How to watch the Marvel movies in order
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Binge-watching all the Marvel movies in order doesn't require superpowers, just a Disney Plus subscription. With nearly all the latest MCU entries available on the streaming platform, it's no wonder many find it difficult to cancel their Disney Plus subscription — it's a guaranteed source for the newest Marvel adventures.
While you may have circled all of the upcoming Marvel movie release dates on your calendar, the next date of note is July 26, when Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters.
Our complete guide for how to watch the Marvel movies in order lays out the two primary ways: You can relive the theatrical experience and sort by release date or grab them in order of chronological timeline events to follow the Avengers on their own paths.
While the recently released MCU films and shows all take place around the same time, we've got a chronological list of the Marvel movies in order of events.
And that's why we've placed the Marvel movies in order of the events that take place in the Infinity Saga first. It's weird, right, that the films weren't released in that order? Alas, the same is true for when you try to watch all the Star Wars movies in order. This order isn't exactly perfect either, with flashbacks here and there that break the strict narrative arc.
Marvel movie and show news (Updated April 30)
All 10 episodes of the animated X-Men 97 are now available to watch on Disney Plus
Florence Pugh will revise her role as Yelena Belova in the upcoming ThunderBolts movie
Eternals 2 appears to be no longer in development
Marvel movies in order — chronological order (and shows too)
If you’ve seen most or all of the movies and you want to switch things up a bit, chronologically rewatching the Marvel movies in order, to see the events as they took place (with flashbacks thrown in just to throw you off), is a fun experiment.
And even though the Disney Plus shows such as WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier are not Marvel movies, we can place them chronologically in the MCU. Monica Rambeau rejoins S.W.O.R.D. three weeks after she was snapped back into reality, so we can place WandaVision between Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Similarly, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier takes place three months after the blip brought everyone back, placing it after WandaVision but before Far From Home.
Disney Plus' own site places Loki (which goes all over the timeline) after Endgame. It also says the last three recent Disney Plus shows — Hawkeye, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel — take place in release order. Thor: Love and Thunder isn't officially placed in the timeline yet, but because Thor says it's been "eight years, seven months, and six days," since he and Jane broke up (which was somewhere around 2017 and 2018), we can place the movie at around 2026 — which puts it the year after Ms. Marvel (2025).
It's unclear when exactly Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 takes place, but in 2021 James Gunn said it's after Thor: Love & Thunder. This makes sense considering the Guardians Holiday Special (which was after that Thor movie) happens before Vol. 3.
That period in time is basically called "present day MCU" or at least that's the phrase that Disney's own description for Secret Invasion says. Disney's use of that terminology for this upcoming series makes us think it happens alongside of the other recent releases.
Captain America: The First Avenger (World War II)
Captain Marvel (1995)
Iron Man (2010)
Iron Man 2
The Incredible Hulk (occurs prior to The Avengers)
Thor (occurs prior to The Avengers)
Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
Iron Man 3 (six months after The Avengers)
Thor: Dark World
Captain America: Winter Soldier (after The Avengers, before Age of Ultron)
Guardians of the Galaxy (ca. 2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Ant-Man (2015)
Captain America: Civil War
Black Widow (with a scene that happens after Endgame)
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Doctor Strange (2016)
Black Panther (2018)
Thor: Ragnarok
Ant-Man and The Wasp
Avengers: Infinity War (2017)
Avengers: Endgame (2017 - 2022)
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Loki
What If...?
WandaVision
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Eternals
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness
Hawkeye
Moon Knight
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
She-Hulk (based on Disney Plus timeline)
Ms. Marvel
Thor: Love and Thunder
Werewolf By Night
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Secret Invasion
The Marvels
Echo
Marvel movies in order — release order (and shows too)
We recommend watching the Marvel movies in order of their release for a few reasons. It’s fun to see how the special effects and actors evolve over the years, you won’t feel as bad about skipping around if you don’t want to do a complete binge-watch and, quite frankly, the release order tells a stronger narrative — watching a movie like Captain Marvel out of release order might be more confusing than enjoyable.
You'll see below that we've broken them out into Marvel's three Phases, the groupings it uses to show the major chapters of The Infinity Saga. This is the natural way to organize your own Marvel movie marathon.
Phase One
Iron Man (May 2, 2008)
The Incredible Hulk (June 13, 2008)
Iron Man 2 (May 7, 2010)
Thor (May 6, 2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22, 2011)
Marvel’s The Avengers (May 4, 2012)
Phase Two
Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013)
Thor: The Dark World (November 8, 2013)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4, 2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1, 2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1, 2015)
Ant-Man (July 17, 2015)
Phase Three
Captain America: Civil War (May 6, 2016)
Doctor Strange (November 4, 2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May 5, 2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 7, 2017)
Thor: Ragnarok (November 3, 2017)
Black Panther (February 16, 2018)
Avengers: Infinity War (April 27, 2018)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6, 2018)
Captain Marvel (March 8, 2019)
Avengers: Endgame (April 26, 2019)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2, 2019)
Phase Four
TV shows are listed with their premiere dates.
WandaVision (January 15, 2021)
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (March 19, 2021)
Loki (June 9, 2021)
Black Widow (July 9, 2021)
What If...? (August 11, 2021)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (September 3, 2021)
The Eternals (November 5, 2021)
Hawkeye (November 24, 2021)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (December 17, 2021)
Moon Knight (March 30, 2022)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 6, 2022)
Ms. Marvel (June 8, 2022)
She-Hulk (August 18, 2022)
Werewolf by Night (Oct. 7, 2022)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Nov. 11, 2022)
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (Nov. 25, 2022)
Phase Five
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Feb. 17, 2023)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023)
Secret Invasion (June 21, 2023)
The Marvels (November 10, 2023)
Echo (January 9, 2024 — TV show)
X-Men 97 (March 20, 2024 — TV show)
Marvel movies in 2024 and beyond (and shows too)
Marvel 2024 promises to diverge significantly from recent years within the MCU. Between strikes, fired actors and poor-performing movies and shows, Kevin Feige & Co. needs to devise a new strategy. Case in point? There are only three Marvel TV shows with tentative release windows and "Deadpool & Wolverine" is the only Marvel movie slated to hit theaters in 2024.
Here is the short calendar of when to expect upcoming Marvel movies (in order of theatrical release).
Phase 5
Echo (January 9, 2024 — TV show)
X-Men 97 (March 20, 2024 — TV show)
Deadpool and Wolverine (July 26, 2024 — film)
Agatha: Coven of Chaos (Fall 2024 — TV show)
Eyes of Wakanda (TBD 2024 — TV show)
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (TBD 2024 — TV show)
Marvel Zombies (TBD 2024 — TV show)
What if...? season 3 (TBD 2024 — TV show)
Daredevil: Born Again (January 2025 — TV show)
Captain America: Brave New World (February 14, 2025 — film)
Thunderbolts (May 5, 2025 — film)
Phase 6
The Fantastic Four (July 25, 2025 — film)
Blade (November 7, 2025 — film)
Avengers 5 (May 1, 2026 — film)
Avengers: Secret War (May 7, 2027 — film)
The best Marvel movies to watch
Say you don't want to watch every movie, but just the great ones. Sure, there are some gems out there — critics loved Black Panther and Thor: Ragnarok — but for every Endgame there's also a The Incredible Hulk (remember the pre-Ruffalo Hulk?). There is only one Eternals, though. Or at least there was until Quantumania lowered the bar.
So, for those trying to find the best MCU films, we have your back. We've organized the Marvel movies in order of their Rotten Tomatoes scores, which give us a wealth of insight into how these movies were critically received.
Black Panther (2018) – RT score: 97%
Avengers: Endgame (2019) – RT score: 94%
Iron Man (2008) – RT score: 94%
Thor: Ragnarok (2017) - RT score: 93%
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) – RT score: 93%
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) – RT score: 92%
Captain America: Civil War (2016) – RT score: 91%
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) – RT score: 91%
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) – RT score: 91%
The Avengers (2012) – RT score: 91%
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) – RT score: 90%
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) – RT score: 90%
Doctor Strange (2016) – RT score: 89%
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) – RT score: 88%
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) – RT score: 85%
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) – RT score: 84%
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) – RT score: 84%
Ant-Man (2015) – RT score: 83%
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) – RT score: 82%
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) - RT score: 80%
Iron Man 3 (2013) – RT score: 79%
Black Widow (2021) – RT score: 79%
Captain Marvel (2019) – RT score: 78%
Thor (2011) – RT score: 78%
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) – RT score: 75%
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) - RT score 74%
Iron Man 2 (2010) - RT score: 73%
Thor: The Dark World (2013) - RT score: 67%
The Incredible Hulk (2008) - RT score: 67%
The Marvels - RT score: 62%
Eternals (2021) - RT score: 47%
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023) - RT score: 46%
Marvel movies on Disney Plus
All but one of the MCU Marvel movies are on Disney Plus, the streaming service that most MCU fans will want to have when they get the itch to rewatch the Avengers. On top of that, all Disney Plus movies can be saved for offline, in case you're going on a trip any time soon.
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain America: Civil War
Captain Marvel
Iron Man
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3
Thor
Marvel’s The Avengers
Thor: Dark World
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant-Man
Doctor Strange
Black Panther
Thor: Ragnarok
Avengers: Infinity War
Ant-Man and The Wasp
Avengers: Endgame
Black Widow
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Eternals
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Thor: Love & Thunder
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
The Marvels
Spider-Man: Far from Home
The Incredible Hulk
Interestingly, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (which isn't MCU canon, more of a Sony Spider-Man movie, like Morbius) is still in absentia.
For more, read our full Disney Plus review.
Marvel movies not on Disney Plus
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) Streaming on Starz, and available for rental or purchase digitally on Amazon and other services. We expect it on Disney Plus (or some other service) around November 2023.
We believe Spider-Man: No Way Home will come to Disney Plus soon, per Sony and Disney's deal, but it's not there yet. Right now it's available to buy or rent on Amazon and Apple TV.
At this point, people who don't want to add Disney's monthly billing will turn to rent the rest through iTunes or Amazon for $1.99–$3.99 each.
Looking to watch the Harry Potter movies in order? You don't find them on Disney Plus, but we've got the details.