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It's time to jump back into the MCU and watch the Marvel movies in order. But the prospect of watching almost 50 movies, shows, and specials is a daunting task. To help, we've put together a watch order guide so you can watch the MCU in chronological order and release date order in a few simple steps.
Below, you’ll find the complete guide on how to watch Marvel movies and shows in order. From Iron Man through to Deadpool and Wolverine, we’ve got the full release date order in easy-to-read list form for the MCU.
For those who have been there and done that, how about something different? Further down, we head to the beginning of the Marvel timeline with Captain America in the 1940s as we lay out exactly how to watch the Marvel movies and shows in chronological order. That even includes which year each MCU movie and show is set in, thanks to the latest updates out of Marvel Studios' mouth.
Right now, Deadpool & Wolverine and Robert Downey Jr's Doctor Doom casting may be firmly on your mind, but we'll also take a quick glance ahead to what you'll be watching in Marvel's future across the Multiverse Saga.
If you have more questions, the answers are waiting for you here. There's also the latest on how to watch the Marvel movies in order on Disney Plus, whether Spider-Man, Daredevil, or X-Men are considered canon, and so much more.
For everything else coming soon, check out our full rundown on the upcoming Marvel movies. Then dive into more on the latest Marvel release with our breakdowns of the Deadpool and Wolverine ending and Deadpool and Wolverine cameos.
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First up, here's how to watch the Marvel movies and shows in release date order. This is the best order for MCU newcomers and those who want to keep things simple and straightforward. To make the release date order easier to read, we've divided the list into Phases, beginning with 2008's Iron Man and leading right up to 2024's Deadpool and Wolverine.
Marvel Phase 1:
Marvel Phase 2:
Marvel Phase 3:
Marvel Phase 4:
Marvel Phase 5
Need more context? The MCU is split into Phases, with the end of a Phase typically indicating a natural end to a story arc. The beginning of a Phase, therefore, signals the introduction of new, important characters.
Phases 1-3 are often referred to as the Infinity Saga, while Phases 4-5 form part of the new Multiverse Saga with Kang and the Multiverse. Deadpool & Wolverine is the most recent entry in terms of release date order, for more on that new movie, check out our Deadpool & Wolverine review.
You might also notice the above MCU watch order list includes the Disney Plus shows, such as WandaVision, Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Loki, Moon Knight, She-Hulk, and so on. They're not movies, but the series are just as important to the overarching story being told in the MCU; everything canon-wise from 2008 to 2024 is on the list.
Netflix's Defenders Saga (Daredevil, The Punisher, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders) are not considered part of the Phases but do fit into the Marvel timeline and are now back to being part of the MCU canon. Check out the chronological order below, as well as the Defenders Saga section further down, for more info.
If you want to check out the best deals for the Disney streaming service, head over to our Disney Plus bundles page.
Watch on Disney Plus
As you've probably heard, Disney Plus houses the biggest collection of Marvel movies of any streaming service, and it's a super cheap way to watch without spending a small fortune on DVDs and Blu-rays. Prices start at $7.99 / £7.99 / AU$11.99 per month (or $109.99 / £79.90 / AU$119.99 per year).
What's next? Marvel has laid out plans for Marvel Phase 5 – which began in 2023 – and beyond. Out of the current list, we still have the new Capatin America movie and Thunderbolts to look forward too. Fantastic Four is going to kick off Marvel's Phase 6, and, hopefully, Blade won't be delayed again with its current 2026 release date.
Recent delays mean that The Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four have shifted around again, with one theory suggesting Reed Richards and company are going to mess up the chronological order further by coming from the Sixties. So, who knows where these upcoming films take the timeline?
For now, though, here's a taste of the confirmed Marvel movies and shows coming out over the next few years; it's the perfect way for your future MCU binge-watches!
Marvel Phase 5
Marvel Phase 6
TBA (unreleased):
Here it is: the new and improved guide on how to watch the Marvel movies and shows in chronological order.
We can thank Marvel itself for making things much clearer with the release of their 'Official Timeline' book as well as its own updated chronological order on the Marvel website. Both have eased many of our temporal-based headaches.
Better yet, this chronological list will make you see the MCU in a different light. We're going to start with Captain America: The First Avenger in the 1940s and work our way up to the MCU present day in 2026. That now includes Netflix's Marvel shows and Marvel's One Shots for the full picture.
As you can imagine, this chronological order a little less straightforward than the above release date list. But we now have official confirmation of where most of the MCU stands.
We've now reached 2025 and 2026, with a handful of steps back in time in entries such as Deadpool and Wolverine (which takes place first in 2018, then in 2024).
She-Hulk, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania seemingly all taking place in that not-so-far-flung future year of 2025. Secret Invasion and Guardians 3, more or less, come after in 2026, but that isn't part of the official timeline book, so we're going on the Disney Plus order here. The most recent Disney Plus series release is Echo, which takes place five months after Hawkeye.
Marvel has also revealed the exact months or rough windows of when things happened in the MCU but, honestly, that doesn't specifically matter if you're just planning to sit down and consume them without doing what amounts to homework. All you need to know is everything is now officially correct above if you want to watch the Marvel movies in chronological order.
We should warn you, however: Marvel doesn't always take the best care with its timeline. As such, our own workings out takes into account Marvel's official order on Disney Plus, its new book, and some calculated guesswork. Some things might not make sense in terms of canon or don't have exact details to pin down their years. Our advice? Try not to think too hard about it.
But, wait, there's more! Just before you dive into our guide into how to watch the MCU in chronological order there's some housekeeping and notes to take in: The I Am Groot short 'First Steps' takes place before Guardians 2, while the rest of the shorts happen after that sequel.
For now, we've put Secret Invasion as the latest project in chronological order as we're trusting Marvel Studios on that one. Thanks to its dabbling in the multiverse and timelines, respectively, What If. and Loki take up arbitrary slots on the list, but Loki comes after Endgame with how the timelines have branched off.
If you're like us, you might have assumed watching the Marvel movies and shows in order on Disney Plus would be easy. Not quite.
The vast majority of the Marvel movies are available on Disney Plus, but not everything. Currently, only Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Incredible Hulk are not available to stream on Disney Plus in the US. Even so, Disney Plus is by far the easiest way to watch the MCU in order. Let's dive into the list.
Some things to note: You will also not find The Incredible Hulk on Disney Plus. This is because the rights to Hulk belong to Universal. As a bonus, both The Amazing Spider-Man movies are available in the US.
On top of that, The Defenders saga (Daredevil seasons 1-3, Jessica Jones seasons 1-3, Luke Cage seasons 1-2, Iron Fist, and Marvel's Defenders) are now on Disney Plus, but are separate from the list to avoid any confusion over the 'main' MCU movies and shows.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy 3 are also now available on Disney Plus after their cinema releases in 2023. The Marvels followed suit in February 2024. Deadpool & Wolverine isn't on Disney Plus yet and won't be for a while, as it's still playing in cinemas but we expect the streaming date to be announced by the end of the year.
The simple answer is only Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home are in the MCU. Spider-Man-centric properties such as Venom or the upcoming Kraven are part of Sony's Spider-Man universe and should be treated as a separate entity, even if there is some occasional crossover.
Now we're getting to the confusing bit: the multiverse. Thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home, we have had various Spider-Man villains from through the multiverse in the MCU. To fully understand everyone's motives and intentions in No Way Home, you need to have watched a fair few older Spider-Man movies.
These take place on three alternate timelines: one where Tobey Maguire is Spider-Man, another where Andrew Garfield is Spidey, and a third where Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock becomes the villain Venom. For a full deep dive into watching these movies, then check out our guide to how to watch the Spider-Man movies in order.
Long story, short, however - Tom Holland's Spider-Man currently exists in the MCU, with the other Sony Spider-Man movies existing (broadly speaking) in the multiverse. Don't expect them to appear again into the main Marvel universe anytime soon, though.
You might also be wondering about Across the Spider-Verse. Technically, that also exists as part of the wider multiverse (indeed, No Way Home was referenced in the Spider-Verse sequel), but doesn't have to be watched in any order other than within the framework of its own trilogy. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has just been added to Disney Plus, too, for those looking to jump into one of Peter Parker's most tragic cinematic adventures.
Then there's The Defenders Saga, which were once considered part of the MCU, but also sort of not. They start very much linked to the movies, and then gradually lose all connection – thanks mainly to originally being Netflix products.
Now, though, they are all on Disney Plus and, yes, the Marvel Netflix shows are canon. If you want to tackle Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and The Punisher, then you're going to want to know the watch order. Luckily, we have exactly the piece you're after: how to watch The Defenders Saga in order. The list is also below:
Daredevil's story, which started in She-Hulk and will continue in Born Again, loosely picks up where the Netflix series left off. Daredevil also appears briefly in Echo, as does Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin.
X-Men, meanwhile, exist completely outside of the MCU as part of (formerly) Fox's X-Men cinematic universe. But things are getting complicated when it comes to mutants thanks to Hugh Jackman’s recent return as Wolverine - as well as if the events of The Marvels post-credits scene head where we think they're heading.
Deadpool & Wolverine firmly places the Fox X-Men movies outside of the MCU – but only after we see how they directly affect the Sacred Timeline and how the TVA is aware of their existence. That (confusingly) makes those X-Men movies canon in the wider multiverse of the MCU before removing them entirely.
Basically, the door on the Fox X-Men movies is closed for now, and they exist on the outskirts of the MCU instead of firmly inside it. Only time will tell us how mutants will factor into the cinematic universe going forward. For now, you can watch them separately with our guide on how to watch the X-Men movies in order.
The latest Marvel Studios production, X-Men '97, is a continuation of the '90s X-Men: The Animated Series and isn't part of the wider MCU story (for now) but could be considered canon as part of the multiverse.
If you're short on time (and interest), everything here is technically skippable if you're only focusing on the MCU, though we'd certainly recommend the earlier Spider-Man films and the Spider-Verse movies for both a greater understanding of the multiverse and a deeper appreciation of No Way Home.
