Marvel Movies In Order: How To Watch Every MCU Film Chronologically

With over 40 films and television series under its belt and counting, the Marvel Cinematic Universe can often times feel like an unwieldy beast that’s impossible to conquer. The record-breaking Hollywood franchise kicked off in 2008 with the release of “Iron Man,” starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role, but that’s not where an MCU newcomer should start if they’re trying to experience the universe in chronological order. Both “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “Captain Marvel” precede “Iron Man” on the never-ending journey that is the MCU story timeline.

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The MCU continues this fall with the releases of “Loki” Season 2, streaming exclusively on Disney+, and “The Marvels,” opening in movie theaters exclusively on Nov. 10. The latter title picks up directly after the events of “Secret Invasion,” the Disney+ limited series that concluded in July, making it the most current film on the MCU timeline. “Loki” Season 2 is more untamable, as it picks up directly after the events of Season 1 and finds the title character hopping through different timelines. Part of the allure of the “Loki” franchise is that it’s not firmly set on the timeline.

All of this is to say that it’s increasingly challenging to define the true chronological order of the MCU. Many films and TV series appear to take place concurrently and thus the order in which you watch them matters less (see post-“Endgame” titles such as “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” “Eternals,” “Hawkeye” and more), while other films have a clearer spot in the story timeline (“WandaVision” leading into “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” for instance).

Whether you’re just starting your Marvel journey or interested in a massive re-watch, below is a general outline to experience the MCU in chronological order.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Year of Release: 2011

Cast: Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones

Variety’s Review: Red, white and bland, “Captain America: The First Avenger” plays like a by-the-numbers prequel for Marvel Studios’ forthcoming “The Avengers” movie, the proper teaser for which lies buried after the words “Captain America will return” in the end credits. While that 2012 tentpole will lump Cap in with Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor and various other superheroes, this one focuses on constructing a blockbuster origin story for one of Marvel’s most iconic creations. Although Joe Johnston earnestly attempts to resurrect the WWII-era action figure, debut adventure comes across as remarkably flat.

Captain Marvel

Year of Release: 2019

Cast: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg, Jude Law

Variety’s Review: In “Captain Marvel,” Brie Larson radiates an ability that too many comic-book heroes never get the chance to show: the superpower of expression… The basic premise of “Captain Marvel” — a gifted figure from a distant galactic sphere lands in Los Angeles — carries echoes of “Thor,” “Superman,” and many a past Spandex saga. But this isn’t another über-fish-out-of-water comedy. It’s closer in spirit to the last Wolverine film — a desperate tale of identity.

Iron Man

Year of Release: 2008

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow

Variety’s Review: Finally, someone’s found a sure-fire way to make money with a modern Middle East war movie: Just send a Marvel superhero into the fray to kick some insurgent butt. The powerhouse comic book-inspired actioner “Iron Man” isn’t principally about this fantasy, but it won’t hurt at least American audiences’ enjoyment of this expansively entertaining special effects extravaganza.

Iron Man 2

Year of Release: 2010

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke

Variety’s Review: “Iron Man 2” isn’t as much fun as its predecessor, but by the time the smoke clears, it’ll do. Much like “The Dark Knight,” this Paramount release brings an enormous stash of goodwill to the party, thanks to a well-crafted origin tale whose popularity fueled anticipation for a follow-up. Yet while the first go-round for this lesser-known Marvel hero benefited from its freshness and visual flair, the beats here are more familiar, the pacing more uneven.

The Incredible Hulk

Year of Release: 2008

Cast: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson

Variety’s Review: What seemed, in theory, the least-necessary revival of a bigscreen superhero emerges as perfectly solid summer action fare in “The Incredible Hulk.” Revisiting the character Ang Lee and James Schamus put under a psychological microscope in 2003 to mixed results, Marvel, Universal and several of the same producers have repackaged one of their better-known stable stars in a straightforward actioner that delivers the goods with no unnecessary frills or digressions.

Thor

Year of Release: 2011

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings, Clark Gregg, Idris Elba, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo, Anthony Hopkins

Variety’s Review: Neither the star pupil nor the dunce of the Marvel superhero-to-screen class, “Thor” delivers the goods so long as butt is being kicked and family conflict is playing out in celestial dimensions, but is less thrilling during the Norse warrior god’s rather brief banishment on Earth.

The Avengers

Year of Release: 2012

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner

Variety’s Review: Like a superior, state-of-the-art model built from reconstituted parts, Joss Whedon’s buoyant, witty and robustly entertaining superhero smash-up is escapism of a sophisticated order, boasting a tonal assurance and rich reserves of humor that offset the potentially lumbering and unavoidably formulaic aspects of this 143-minute team-origin story.

Thor: The Dark World

Year of Release: 2013

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Russo, Anthony Hopkins

Variety’s Review: Early on in “Thor: The Dark World,” the latest slab of briskly amusing, elaborately inconsequential 3D entertainment from the Disney/Marvel comic book factory, an evil Dark Elf announces his sinister plan to “unleash the Aether.” What sounds at first like an arcane euphemism for breaking wind turns out to be just another way of stating what you probably already suspected: The megalomaniac of the month is about to activate the latest all-powerful weapon capable of triggering mass annihilation, necessitating yet another intervention by a popular superhero and his ragtag band of sidekicks. Still, as helmed by Alan Taylor, this robust, impersonal visual-effects showpiece proves buoyant and unpretentious enough to offset its stew of otherwise derivative fantasy/action elements.

Iron Man 3

Year of Release: 2013

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Ben Kingsley

Variety’s Review: The third time is neither a particular charm nor the kiss of death for Marvel Studios’ robust “Iron Man” series, which has changed studios (from Paramount to Disney) and directors (Shane Black subbing for Jon Favreau) but otherwise toyed little with the formula that has so far generated more than $1.2 billion in global ticket sales. The inevitable franchise fatigue ― plus a markedly unmemorable villain ― may account for the feeling that “Iron Man 3” is more perfunctory and workmanlike than its two predecessors, but this solid production still delivers more than enough of what fans expect to earn its weight in box office metal.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Year of Release: 2014

Cast: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, Robert Redford, Samuel L. Jackson

Variety’s Review: “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is an impressively equal sequel to 2011’s superb origin story “Captain America: The First Avenger” that trades the earlier film’s apple-pie Americana for the uneasy mood of a 1970s paranoia thriller — a resonance underscored by the casting of “Three Days of the Condor” and “All the President’s Men” star Robert Redford in a prominent supporting role. Chockfull of the breathless cliffhangers dictated by the genre, but equally rich in the quiet, tender character moments that made the first film unique among recent Marvel fare, “The Winter Soldier” marks a generally assured return to features for sibling helmers Anthony and Joe Russo.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Year of Release: 2014

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace

Variety’s Review: An unusually prankish and playful Marvel Studios vehicle, director James Gunn’s presumptive franchise-starter is overlong, overstuffed and sometimes too eager to please, but the cheeky comic tone keeps things buoyant — as does Chris Pratt’s winning performance as the most blissfully spaced-out space crusader this side of Buckaroo Banzai.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Year of Release: 2017

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Kurt Russell, Pom Klementieff

Variety’s Review: Shot for shot, line for line, it’s an extravagant and witty follow-up, made with the same friendly virtuosic dazzle. Yet this time you can sense just how hard the series’ wizard of a director, James Gunn (now taking off from a script he wrote solo), is working to entertain you. Maybe a little too hard. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” is an adventure worth taking, and the number of moviegoers around the planet who will want to take it should prove awe-inspiring. But it doesn’t so much deepen the first “Guardians” as offer a more strenuous dose of fun to achieve a lesser high.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Year of Release: 2015

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Linda Cardellini, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson

Variety’s Review: The most successful superhero movie of all time gets a super-sized sequel with surprising amounts of soul…returning writer-director Joss Whedon brings a looser, more inventive and stylish touch to this skillful follow-up.

Ant-Man

Year of Release: 2015

Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Anthony Mackie, Michael Douglas

Variety’s Review: Less is often more in this enjoyably scaled-down Marvel comicbook adaptation starring Paul Rudd… The Marvel Cinematic Universe can be an awfully big, noisy and repetitive place to spend your time and money, but at its best, it can also allow for humor, whimsy and lightness of spirit — all qualities that come into play in “Ant-Man,” a winningly modest addition to the ever-expanding Disney/Marvel family.

Captain America: Civil War

Year of Release: 2016

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Marisa Tomei, Tom Holland, Frank Grillo, Martin Freeman, William Hurt, Daniel Brühl

Variety’s Review: Very much an “Avengers” movie in scope and ambition if not title (the conspicuous absence of Thor and Hulk notwithstanding), this chronicle of an epic clash between two equally noble factions, led by Captain America and Iron Man, proves as remarkable for its dramatic coherence and thematic unity as for its dizzyingly inventive action sequences; viewers who have grown weary of seeing cities blow up ad nauseam will scarcely believe their luck at the relative restraint and ingenuity on display.

Black Widow

Year of Release: 2021

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O-T Fagbenle, Olga Kurylenko, William Hurt, Ray Winstone, Rachel Weisz

Variety’s Review: “Black Widow,” which kicks off Phase Four of the MCU, doesn’t feel like the first stand-alone “Black Widow” film. It feels more like the second, lost-in-the-wilderness “Black Widow” film. But I’m here to say that’s a good t

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Year of Release: 2017

Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Robert Downey Jr., Michael Keaton

Variety’s Review: Tom Holland plays Peter Parker as Marvel’s first YA superhero. That’s the novelty, and limitation, of this mildly diverting reboot… Tobey Maguire, who certainly seemed boyish at the time, was 26 years old when he first played Peter, but Holland was just 20 when he shot this film, and it makes a difference. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” is the story of a savior who’s still mucking around in the business of being a kid. It’s almost as if he’s his own fanboy.

Black Panther

Year of Release: 2018

Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett

Variety’s Review: Co-written and directed by Ryan Coogler, “Black Panther” is a radically different kind of comic-book movie, one with a proud Afrocentric twist, featuring a nearly all-black cast, that largely ignores the United States and focuses instead on the fictional nation of Wakanda — and guess what: Virtually everything that distinguishes “Black Panther” from past Marvel pics works to this standalone entry’s advantage

Doctor Strange

Year of Release: 2016

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton

Variety’s Review: Yes, this new project shares the same look, feel, and fancy corporate sheen as the rest of Marvel’s rapidly expanding Avengers portfolio, but it also boasts an underlying originality and freshness missing from the increasingly cookie-cutter comic-book realm of late. From this second-tier side character, the studio has created a thrilling existential dilemma in which its flawed hero’s personal search for purpose dovetails beautifully with forays into the occult New Age realm of magic and sorcery where Doctor Strange ultimately finds his calling.

Thor: Ragnarok

Year of Release: 2017

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins

Variety’s Review: While it’s not saying much, “Thor: Ragnarok” is easily the best of the three Thor movies — or maybe I just think so because its screenwriters and I finally seem to agree on one thing: The Thor movies are preposterous.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Year of Release: 2018

Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer

Variety’s Review: Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly reunite in a tiny-superhero Marvel sequel that’s faster, funnier, and more cunningly confident than the original…”Ant-Man and the Wasp” has a pleasingly breakneck, now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t surreal glee. It’s a cunningly swift and delightful comedy of scale, in which Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), that quipster mensch of a convict-turned-superhero (has there ever been a movie criminal this nice?), shoots around in his miniaturizing metal suit like the world’s tiniest gadfly, only to loom up as large as Godzilla.

Avengers: Infinity War

Year of Release: 2018

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldaña, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt

Variety’s Review: A knowingly overstuffed Marvel mashup turns out to be bedazzling fun, despite the fact that this many superheroes means they’re all less special.

Avengers: Endgame

Year of Release: 2019

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldaña, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt

Variety’s Review: The culmination of 10 years and more than twice as many movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Avengers: Endgame” promises closure where its predecessor, “Avengers: Infinity War,” sowed chaos.

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Year of Release: 2019

Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jake Gyllenhaal

Variety’s Review: The key to the new movie’s appeal, apart from the fact that Tom Holland acts with far greater confidence and verve in the title role, is that the entire film is a bit of a fake-out, and I mean that in a very positive way. There’s a good twist, and it’s totally central (I won’t reveal it), but what’s resonant about it is that it enables “Far From Home” to play around with the very issue of what matters in a superhero movie.

Loki (Season 1, Followed by Season 2)

Year of Release: 2021 and 2023

Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Jonathan Majors

Variety’s Review: Only two episodes of “Loki” were screened for critics, making it hard to know exactly how successful the 6-episode season might be in shaping its own identity within the onscreen Marvel universe. Of these first two episodes, however, the second was far more engaging. The pilot has such an extraordinary amount of ground to cover that director Kate Herron only gets a couple opportunities to find humor in between the exposition, and Hiddleston can barely get into the pithy groove that made Loki such a standout in the first place. The second, at least, can have a bit more fun.

WandaVision

Year of Release: 2021

Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Randall Park, Kat Dennings, Evan Peters

Variety’s Review: Given the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe TV show,” your mind probably doesn’t conjure up anything that looks like “WandaVision,” the first episodic series from Marvel Studios. (“Marvel Television,” which produced series like “Jessica Jones” and “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” is effectively no more.) After two dozen movies teeming with chiseled heroes, bombastic violence and swelling orchestras signaling some catastrophic twist, “WandaVision” throws Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany), two of the MCU’s most powerful and tragic characters, into the jarringly low-stakes world of a picture-perfect sitcom neighborhood circa 1950-something.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Year of Release: 2021

Cast: Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Wyatt Russell, Don Cheadle, Daniel Brühl, Emily VanCamp

Variety’s Review: The promise of the Marvel television shows — first “WandaVision” and now “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” — is that they will do something fundamentally different, stylistically and substantively, from what the Marvel colossus has done before. “WandaVision,” at least in its early going, played compellingly with genre while telling a story about grief. And “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” in its first episode, telegraphs an ambition to do something similar. It is harder-edged than previous Marvel outings, and it, too, looks at the aftermath of the very bad things superheroes must endure.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Year of Release: 2021

Cast: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Meng’er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Yuen Wah, Michelle Yeoh, Ben Kingsley, Tony Leung

Variety’s Review: The most obscure Marvel Cinematic Universe character to get his own stand-alone movie to date, the comic book mega-company’s “Master of Kung Fu” may not be a household name (not yet, at least), but you wouldn’t know that from “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” a flashy, Asian-led visual effects extravaganza that gives the second-tier hero the same over-the-top treatment that big-timers like Hulk and Thor typically get. The result broadens the brand’s spectrum of representation once again, offering audiences of Asian descent the kind of empowerment for which “Black Panther” paved the way a few years back.

Eternals

Year of Release: 2021

Cast: Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie

Variety’s Review: The effects are beautiful, the interplay humane, but at heart it’s a standard team superhero movie… “Eternals” is a fluid and sometimes bedazzling entertainment I’d place on the next tier, because it never transcends its conventionality and makes you go “Damn!” Maybe next time, Zhao can raise the stakes on the heroic vibes by mixing in a drop of nomad reality.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Year of Release: 2021

Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Willem Dafoe, Marisa Tomei, Albert Molina, Jamie Foxx

Variety’s Review: What do you call the opposite of a reboot? The “system overload” of “Spider-Man” movies, Sony’s ninth (and almost certainly not last) feature-length riff on the friendly neighborhood superhero, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” seeks to connect Tom Holland’s spin on the web-slinger with the previous live-action versions of the character by first reassembling a rogue’s gallery of all the villains Peter Parker has vanquished to date. Returning director Jon Watts — whose bright, slightly dorky touch lends a welcome continuity to this latest trilogy — wrangles the unwieldy premise into a consistently entertaining superhero entry, tying up two decades of loose ends in the process.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Year of Release: 2022

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez

Variety’s Review: It’s an unhinged ride, a CGI horror jam, a Marvel brainteaser and, at moments, a bit of an ordeal… The film was directed by Sam Raimi, making his first movie in nine years (after the mediocre 2013 smash “Oz the Great and Powerful”), and in a number of scenes you feel the companionable spirit and shifting imagistic flair he showed in the first two “Spider-Man” films. It’s amusing to see him feature the Illuminati as a kind of skewed-reality superhero team, or stage a duel fought with literal musical notes (a scene in which Danny Elfman’s “Night on Bald Mountain”-meets-doom-rock score excels). Olsen’s performance generates an operatic fire even as she’s styled like a barefoot mom soaked in Carrie White’s blood.

Hawkeye

Year of Release: 2021

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, Tony Dalton, Fra Fee, Brian d’Arcy James, Vera Farmiga, Alaqua Cox, Zahn McClarnon, Florence Pugh

Variety’s Review: In its best moments, this TV version of “Hawkeye” hearkens back to the brilliant 2012 comic series of the same name. From writer Matt Fraction and artist David Aja, this series first made Clint and Kate such a sharp pairing by leaning into the fact that they’re both just people with damage who happen to be really, really good at archery.

Moon Knight

Year of Release: 2022

Cast: Oscar Isaac stars, May Calamawy, Karim El Hakim, F. Murray Abraham, Ethan Hawke

Variety’s Review: Here, Marvel’s attempting to do something it hasn’t lately done: Break a new character through the medium of TV. And “Moon Knight,” an adventurous limited series, suggests a way forward for a content-creation engine that’s come to feel overwhelming. There’s a freshness to it that’s enticing even for those outside the fandom.

Ms. Marvel

Year of Release: 2022

Cast: Iman Vellani, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur

Variety’s Review: “Ms. Marvel” has arrived to tell an entirely different kind of story, though with a character who shares Kate’s stubborn spark. Created by Bisha K. Ali (“Loki,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral”), the series follows Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a 16-year-old who spends her days in Jersey City, N.J., creating Avengers fan videos and hanging out with her tech-savvy best friend, Bruno (Matt Lintz). She’s smart, if a bit spacey, and is less of an outcast at her high school than an afterthought, much to her annoyance.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

Year of Release: 2022

Cast: Tatiana Maslany, Jameela Jamil, Ginger Gonzaga, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Segarra

Variety’s Review: As Jen tries to find a new place in the world as She-Hulk and the show shifts into “Attorney at Law” mode, each episode flings as much as it can at the wall to see what might stick beyond Jen’s relationship to Bruce and the MCU at large. Will it be Jen’s work life? Will it be her dating life, in which cute Jen can’t find half as much success as the sultrier She-Hulk? “She-Hulk” tries all these angles and more, relying on Maslany’s natural charisma to be its most constant throughline.

Thor: Love and Thunder

Year of Release: 2022

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson

Variety’s Review: “Thor: Love and Thunder” has a pleasing, let’s-try-it-on-and-shoot-the-works effervescence. Like most Marvel movies, the fourth entry in the Thor saga would seem to have weighty matters on its mind, starting with Thor’s hammer, the smashed fragments of which have been reassembled — and, more to the point, claimed — by Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Thor’s old flame. By possessing the mystique of that hammer, she has become the Mighty Thor

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Year of Release: 2022

Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett

Variety’s Review: What Ryan Coogler has done instead in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” carries its own high-wire audacity. Teaming up again with co-screenwriter Joe Robert Cole, the filmmaker has woven the demise of his leading man into the very firmament of his story. As the characters, led by Letitia Wright’s Shuri, the princess of Wakanda who is T’Challa’s younger sister, proceed to mourn T’Challa’s death, they tap deeply into our collective feelings about Boseman. That sounds like a standard thing for a movie in this predicament to do, except that where Coogler goes further is in building his entire drama — the drive, power and passion of it — around the wounding hole in Wakanda left by T’Challa’s death.

Werewolf by Night

Year of Release: 2022

Cast: Gael García Bernal, Laura Donnelly, Harriet Sansom Harris

Variety’s Review: After dipping a toe into the horror genre with “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” earlier this year, the Marvel Cinematic Universe jumps into the deep end with “Werewolf by Night” — well, as much as it can within the MCU’s strict PG-13 parameters. It’s the creepiest and bloodiest Marvel project by far, and clocking in at a lean 53 minutes long, it’s a perfect, snack-sized Halloween treat heading into the spookiest of seasons.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Year of Release: 2023

Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton

Variety’s Review: With “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” the “Ant-Man” series has gone Full Marvel. The new movie takes place almost entirely in the Quantum Realm, a mutating sub-atomic sphere that exists outside our space-time continuum. It’s essentially an anything-goes FX playground that resembles a psychedelic album cover crossed with a 21st-century update of “Fantastic Voyage” (lots of things that look like corpuscles). What it feels like, most directly, is a planet from one of the later “Star Wars” films, with a few old-school Cantina vibes

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Year of Release: 2023

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Pom Klementieff

Variety’s Review: “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” arrives as the latest in a series of franchise-wrapping movies, and audiences have reason to be wary of what that means, given the send-offs received by characters such as John Wick and James Bond. Gunn toys with the mortality of his ensemble as well, but he does so responsibly, honoring the bonds we’ve made to these characters over the years, and recognizing that the Guardians can and will evolve.

Secret Invasion

Year of Release: 2023

Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, Don Cheadle

Variety’s Review: Samuel L. Jackson has been perhaps uniquely enriched by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Headliners like Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson may come and go, but, as the indefatigable Avengers ringmaster Nick Fury, he sticks around, bringing both his talent at a certain portent and the star persona that preceded him into the role to bear. His performance is a backbeat across the franchise, but it’s, to this point, never emerged into the spotlight. Which is among the elements that may make “Secret Invasion,” Disney+’s new Marvel series, particularly potent for fans.

The Marvels

Year of Release: 2023

Cast: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Park Seo-joon, Samuel L. Jackson.

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