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What's the correct order to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe films? Has Marvel released any sort of official viewing order? And what TV shows or short films should be included and where?

Rand al'Thor
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  • “Captain America... takes place prior to the other films” — much of it does, but in flashback — it starts and ends in the “present day”, i.e. after the events of Thor. – Paul D. Waite Jan 15 '19 at 14:03
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    Also remember the days when an MCU re-watch comprised 5 films? Good times. (Ish. I mean, one of them was The Incredible Hulk.) – Paul D. Waite Apr 03 '19 at 14:06
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    Don't be hating on The Incredible Hulk, better than the Ang Lee version – Gothamite24 Dec 29 '20 at 03:47
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    Shouldn't this preamble be editted since it by far no longer applies to any of the answers. – ThePopMachine Jul 14 '21 at 17:27
  • There's a curated set on the Marvel page of Disney+ called "Marvel Cinematic Universe in Timeline Order". This is the closest to an "Official" order I'm aware of:

    https://www.disneyplus.com/brand/marvel

     – Sam Carlton Jun 24 '22 at 16:05
  • Funny, how the op only mentioned rewatching 5 films while now we have more than 30 films and tv shows – shanu Aug 01 '22 at 15:03
  • @SamCarlton They've deleted that timeline, btw – Django Reinhardt Feb 19 '23 at 22:50
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    @DjangoReinhardt I'm still seeing it. If they do delete it I have a script that backs it up daily and saves it here: https://github.com/ThatGuySam/marvelorder#marvel-cinematic-in-universe-timeline – Sam Carlton Feb 19 '23 at 23:47
  • @SamCarlton You're right, it's there for me, too. I was looking in the wrong place. Interesting that they consider the "I Am Groot" series to be canon. – Django Reinhardt Feb 21 '23 at 15:08
  • I would say order of release. Or in-universe chronologically. You'd get the same story and it would just be your preference if you liked it better in a different order. Personally I would go the order of release. – OghmaOsiris Jul 22 '11 at 21:38

5 Answers5

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This is an updated list of the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in order of internal chronology (not release order); including shorts and other releases (feature films are in bold):

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    I'm fairly certain Jessica Jones takes place before Age of Ultron, as the thing clearly on the minds of some people is "The Incident" which refers to the Battle of New York, and there's no real reference to the finale of AoU which you would expect otherwise. Hulk busted buildings in NYC all the way back in his own movie as well, so that's also what some New Yorkers would be referring back to as well. – Jimmy M. Apr 04 '16 at 17:36
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    The Consultant takes place before the end of The Incredible Hulk. Coulson and the other Agent are talking about who to send to talk to Gen. Ross. That moment, following their decision, is the post-credits scene of The Incredible Hulk. – Paul L May 09 '16 at 12:34
  • Just watched according to this order & one edit I would suggest is that Captain America Winter Soldier runs simultaneously with Agents of SHIELD E17 & not E16 as stated in the answer – KharoBangdo Feb 18 '17 at 18:07
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    Fantastic answer. I recommend crossposting to Movies & TV: [How to sort Marvel Cinematic Universe hero movies into a chronological order?](https://movies.stackexchange.com/q/21951/48480) – Stevoisiak Jun 06 '17 at 22:36
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    Spider-Man: Homecoming should be in bold. Also, what about Black Panther and Black Panther Prelude? – Kidburla Apr 17 '18 at 21:03
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    Spider-Man: Homecoming takes place 8 years after Avengers (according to the opening of the film), but Avengers: Infinity War takes place 6 years after Avengers (according to dialogue). So Spider-Man: Homecoming takes place after Infinity War.. No, wait a minute – Django Reinhardt May 01 '18 at 22:53
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    I've long thought that the Agent Carter One Shot should be seen as a pilot for the Agent Carter series, but not in continuity, as it is contradicted by much of the series. That's common for a lot of pilots - bits of plot and characterization are jettisoned, and occasionally folded back in much later. Scorpio is never mentioned again (to my recollection), which is a shame. – VBartilucci May 29 '18 at 12:56
  • In Captain America: Winter Soldier, there was a list of targets shown for the three helicarriers, and I could swear that Doctor Strange is on the list. I suspect a continuity mistake. – David Thornley Oct 05 '18 at 17:02
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    I wonder if this would be best turned into a community wiki answer. This will allow people to freely update the information as new movies and shows are released. – Skooba Oct 06 '18 at 13:32
  • This needs an update. @fez, want to do so? – Wildcard Nov 22 '18 at 04:19
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    The post credit scene on Ant-man and the Wasp contains major spoilers for Infinity War part I, so I’d say that order should be reversed. – Jorge Córdoba Feb 10 '19 at 14:31
  • But then again Ant-Man and the Wasp ends earlier than Infinity War at in-universe time. – Oni Feb 11 '19 at 00:07
  • @OrangeDog Before his movie, Dr. Strange was a brilliant surgeon and asshole, not ideological. There's far too many brilliant non-ideological assholes around to put into a target list. The only reason to target him would be to take out a superhero. – David Thornley Feb 19 '19 at 04:17
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    @DavidThornley The target list in the movie contains thousands upon thousands of targets. It doesn't stick to just superheroes... it's anyone who might be a threat to HYDRA. – TylerH Feb 24 '19 at 21:47
  • Exactly. Also, while he may not have been a superhero, keep in mind that the events of his solo film had not yet taken place yet and he was still a world-renowned surgeon. Imagine how frustrating it would be for HYDRA if they managed to put the President of the United States, Tony Stark, Hank Pym, Justin Hammer, or any other high-level individuals, only for said person to be saved by an exceptionally skilled surgeon. – Gothamite24 Dec 23 '20 at 08:21
  • WandaVision may be taking place before Far from Home: https://screenrant.com/wandavision-marvel-show-avengers-endgame-timeline-teyonah-parris/ – Taladris Jan 29 '21 at 08:11
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    It has also been confirmed that there will be no season 2 of WandaVision, so "season 1" is not necesary. – Taladris May 05 '21 at 03:33
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    @Taladris On season 2 of WV, whilst it would be odd for them to do another season I can see it still happening. All the statements I've seen have been "we can't say either way yet", and that was from Feige. Where have you seen it being confirmed there will be no S2? – TheLethalCarrot May 05 '21 at 08:16
  • @TheLethalCarrot: after checking, you're right, it is more "hinted" than "confirmed".See here: https://screenrant.com/wandavision-season-2-updates-future-nate-moore/ – Taladris May 05 '21 at 11:19
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    You also need to take into account Spider-Man ‘67, What If...?, Venom (2018), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, & Venom: Let There Be Carnage – Gothamite24 Oct 08 '21 at 21:19
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    Since Spider-Man: No Way Home includes the other Spider-Man movies (Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire), I guess they should be included with the Venom ones. – Django Reinhardt Apr 22 '22 at 01:36
  • Should at least some of the last episodes of Agents Of SHIELD be viewed directly before Infinity War, since Thanos is name-dropped? – user25730 Jun 01 '22 at 22:24
76

The Marvel Cinematic Universe Viewing Order

This is the release order of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the one I'd recommend for new viewers.

  • Movies are in bold.
  • "One-Shots" are short movies that can be found on Disney+. They sometimes tie into the universe in big ways, so it's recommended that you watch them.

The Infinity Saga

Phase One

  • Iron Man (2008)
  • The Incredible Hulk (2008)
  • Iron Man 2 (2010)
    • One-Shot: "The Consultant" (2011) (4 mins)
  • Thor (2011)
    • One-Shot: "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer" (2011) (4 mins) -- set directly before Thor but makes more sense to watch afterwards
  • Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
    • One-Shot: "Agent Carter" (2013) (12 mins)
  • The Avengers (aka "Avengers Assemble") (2012)
    • One-Shot: "Item 47" (2012) (12 mins)

Phase Two

  • Iron Man Three (2013)
    • One-Shot: "All Hail The King" (2014) (12 mins) -- set directly after (and contains major spoilers for) Iron Man 3
  • Thor: The Dark World (2013)
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
  • Ant-Man (2015)

Phase Three

  • 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)

The Multiverse Saga

Phase Four

  • Black Widow (2021) (Can be watched anytime after Captain America: Civil War)
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
  • Eternals (2021) (Can be watched anytime after Avengers: Endgame)
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
    • "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" (2022) Short film made for Disney+

Phase Five

  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
  • The Marvels (2023)

Future film releases

  • Captain America: Brave New World (2024)
  • Thunderbolts (2024)
  • Deadpool 3 (2024)
  • Fantastic Four (2024)
  • Blade (2025)
  • Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (2025)
  • Avengers: Secret Wars (2025)

Marvel TV Shows

Marvel has also made several TV shows which are largely independent of the MCU (ie. they make little or no references to it) despite being ostensibly canon. They're included here for completeness.

Original run TV shows

  • Agents of SHIELD - The original show. It tries to tie-in with the MCU in the first 5 seasons, but Seasons 6 & 7 diverged completely
  • Agent Carter
  • Daredevil
  • Jessica Jones
  • Luke Cage
  • Iron Fist
  • The Defenders
  • Inhumans
  • The Punisher
  • Runaways
  • Cloak and Dagger

Multiverse Saga TV Shows
These shows are part of an initiative by Marvel to bring the MCU and the TV shows closer together. These can be watched any time, but are all set after Avengers: Endgame.

  • WandaVision
  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
  • Loki
  • What if...? (Follows on from Loki but can be watched any time)
  • Hawkeye
  • Moon Knight
  • I Am Groot
  • She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
  • Secret Invasion
Django Reinhardt
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    @Hashim It's the order Marvel made and released the films. Unless you're arguing that Marvel wanted you not to watch something when they released it, then this is, therefore, the order they wanted audiences to watch things. They've never suggested that Agent Carter is supposed to be watched before Iron Man just because it's set in the 1940s, for example. – Django Reinhardt Oct 01 '19 at 17:57
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    I agree w/ Hashim - this really shouldn't say "Official" until it's actually official - ie - StarWars.com released a viewing order page for The Clone Wars and that list is out of order (especially in early seasons) related to release date. - https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-clone-wars-chronological-episodeorder - to take another example - Lucas intends E1 to be viewed first, yet it was released decades after Ep 4 – NKCampbell Oct 01 '19 at 18:15
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    I'd disagree that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. avoided the MCU, but the MCU avoided them... – FuzzyBoots Dec 14 '21 at 02:54
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    @FuzzyBoots: While you're right about the show as a whole, I think seasons 6 and 7 deliberately avoided interacting with the rest of the MCU because I don't think the show was able to rely on the timing of when the films would come out vs. when those seasons would air, so it was easiest to avoid dealing with the Snap and the Blip entirely. – V2Blast Apr 19 '22 at 17:24
  • Well , movie release dates fluctuate and we cannot exactly trust what we saw in comic con, so that future film releases is going to change a lot – shanu Jul 31 '22 at 07:34
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    @shanu 1/ I doubt the years will change much. 2/ That's why there's an Edit button ;) – Django Reinhardt Jul 31 '22 at 10:53
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  1. Iron Man
  2. Iron Man 2
  3. Incredible Hulk (Hulk's campus rampage overlaps with Iron Man 2)
  4. Thor (end of Iron Man 2 overlaps with the middle-ish of Thor; Jane Foster's science partner references the experiment that created the Hulk)
  5. Captain America: The First Avenger (it can be assumed, from the post credits scene, that Nick Fury has already assembled the rest of the team; obviously if we are going in true chronological order, then you would watch the first 95% of this movie before Iron Man, and then the last bit after Thor)

Granted, watching them in this order or release date order won't change the experience I would say. But that is how they take place, chronologically.

EDIT To go even further, this site has a day-by-day breakdown of the events of the Marvel films.

Brett White
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    Did anybody else notice Tony Stark using Captain America's original shield to prop up a pipe in Iron Man 2, when he's making the new element? – BenjaminRH May 08 '12 at 09:14
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    The Capt'Ameria shield is also visible in Iron Man 1 in the background as Tony is trying to make excuses to Pepper when she finds him trying to get out of the suit > "You've caught me doing worse that this before" or something. – gingerbreadboy Jan 09 '13 at 13:23
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    Brett - can you please consider updating the answer with the latest movies? – DVK-on-Ahch-To May 09 '13 at 13:54
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    @DVK I've added an updated list in an answer below. – Reanimation Nov 30 '13 at 19:29
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There’s a lot of answers already but I’m posting an answer anyway because most of the answers are lacking when it comes to Phase 3.

If you are looking for just the movies in the MCU,

  1. Captain America : The First Avenger
  2. Iron Man
  3. Iron Man 2
  4. The Incredible Hulk
  5. Thor
  6. Avengers
  7. Iron Man 3
  8. Thor : The Dark World
  9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  10. Guardians of the Galaxy
  11. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
  12. Avengers: Age of Ultron
  13. Ant-Man
  14. Captain America: Civil War
  15. Doctor Strange
  16. Thor : Ragnarok
  17. Spider-Man: Homecoming
  18. Black Panther
  19. Avengers : Infinity War

Here’s a much more in-depth look into the MCU,

PHASE 1

  1. Captain America: The First Avenger
  2. Agent Carter (season 1)
  3. Agent Carter (season 2)
  4. Agent Carter (one-shot on Iron Man 3 DVD)
  5. Iron Man
  6. Iron Man 2
  7. The Incredible Hulk
  8. The Consultant (one-shot on the Thor DVD)
  9. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (one-shot on the Captain America: The First Avenger DVD)
  10. Thor
  11. Avengers
  12. Item 47 (one-shot on the Avengers Assemble DVD)

PHASE 2

  1. Iron Man 3
  2. All Hail the King (one-shot on the Thor: The Dark World DVD)
  3. Agents of SHIELD (season 1, eps 1-7)
  4. Thor: The Dark World
  5. Agents of SHIELD (season 1, eps 8-16)
  6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  7. Agents of SHIELD (season 1, eps 17-22)
  8. Guardians of the Galaxy
  9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
  10. Daredevil (season 1)
  11. Agents of SHIELD (season 2, eps 1-10)
  12. Jessica Jones (season 1)
  13. Agents of SHIELD (season 2, eps 11-19) 26.Avengers: Age of Ultron
  14. Agents of SHIELD (season 2, eps 20-22)
  15. Daredevil (season 2, eps 1-4)
  16. Luke Cage (season 1, eps 1-4)
  17. Daredevil (season 2, eps 5-11)
  18. Luke Cage (season 1, eps 5-8)
  19. Daredevil (season 2, eps 12-13)
  20. Luke Cage (season 1, eps 9-13)
  21. Ant-Man
  22. Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 1-10)

PHASE 3

  1. Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 11-19)
  2. Iron Fist (season 1)
  3. Captain America: Civil War 39.Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 20-22)
  4. The Defenders (season 1)
  5. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 1-6)
  6. Doctor Strange
  7. Thor: Ragnarok
  8. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 7-8)
  9. Agents of SHIELD: Slingshot (season 1, eps 1-6)
  10. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 9-22)
  11. Spider-Man: Homecoming
  12. Black Panther
  13. Inhumans (season 1)
  14. The Punisher (season 1)
  15. Runaways (season 1)
  16. Agents of SHIELD (season 5, eps 1-10) – allowing for time travel craziness
  17. Jessica Jones (season 2)
  18. Agents of SHIELD (season 5, eps 11-19)
  19. Avengers: Infinity War
Peter M
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    It may be worth clarifying that yours is in chronological order. – Edlothiad May 29 '18 at 07:06
  • Also a citation. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/mcu-timeline-watch-order-marvel-cinematic-universe-film-movie-tv-show-netflix-avengers-black-panther-a8420876.html – Naib Jul 18 '18 at 09:28
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    Why is Ragnarok before Homecoming? – Paul D. Waite Jan 15 '19 at 13:58
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    This doesn't answer the question asked, "is there an official MCU viewing order?" This is potentially a different question, what is the chronological order (though there seem to be some inconsistencies there) – Mark Beadles Jan 17 '19 at 14:22
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Here's the list I would go with:

Captain America: Just the fact that it does happen before everything. Even though it makes references to the other movies it makes the other ones much better to watch.

Iron Man: At the end you hear Nick talk about other heroes, and he can be referring to Cap.

Iron Man 2: You do see or hear references about Thor, like Agent Coulson has to leave to go check out something in the desert. And Hulk with the whole campus thing in the background.

Thor: For this is pretty tricky, the first 3 are a lock. It just depends on what viewpoint you want to go with, between Thor and the Hulk. During IM2, when Coulson leaves, it's way before the Campus thing. So Thor has a little edge over that one. If you want to go with the end scene to Thor and the Cosmic Cube, well they find it during Captain America. And at the end of IM2, you see the Hammer which everyone knows.

Hulk: He's such a badass you have to have him last. The super soldier serum didn't create the Hulk (more like the start of Abomination), as someone said above, but still a great reference to CA. Tony comes at the end to recruit, even though he's not on the team yet, but he's a consultant. I read somewhere a while ago that when the campus fight happens, a mysterious fog comes through, that's suppose to be Thor's doing.

So Capt. America, IM, IM2, Thor, Hulk = Avengers (in my opinion).

Niall C.
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