Marvel Movies in Chronological Order (MCU Timeline)

By Omar Haddad · Updated October 21, 2026

Our timeline places every film and series by when their stories happen, not when they came out. It is the clearest way to see the MCU as one continuous history, and you can tick titles off as you go.

How the MCU timeline is built

Chronological order sorts every title by its main in-universe date. A film set during World War II goes first, a series set just after the war goes second, and a story about the 1990s comes before anything set in the present day. Release dates play no part at all.

For most of the list, the two orders run close together. The big differences show up in three places. Period pieces jump the queue at the start. Prequels and side stories released years later, like Black Widow, slide back into the gap they fill. And around Endgame, a five-year time skip plus a handful of stories that happen partly outside normal time shuffle things around.

When a title covers a long stretch, we place it by where most of its story sits, or by its starting point if it jumps around. That is a judgment call, and it is the reason two timeline lists online can disagree by a spot or two without either being wrong.

Marvel chronological order at a glance

The full list is long, so it helps to see it in stretches. Each row below picks up where the previous one leaves off.

The Fantastic 4: First Steps is set in its own reality, so treat its spot as "watch it here" rather than "this happens next door to Thunderbolts*."

Placements that confuse people

A handful of entries cause most of the arguments.

Captain Marvel lands right after the 1940s titles even though it arrived well into Phase 3. Captain Marvel is set in the 1990s and shows a young Nick Fury long before he founds the Avengers Initiative.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 comes before Avengers: Age of Ultron. Its story takes place only a few months after Guardians of the Galaxy, which is set around the same time as The Winter Soldier. The I Am Groot shorts sit beside them for the same reason.

Black Widow slots in after Captain America: Civil War, because Natasha is on the run following the events of that film.

WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier come before Spider-Man: Far From Home. Both shows are set closer to Endgame than Peter's European trip, even though the film reached theaters first.

Loki and What If...? follow Endgame, with only the standalone Helstrom in between, but both operate partly outside ordinary time. We place them where their starting point makes the most sense.

Marvel movies and shows in chronological order

Once you add television, the list roughly doubles. The older series came out before Disney Plus: Marvel's Agent Carter, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Netflix block made up of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders and The Punisher. A different Marvel division made them, and the films rarely acknowledge them.

You can watch them in place for the fullest picture, or skip the whole block and lose nothing the films depend on. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has the clearest ties, especially its first season, which reacts directly to the twist in The Winter Soldier.

The Disney Plus series are a different matter. Shows like Loki and WandaVision carry real plot, and later films pick up exactly where they stop. If you only add a few series to a films-only run, make it those. Our full list of Marvel shows in order covers every series on its own.

The titles at the bottom of the list

Scroll to the end and you will find M.O.D.O.K., Hit-Monkey, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, X-Men '97, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Marvel Zombies sitting after Avengers: Secret Wars. They are not the last events in the story. These animated series take place in their own universes, so they have no firm spot on the main timeline. We keep them in the list so it is complete, and grouping them at the end keeps them out of the way of the main run. The older Marvel TV shows work differently: Inhumans, Runaways and Cloak & Dagger sit right after Thor: Ragnarok, and Helstrom comes right after Avengers: Endgame, because each has a clear story year even though its links to the films are loose.

Short route vs the full timeline

The full timeline is enormous. With the legacy shows included you are looking at months of viewing, and several of those series run for many seasons.

The short route keeps only the Marvel Studios films and the Disney Plus series. That trims the list sharply while keeping every crossover that matters. If even that is too much, the essential Marvel movies and shows list cuts it to the titles the big team-ups depend on, and the Marvel watch order for beginners offers a gentler starting set that still follows the timeline.

Is chronological order right for you?

It suits rewatchers and anyone who wants cause and effect to line up neatly. It is less ideal for a first viewing. Captain Marvel, for example, contains small reveals that land better once you know the later films, and a couple of post-credits scenes tease movies that, in story order, you have already watched.

If you care about meeting surprises the way audiences did, try the Marvel release order instead. Some people split the difference: release order for the first pass, this timeline for the rewatch. Whichever you pick, the marathon plan can break the list into weekly chunks so it does not swallow your whole calendar.