WWII and the origins of Steve Rogers’ story. Since Captain America’s story started the whole thing, I would recommend starting with this one and going in chronological order rather than theater release order.
Alternatively, you can start with the first Marvel movie released in 2008, Iron Man. Then, you can continue with the rest of the 22 MCU movies.
When done, you will be ready to follow Phase 4 of the MCU movies. By watching all films, mainly chronologically, you will have witnessed the most expensive TV show produced – ever.
Let’s explain how both orders work, and then you can decide the one you prefer. Next, we will explain how to watch the Marvel movies chronologically, followed by release order.
Finally, we will rank the Marvel movies from best to worst.
Marvel movies in order: Chronological Order
Firstly, understanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) official timeline is probably ideal when you jump to the films. So, if you want to follow the MCU events as they happened instead of sorting them out yourself, this is the way to go.
Consequently, this list of Marvel movies starts with Captain America: The First Avenger and ends with Spider-Man: Far From Home at this point. It starts with Red Skull searching for the Tesseract and ends with Peter Parker in Venice for vacation. Luckily, there is no international travel ban in MCU.
So this is how to watch the Marvel movies in chronological order:
The Infinity Saga: First Phase (2008-2012)
- Iron Man (Released on May 2, 2008)
- The Incredible Hulk (Released on June 13, 2008)
- Iron Man 2 (Released on May 7, 2010)
- Thor (Released on May 6, 2011)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (Released on July 22, 2011)
- Marvel’s The First Avengers (Released on May 4, 2012)
Second Phase (2013-2015)
- Iron Man 3 (Released on May 3, 2013)
- Thor: The Dark World (Released on November 8, 2013)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Released on April 4, 2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (Released on August 1, 2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (Released on May 1, 2015)
- Ant-Man (Released on July 17, 2015)
Third Phase (2016-2019)
- Captain America: Civil War (Released on May 6, 2016)
- Doctor Strange (Released on November 4, 2016)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (Released on May 5, 2017)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (Released on July 7, 2017)
- Thor: Ragnarok (Released on November 3, 2017)
- Black Panther (Released on February 16, 2018)
- Avengers: Infinity War (Released on April 27, 2018)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (Released on July 6, 2018)
- Captain Marvel (Released on March 8, 2019)
- Avengers: Endgame (Released on April 26, 2019)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (Released on July 2, 2019)
The Multiverse Saga: Fourth Phase (2021-2022)
- Black Widow (Released on July 9, 2021)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Released on September 3, 2021)
- Eternals (Released on November 5, 2021)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (Released on December 17, 2021)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Released on May 6, 2021)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (Released on July 8, 2022)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Released on November 11, 2022)
Fifth Phase (2023-2024)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Released on February 17, 2023)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Released on May 5, 2023)
- The Marvels (Released on November 11, 2023)
- Captain America: New World Order (Released on July 26, 2024)
- Thunderbolts (Released on December 20, 2024)
Sixth Phase (2025-2027)
- Blade (Released on February 14, 2025)
- Deadpool 3 (Released on May 3, 2025)
- Fantastic Four (Released on May 2, 2025)
- Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (Released on May 1, 2026)
- Avengers: Secret Wars (Released on May 7, 2027)
Black Widow is supposed to take place after the events of Captain America: Civil War. Meanwhile, we do not know much about the Disney Plus shows, like The Falcon, The Winter Soldier, and WandaVision. Of course, we will update the list to know more about the MCU Phase 4.
Marvel movies in order: Release date
On the other hand, if you prefer to watch the MCU movies in release date order, this is the list for you. It includes all four phases of the MCU, starting with 2008’s Iron Man, which launched Robert Downey-Junior to interstellar superstardom.
Inarguably, it is one of the best and most iconic character-actor matches in cinema history. By watching the Marvel movies this way, you will experience the improvements in technology and CGI first-hand, while the budget increases lead to better movies overall.
Still, remember that Marvel movies’ release date order heavily depends on cast and crew availability. Essentially, these movies were produced and released whenever it was possible to complete the MCU projects. Naturally, chronological order was not maintained.
- Captain America: The First Avenger (1943-1945)
- Captain Marvel (1995)
- Iron Man (2008)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- The Incredible Hulk (2010)
- Thor (2010)
- The Avengers (2012)
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Iron Man 3 (2013)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2014)
- I Am Groot (2014)
- Daredevil season 1 (2014)
- Jessica Jones season 1 (2015)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Ant-Man (2015)
- Daredevil season 2 (2015)
- Luke Cage season 1 (2015)
- Iron Fist season 1 (2016)
- Marvel’s Defenders (2016)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Black Widow (2016)
- Black Panther (2016)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2016)
- The Punisher season 1 (2016)
- Jessica Jones season 2 (2017)
- Luke Cage season 2 (2017)
- Iron Fist season 2 (2017)
- Daredevil season 3 (2017)
- The Punisher season 2 (2017)
- Jessica Jones season 3 (2017)
- Doctor Strange (2017)
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Avengers: Endgame (2018-2023)
- Loki (outside of our conception of time, but around here!)
- Loki season 2 (also outside of our conception of time!)
- What If…? (multiverse)
- WandaVision (2023)
- Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings (2024)
- Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2024)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2024)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2024)
- Eternals (2024)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2024)
- Hawkeye (Christmas 2024)
- Moon Knight (2025)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2025)
- Echo (2025)
- She-Hulk (2025)
- Ms. Marvel (2025)
- The Marvels (2025)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2025)
- Werewolf By Night (2025)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2025)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2026)
- Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (2026)
- Secret Invasion (2026)
The MCU on Disney Plus
Considering Disney Plus is the best means of following the MCU and will be from now on, let’s see which Marvel movies and TV shows are available on the platform. Of course, this heavily depends on the region, but the list of Marvel movies on Disney Plus is accurate for the US, UK, and Australia as of December 2020. Notice the absence of The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man films from this list, as Universal and Sony distribution rights belong.
Marvel movies available on Disney Plus:
- Iron Man
- Thor
- Iron Man 2
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Avengers
- Iron Man 3
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Thor: The Dark World
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Ant-Man
- Captain America: Civil War
- Doctor Strange
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
- Captain Marvel
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Avengers: Endgame
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Black Panther
- Ant-Man and the Wasp
Marvel TV Shows on Disney+ (2021 & Upcoming):
These are the Marvel TV shows available on Disney Plus, meanwhile:
- WandaVision (now available)
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (now available)
- Loki (June 9, 2021)
- What If…? (summer 2021)
- Ms. Marvel (late 2021)
- Hawkeye (late 2021)
- She-Hulk (TBA)
- Moon Knight (TBA)
- Secret Invasion (TBA)
- Ironheart (TBA)
- Armor Wars (TBA)
- Wakanda series (TBA)
Marvel movies in order of IMDB ratings
While not ideal, resorting to IMDB ratings and Marvel movies’ consensus is better. However, depending on individual taste and aesthetics, you may disagree with some ratings.
I don’t understand how Captain America: The First Avenger is ranked, as I think it was a well-made and very emotional film. But it’s hard to disagree with the top of the list, though, as three out of four Avengers films were pretty amazing.
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Rating: 8.4
- Avengers: Endgame (2019) Rating: 8.4
- The Avengers (2012) Rating: 8.0
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Rating: 8.0
- Iron Man (2008) Rating: 7.9
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017) – Rating: 7.9
- Captain America: Civil War (2016) Rating: 7.8
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) Rating: 7.7
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) Rating: 7.6
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) Rating: 7.5
- Doctor Strange (2016) Rating: 7.5
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) Rating: 7.4
- Black Panther (2018) Rating: 7.3
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) Rating: 7.3
- Ant-Man (2015) Rating: 7.3
- Iron Man 3 (2013) Rating: 7.2
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) Rating: 7.1
- Thor (2011) Rating: 7.0
- Iron Man 2 (2010) Rating: 7.0
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Rating: 6.9
- Thor: The Dark World (2013) Rating: 6.9
- Captain Marvel (2019) Rating: 6.9
- The Incredible Hulk (2008) Rating: 6.7
What’s the ideal way to watch Marvel movies in order?
The perfect order to watch Marvel movies is a matter of personal preference. However, the orders provided and the IMDB ratings for each MCU movie should help determine the best order for you.
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