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Marvel Movies in Order: The Complete MCU Watch Order (Release & Chronological, 2008–2026)

How to watch Marvel Studios' movies, TV shows, and specials in order - from Iron Man to Wonder Man, with every single project (canon or not) in between

Graeme McMillan
Guides by Graeme McMillan, Editor
Additional contributions by Chris Arrant, Hayden Hefford
Published on

Popverse's top stories

Want to watch all the Marvel movies in order before Avengers: Doomsday? With 37 movies and multiple Disney+ shows, that can be overwhelming. Below, we'll tell you how to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in order - release order, chronological order and our take on what the best order is if you’re pressed for time.

(Updated February 2026.)

Marvel Movies and Shows in Release Order (2008–2026 Full List)

 

Watching the MCU in release order allows you to follow the events as they occurred in theatres (and on the small screen), allowing you to relive the saga as it unfolded the first time. Below, we’ll list how to watch the MCU in release order.

Marvel Studios' MCU Phase One

Marvel Studios' MCU Phase Two

Marvel Studios' MCU Phase Three

Marvel Studios' MCU Phase Four

Marvel Studios' MCU Phase Five

Marvel Studios' MCU Phase Six

In case you’re wondering: We are not including the Marvel shows that were made for ABC or Hulu, which are not part of official MCU canon. We’ll get to those shows soon enough, though.

Marvel Movies and Shows in Chronological Timeline Order

 

The timeline of the MCU stretches more than a thousand years, thanks to flashbacks — and it also crosses over into multiple realities, thanks to projects like Loki and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. We’re just giving you a warning before we reveal how to watch the MCU in chronological order:

  • Eyes of Wakanda (1260 BC)
  • Loki season 2 (1868/time travel is messy)
  • Captain America: The First Avenger (1942-1945)
  • Marvel One Shot: Agent Carter (1946)
  • The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Purposefully vague mid-1960s in an alternate timeline)
  • Loki season 2 (1977/1982 in an alternate timeline/time travel is messy)
  • Captain Marvel (1995)
  • Iron Man (2010)
  • Iron Man 2 (2011)
  • The Incredible Hulk (2011)
  • Marvel One Shot: The Consultant (2011)
  • Marvel One Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer (2011)
  • Thor (2011)
  • The Avengers (2012)
  • Loki season 1 (2012/time travel is messy)
  • Marvel One Shot: Item 47 (2012)
  • Iron Man 3 (2012)
  • Marvel One Shot: All Hail the King (2012)
  • Thor: The Dark World (2013)
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
  • Daredevil Season 1 (2014)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 (2014)
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
  • Ant-Man (2015)
  • Jessica Jones Season 1 (2015)
  • Daredevil Season 2 (2015)
  • Luke Cage Season 1 (2015)
  • Captain America: Civil War (2016)
  • Team Thor Part 1 & Part 2 (2016)
  • Black Widow (2016)
  • Black Panther (2016)
  • Spider-Man: Homecoming (2016 - beware that the “8 years later” card shown after the intro is a mistake, and was later retconned to be 4 years to match the series of events presented in this list.)
  • Iron Fist Season 1 (2016)
  • The Defenders (2016)
  • The Punisher Season 1 (2016)
  • Doctor Strange (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)
  • Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
  • Team Darryl (2017)
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
  • Deadpool & Wolverine (one scene in 2018)
  • Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
  • Avengers: Endgame (2023)
  • Loki season 1 (2023/time travel is messy)
  • WandaVision (2023)
  • Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2023)
  • Deadpool & Wolverine (some scenes in 2023)
  • Spider-Man: Far From Home (2023)
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2023)
  • Eternals (2023)
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home (2024)
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2024)
  • Hawkeye (2024)
  • Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
  • Moon Knight (2025)
  • She-Hulk (2025)
  • Ms Marvel (2025)
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2025)
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2025)
  • Werewolf By Night (2025)
  • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2025)
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2025)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2025)
  • Secret Invasion (2025)
  • The Marvels (2025)
  • Echo (2025)
  • Agatha All Along (2025)
  • Loki season 1 (2023/void at the end of time/time travel is messy)
  • Loki season 2 (void at the end of time/time travel is messy)
  • Daredevil: Born Again, season 1 (2026)
  • Captain America: Brave New World (2027)
  • Thunderbolts: The New Avengers (2027)
  • Wonder Man (2027)

I know what you’re thinking. Does The Fantastic Four: First Steps actually take place in the 1960s, or was it just a world influenced by 1960s design? Marvel has been purposefully vague on this to date, but director Matt Shakman suggested during promotion for the film that he was imagining a mid-60s setting for the movie.

Best Marvel Watch Order for New Fans

 

Be warned: even this shortened version is still an investment — but, then again, it’s still shorter than watching 37 movies in a row.

Is this entirely comprehensive? Not at all, but that’s why you have the longer lists above. Instead, this is a watch order to introduce you to the main beats, characters, and concepts of the MCU to date. Did I miss out your favorites? Probably, but there’s no way everything could make the cut in a reduced list of this sort. 

Marvel Cinematic Universe FAQs

Are Fox’s X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and Sony’s Spider-Man movies part of the MCU multiverse?

In theory, yes - both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool and Wolverine basically fold almost every single earlier Marvel movie ever made into the MCU via the multiverse. But none of those projects were made to be part of the MCU, so we're not including them in this watch order.

We do have a separate Spider-Man Watch Order and X-Men Watch Order, though.

Is Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD part of the MCU timeline?

As things currently stand, no. In 2012, Marvel Television announced plans to make shows that were 100% in continuity with the MCU, but those shows have since been officially declared non-canonical by Marvel.

Confused? That’s understandable. But if you want to watch them in their own bubble, here’s the Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD non-canonical MCU in release order:

Some, but not all, of the above is available on Disney+. The links above are to purchase each season individually on Amazon, but there is, inexplicably, no way to purchase Runaways Season 2 on Amazon currently, hence no link above.(Yes, we know seasons 1 and 3 are available; no, we don’t know why.)  Similarly, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. web series Slingshot is not available for purchase currently.

How many Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are there?

2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps means that there have been 37 MCU movies released to date, with a further three having been announced and scheduled.

You can get all of that information right here.

What is Marvel's longest movie?

Avengers: Endgame is Marvel Studios' longest movie to date at 3 hours and 2 minutes. 

Are there any flop movies from Marvel?

2023's The Marvels is the biggest movie flop for Marvel Studios, taking in just $206.1 million worldwide against a budget of $274.8 million. Even Sony's 2024 film Madame Web managed to earn a profit at theaters - something The Marvels can't claim.

What is the shortest Marvel movie?

At a brisk 102 minutes, 2023's The Marvels is the shortest Marvel Studios theatrical movie. Although if you count the one-off Werewolf by Night Disney+ special as a movie, that would be the shortest at 53 minutes.

When's the Marvel movie coming out?

The next Marvel movie expected in theaters is 2026's Spider-Man: Brand New Day, out July 31.

Upcoming Marvel movies & TV series

There's a lot of Marvel to look forward to throughout 2026 and beyond. Here's what's been officially announced.

Marvel Studios' Phase 6

  • March 4, 2026 - Daredevil: Born Again, season 2
  • July 31, 2026 - Spider-Man: Brand New Day
  • December 18, 2026 - Avengers: Doomsday
  • TBD 2026 - The Punisher one-shot
  • TBD 2026 - VisionQuest
  • TBD 2026 - Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, season 2
  • March, 2027 - Daredevil: Born Again, season 3
  • December 17, 2027 - Avengers: Secret Wars

Marvel Studios' unscheduled but upcoming TV shows & movies:

  • Armor Wars (theatrical movie)
  • Black Panther 3 (theatrical movie)
  • Shang-Chi 2 (theatrical movie)
  • Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, season 3 (TV series)

Where can I watch the MCU movies?

Virtually all of the Marvel Studios' MCU movies and TV shows to date can be easily found on Disney+. If you're unable to subscribe to Disney+, however, we have links above to buying each MCU project individually.

Graeme McMillan

Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.

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