Marvel/Disney
How to Watch Marvel Movies in Order of Story
Since the action flicks weren’t released in sequence, we’ve gone ahead and, ahem, assembled a list of the films in what we feel is the best way to watch the Marvel events unfold (because we love you 3,000). So, if you’ve found yourself with a lot of time on your hands and feel like diving into the first three phases of the MCU—many of which are available to stream on Disney+—then you’ll want to watch the Marvel movies in chronological order rather than the order of their release. Here’s a precise list of every Marvel movie in order of story, because we could all use some superpowers right now.
1. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The title says it all. When you’re watching the Marvel movies chronologically, in order of story, you have to start here. In this movie, viewers meet Captain America (Chris Evans), the very first Avenger. Before he was Captain America, the superhero was scrawny Steve Rogers from Brooklyn, who wanted to enlist in the army and serve his country like his best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Steve finally got his chance when he agreed to take part in an experimental program that turned him into a super soldier. Steve used his strength and vibranium shield (courtesy of Tony Stark’s father Howard Stark) to combat HYDRA, while falling for Peggy Carter along the way.
2. Captain Marvel (2019)
Get ready to fast-forward from World War II to the ’90s, which is when Captain Marvel is introduced. Brie Larson portrays Carol Danvers, a U.S. Air Force pilot who became one of the universe’s most powerful heroes after she was exposed to an energy core and absorbed its power. Caught in the middle of a galactic war, the Kree warrior befriends Nick Fury on earth, where she learns her true identity.
3. Iron Man (2008)
Iron Man might have been the first Marvel film in order of release, but it’s the third on our list in order of story. Robert Downey Jr. plays the “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” Tony Stark. During a business trip in Afghanistan, Tony is kidnapped by terrorists who want him to build a Jericho missile, but Tony manages to escape with a high-tech armor suit that he built. Upon his return to the states, Tony announces that Stark Industries will no longer manufacture weapons. Instead, he refines his suit and uses it to fight terrorism. Agent Phil Coulson of Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.) provides Tony with an alibi to conceal his superhero identity, but instead, Tony declares to the world during a press conference, “I am Iron Man.” In the post-credits scene, Tony learns that he’s not the only superhero in the world. “You’ve become part of a bigger universe,” S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, who paid an unexpected visit to discuss the Avenger Initiative, tells him. “You just don’t know it yet.”
4. Iron Man 2 (2010)
With Iron Man’s identity publicly known, one man, Ivan Vanko, wants to avenge his father by killing Tony Stark. Meanwhile, the superhero’s palladium core in the arc reactor that he designed to keep himself alive and power his Iron Man suit is poisoning his blood. The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)—she is known in this movie as her alias Natalie Rushman—makes her first appearance in the film as Tony tries to prevent the government from taking his technology. “You want my property, you can’t have it,” he tells a Senate Armed Services Committee.
5. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
While Bruce Banner is portrayed by Mark Ruffalo in the later Avenger films, actor Edward Norton shows off his strength as the Incredible Hulk in the second movie released in the MCU, but the fifth movie Marvel movie in order of story. Banner became the green monster after being exposed to gamma radiation. In the movie, Banner is looking for a cure for his condition and hiding from Thaddeus Ross, who wants to turn his body into a weapon. However, he’ll have to try to control the creature inside him, so he can use it to combat another monster, the Abomination.
6. Thor (2011)
Because of his arrogance, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) was banished to earth and stripped of his powers by his father Odin. On earth, the Asgardian God meets astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), whom he falls in love with. Unable to lift his hammer, Mjolnir, Thor is unsure for the first time in his life what he’s supposed to do, all while his brother Loki is trying to take the throne from Odin back at home.
7. The Avengers (2012)
S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury brings together the Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Thor for the first time. The Avengers are assembled to protect the world from aliens who invade New York City after Thor’s brother Loki becomes in possession of the Tesseract. “There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative," Fury tells Cap and Tony. “The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to fight the battles that we never could.”
8. Iron Man 3 (2013)
After the Mandarin destroys Tony’s personal world, he sets out to find out who is responsible. But without his Iron Man, Tony has to rely on his ingenuity and instincts to avenge and protect those who are closest to him. “Nothing’s been the same since New York,” Tony admits. “You experience things, and then they’re over, and you still can’t explain them. Gods, aliens, other dimensions. I’m just a man in a can.”
9. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Jane Foster, Thor’s love interest, discovers the weapon of the Dark Elves, the Aether, and becomes its host. Unwell, Thor returns to earth so that he can bring Jane back to Asgard and remove the Aether, before the Dark Elf Malekith can capture her and use the weapon to destroy the Nine Realms, including earth. To help get Jane off Asgard, Thor turns to his brother Loki for assistance. “You must be truly desperate to come to me for help,” Loki tells Thor.
10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Following the Avengers’ battle in New York, Captain America is living in D.C. After an attack on S.H.I.E.L.D. Steve teams up with the Black Widow and newcomer Sam Wilson, the Falcon, to fight a familiar face from Steve’s past and help uncover a conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D. During a committee hearing at the end, Natasha (Black Widow) tells the committee general that he’s not going to put any of them in prison for laying waste to their intelligence apparatus. She says, “Yes, the world is a vulnerable place, and yes, we help make it that way. But we’re also the ones best qualified to defend it.”
11. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
As a young boy, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is taken from earth into space by the Ravagers, who were hired to deliver him to his father. Twenty-six years later, after getting arrested by the Nova Corps, Peter teams up with fellow prison inmates Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Groot, Thanos’ daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax the Destroyer to sell an orb until they learn that it holds an Infinity Stone. In order to save the galaxy, the unlikely group of friends take on genocidal Ronan to prevent him from destroying the planet Xandar with the stone.
12. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
The guardians returned for a new adventure in this sequel, which naturally comes next in the story order. After protecting the Sovereign race’s Anulax Batteries, Rocket steals some, provoking the aliens to go after them. While fleeing the Sovereign armada, Peter and his friends meet someone who reveals the truth about Peter’s father, which explains why he was able to hold an Infinity Stone for as long as he did in the previous movie.
13. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
The Marvel stories now unfold in a much tighter story chronology than those first ones, with weeks and months passing between events in the movies rather than years and decades. Tony Stark wanted to create “a suit of armor around the world,” but his creation Ultron turned out to be an artificial intelligence monster with plans to achieve world peace through mass extinction. The Avengers assemble to defeat Ultron, while meeting two powerful twins, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. Vision, who is powered by the Mind Stone—one of the six Infinity Stones—also joins the Avengers in the Battle of Sokovia. The film wraps with Captain and Natasha training the newest members of the Avengers.
14. Ant-Man (2015)
Scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who resigned from S.H.I.E.L.D. in 1989 after learning that the agency and Howard Stark attempted to replicate his Pym Particles formula, recruits newly released criminal Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to steal the Yellowjacket and destroy data before his former assistant Darren Cross unleashes “chaos upon the world.” Scott suggests, “I think our first move should be calling the Avengers.” However, Hank explains that he’s tried to keep his technology out of the hands of one Stark, and won’t hand deliver it to another (Tony Stark) now. Referencing Sokovia, Hank adds, “Besides, they’re [the Avengers] probably too busy dropping cities out of the sky.” So, Hank asks Scott “to be the Ant-Man.”
15. Captain America: Civil War (2016)
After Sokovia and a tragic mistake that killed Wakandans, the governments of the world do not want the Avengers to be a private organization any longer. Instead, earth’s mightiest heroes would operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel only when and if the panel deems necessary. “If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose,” Cap tells Tony. The Avengers are split on whether to sign the Sokovia Accords leading to an epic civil war battle within the group that involves “new” heroes, including the Black Panther, Ant-Man and Spider-Man.
16. Black Widow (2021)
Scarlett Johansson returns as the Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff and is joined by Florence Pugh (as Yelena Belova) and David Harbour (Red Guardian) in this MCU flick. A dangerous conspiracy forces Romanoff to confront her past as a spy and the ties she had to other relationships before joining the Avengers.
17. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Fresh from joining Tony in his battle with the Avengers in Berlin, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is back in New York at school and wants to be more than the friendly neighborhood superhero. Tony tells the teen not to “do anything stupid.” After Peter uncovers a dangerous criminal ring that leads to an incident on a ferry, Tony takes away his Spider-Man suit. “I’m nothing without this suit,” Peter says. Iron Man replies, “If you’re nothing without this suit, then you shouldn’t have it.” With his tech suit gone, Peter takes on the villain Vulture (Michael Keaton), who just happens to be the father of his homecoming date. Tony and Pepper Potts seemingly announce their engagement at the end during a press conference originally intended for Peter.
18. Doctor Strange (2016)
Neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) life changes after a car accident damages his hands. In search of healing, Stephen travels to Kamar-Taj, where he learns about the mystic arts from the Ancient One. Stephen must act as an intermediary between the real world and what lies beyond using the Eye of Agamotto, the Time Stone, to manipulate time to fight Kaecilius and Dormammu. Thor makes an appearance in the film’s post-credits scene to discuss why he brought his brother Loki to New York. Thor explains that they are looking for their father Odin, so Stephen offers to help (which he does in Ragnarok).
19. Black Panther (2018)
After making his debut in Civil War, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), the Black Panther, is back in his technologically advanced country, Wakanda, to assume the throne. However, his position is later challenged by his cousin Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). Erik, whose father was murdered by T’Challa’s late dad—who was killed in Civil War—for betraying Wakanda, proves victorious during the ritual fight and becomes the Black Panther after throwing T’Challa over a waterfall. Alive, T’Challa returns to claim the throne while thwarting Erik’s plan to sell Vibranium weapons to War Dogs who will arm oppressed people around the world so they can kill those in power.
20. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Thor is back with a new look in this next story in the MCU. With the death of his father Odin, the God of Thunder must prevent his older sister Hela (Cate Blanchett), the Goddess of Death, from destroying Asgard. But before Thor returns home to stop Ragnarok, Thor must fight his fellow Avenger, the Hulk, in the Contest of Champions on Sakaar. The post-credits scene shows Loki, who took the Tesseract off Asgard, and Thor’s ship, which was heading for Midgard (earth), coming face-to-face with Thanos, setting viewers up for the beginning of Infinity War.
21. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
While the Avengers are facing off against Thanos, Scott Lang is putting on his Ant-Man suit once again to fight alongside the Wasp, uncovering secrets from the past. But perhaps the biggest moment that sets viewers up for the Infinity War follow-up is the movie’s end credit scene that shows the Pyms disappearing from Thanos’ snap, leaving Scott stranded in the Quantum Realm as he retrieved healing particles for their new “ghost friend.”
22. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Ten years in the making, Infinity War brought together the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as they tried to prevent genocidal Thanos from collecting all six infinity stones. The movie begins where Thor: Ragnarok left off, with Thanos encountering the Asgardians’ ship. Thor, who is rescued by the Guardians of the Galaxy, sets out on a quest for a new hammer, which his sister Hela destroyed in the previous film. On earth, Captain America, the Black Panther and other members of the Avengers prepare themselves for battle in Wakanda, while trying to retrieve Vision’s Mind Stone before Thanos’ arrival. Meanwhile in space, Tony Stark, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man and the Guardians attempt to fight Thanos to prevent him from collecting the Time Stone. Looking into the future, Doctor Strange, who ultimately saves Tony’s life, only sees one outcome in which the Avengers win, out of the possible 14,000,605 outcomes. Yikes! Before disintegrating from Thanos’ snap, Nick Fury sends out a message to Captain Marvel.
23. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
With half of the universe gone, the remaining Avengers, who survived Thanos’ snap in Infinity War, come together five years later to try and collect the six Infinity Stones from different moments in Marvel history through the Quantum Realm, so they can attempt to bring everyone back…whatever it takes. The movie is a Marvel masterpiece and the culmination of the MCU’s previous films. All the female superheroes uniting to basically save the day, if you ask us, might be our favorite Marvel scene…ever.
24. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
With everyone back from the Blip, a.k.a. Thanos’ snap, the world is mourning the loss of Tony Stark, especially Peter Parker. After everything he’s been through, the high schooler just wants to enjoy his European vacation with his classmates and MJ (Zendaya)…that is until Nick Fury hijacks it. Nick gives Peter a gift Tony left behind for the teen, whom Iron Man dubbed as “the next Tony Stark,” and recruits Spider-Man’s help with a mission alongside newcomer Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). Kevin Feige, president of Marvel, said in 2019 (via Screen Geek), “The relationship between Peter Parker and Tony Stark is so special over the five films that Tom Holland has portrayed Spider-Man in the MCU, that we needed to see where his journey went, and see how does Spider-Man step out of the shadow of his mentor, Tony Stark, and become the true hero that he was always meant to be. And it’s for that reason that Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home are essentially two pieces of the same story, and it’s not over yet until Spider-Man: Far From Home.”
25. Eternals (2021)
Immortal alien beings known as the Eternals come out of hiding to protect the earth from the Deviants. This MCU movie introduces a whole new team of superhero characters like Thena (Angelina Jolie), Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ajak (Salma Hayek), Black Knight (Kit Harrington), Starfox (Harry Styles) and more.
26. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Shang-Chi (played by Simu Liu) is drawn into the mysterious Ten Rings organization and must confront his past while searching for a mythical village alongside his sister, Xialing (Meng’er Zhang). The movie also stars Awkwafina, Fala Chen, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh and more.
27. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Spider-Man goes to Doctor Strange for help, but after a spell goes wrong and enemies from other worlds begin showing up, the world knowing Peter’s identity becomes the least of his problems.
28. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Traveling between multiverses, America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) gets help from Doctor Strange as she is being hunted by none other than Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), who has shifted from Avenger hero to grieving and enraged villain set on reuniting herself with her children—no matter what it takes.
29. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
In the sequel to Thor: Ragnarok, Thor must work with Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster (who is now the Mighty Thor) to defeat Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale). Done watching all 29 Marvel movies in order of story? Then tune into these Pixar movies on Disney+.
