Best order to watch marvel movies for the first time reddit

  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Streaming

The Avengers: Endgame poster shows many of the heroes you'll see when you watch the marvel movies in order

(Image credit: Marvel Studios/Twitter)

Watching the Marvel movies in order is ridiculously easy with Disney Plus, which includes almost all of the most recent entries to the MCU. And one of the most-recent Marvel movies just arrived, jumping off the upcoming Marvel movies and series list and into your home. 

And Marvel's just shared some new details about where its next movies fit into the timeline. So, you'll know when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania are situated in the MCU. We've also used past as precedence to figure out when we are getting Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on Disney Plus.

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. In very interesting news, three rated-R Marvel movies are finally coming to Disney Plus.

Oh, and Disney is about to consolidate the MCU even further, as Sony Pictures and Disney drew up a deal that will (among other things) will bring all the Spider-Man movies (with Maguire, Garfield and Holland) to the streaming service. When it comes to watching Spider-Man: No Way Home online, though? Disney Plus won't be getting your back until 2023.

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 the Star Wars trilogies. This order isn't exactly perfect either, with flashbacks here and there that break the strict narrative ar.

Re-watching the Disney Marvel movies in order (and looking at other studio's Marvel movies as well) is the ideal way to spend time while you wait for She-Hulk to drop.

Marvel movie news (Updated Nov. 10)

  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever should be on Disney Plus before February
  • Our sister site CinemaBlend found out when Black Panther 2 fits into the chronological Marvel movies order 
  • Thor: Love and Thunder is now on Disney Plus.

Marvel movies in order — chronological order (and shows too)

Chris Evans in Captain America: The First Avenger, one of the early Marvel movies

(Image credit: Jay Maidment/Paramount)

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).

Producer Nate Moore (opens in new tab) didn't want to say which movies Black Panther's sequel is before or after, but he did say it likely happens concurrently with Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — so we've situated it below in the timeline.

Werewolf by Night is sorted as the most recent event, due to its placement on Disney Plus' row for chronological 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
  • She-Hulk (based on She-Hulk episode 2 Easter eggs)
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home (on currently on Starz, digital and Blu-ray)
  • Hawkeye
  • Moon Knight
  • Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness
  • Ms. Marvel
  • Thor: Love and Thunder
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
  • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
  • Werewolf by Night

Marvel movies in order — release order (and shows too)

Iron Man in one of the early marvel movies

(Image credit: Credit: Zade Rosenthal/Paramount)

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

  • 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)

Marvel movies in 2022 and beyond (and shows too)

The list of Phase 4 release dates keeps changing, as COVID-19 halts production for movies around the world and keeps many multiplexes at bay. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the next movie coming up from Marvel Studios, and we expect it to arrive on Disney Plus either by Monday, Dec. 26 (45 days after its theatrical opening) or as late as January 11 (Thor: Love and Thunder took 2 months to get to Disney Plus).

Speculation based on below list of movies has some wondering where the Avengers will find their next leader. Some think Carol Danvers herself will be taking the reins of the team, but we'll have to wait for July 2022 to see if there's any merit to that fan theory. Here is the short calendar of when to expect upcoming Marvel movies (in order of theatrical release).

Phase 4

  • Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever (November 11, 2022)

Phase 5

  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (February 17, 2023 — film)
  • Secret Invasion (Spring 2023 — TV show)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023 — film)
  • Echo (Summer 2023 — TV show)
  • Loki season 2 (Summer 2023 — TV show)
  • The Marvels aka Captain Marvel 2 (July 28, 2023 — film)
  • Agatha: Coven of Chaos (Winter 2023/2024 — TV show)
  • Daredevil: Born Again (Spring 2024 — TV show)
  • Captain America: New World Order (May 3, 2024 — film)
  • Thunderbolts (July 26, 2024 — film)
  • Blade (Sept. 6, 2024 — film)

Phase 6

  • Deadpool 3 (Nov. 8, 2024 — film)
  • Fantastic Four (Feb. 14, 2025 — film)
  • Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (May 2, 2025 — film)
  • Avengers: Secret War (May 1, 2026 — 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.

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% (opens in new tab)
  • Avengers: Endgame (2019) – RT score: 94% (opens in new tab)
  • Iron Man (2008) – RT score: 94% (opens in new tab)
  • Thor: Ragnarok (2017) - RT score: 93% (opens in new tab)
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) – RT score: 93% (opens in new tab)
  • Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) – RT score: 92% (opens in new tab)
  • Captain America: Civil War (2016) – RT score: 91% (opens in new tab)
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) – RT score: 91% (opens in new tab)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) – RT score: 91% (opens in new tab)
  • The Avengers (2012) – RT score: 91% (opens in new tab)
  • Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) – RT score: 90% (opens in new tab)
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) – RT score: 90% (opens in new tab)
  • Doctor Strange (2016) – RT score: 89% (opens in new tab)
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) – RT score: 88% (opens in new tab)
  • Avengers: Infinity War (2018) – RT score: 85% (opens in new tab)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) – RT score: 84% (opens in new tab)
  • Ant-Man (2015) – RT score: 83% (opens in new tab)
  • Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) - RT score: 80% (opens in new tab)
  • Iron Man 3 (2013) – RT score: 79% (opens in new tab)
  • Black Widow (2021) – RT score: 79% (opens in new tab)
  • Captain Marvel (2019) – RT score: 78% (opens in new tab)
  • Thor (2011) – RT score: 78% (opens in new tab)
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) – RT score: 75% (opens in new tab)
  • Iron Man 2 (2010) - RT score: 73% (opens in new tab)
  • Thor: The Dark World (2013) - RT score: 67% (opens in new tab)
  • The Incredible Hulk (2008) - RT score: 67% (opens in new tab)
  • Eternals (2021) - RT score: 47% (opens in new tab)

Marvel movies on Disney Plus

Endgame on Disney Plus

(Image credit: Future)

All but four 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 (as of June 22, 2022)

We expect Thor: Love and Thunder on Disney Plus on August 24, but that isn't official yet.

While we wish all MCU movies will streamable on Disney Plus eventually, there's reason to suspect that The Incredible Hulk and both Spider-Man films won't make it, due to being owned by Sony and Universal, respectively. 

Interestingly, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (which isn't MCU canon, more of a Sony Spider-Man movie, like Morbius) just left Netflix and didn't land on a different streaming service.

For more, read our full Disney Plus review.

Marvel movies not on Disney Plus

MJ and Spider-Man in Far From Home

(Image credit: JoJo Whilden)
  • The Incredible Hulk (2008) is on HBO Max (opens in new tab).Yes, for some reason, it's not on Disney Plus. You can also buy it from Amazon (opens in new tab), Apple (opens in new tab) and various other sites
  • Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) is available on Starz (opens in new tab) as a video on demand movie from DirecTV, Sling TV (opens in new tab) and FXNow.
  • Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019) is also on DirecTV and Starz (opens in new tab).
  • Spider-Man: No way Home (2021) Streaming on Starz (opens in new tab), and available for rental or purchase digitally on Amazon (opens in new tab) and other services. We expect it on Disney Plus (or some other service) around November 2023.

We believe Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far from Home will come to Disney Plus soon, per Sony and Disney's deal, but they're not there yet. Both are available on Starz (opens in new tab).

At this point, people who don't want to add Disney's monthly billing will turn to rent the rest through iTunes (opens in new tab) or Amazon (opens in new tab) 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.

Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.

Henry is a senior editor at Tom’s Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past seven years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.

What order should I watch the Marvel movies for the first time?

There are two common ways to build a Marvel movies timeline. The first is in release order, kicking off with 2008's IRON MAN..
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) ... .
Captain Marvel (2019) ... .
Iron Man (2008) ... .
Iron Man 2 (2010) ... .
The Incredible Hulk (2008) ... .
Thor (2011).

Is it better to watch Marvel movies in release order or chronological order?

Is It Better to Watch Marvel Movies in Chronological Order or Release Order? While the overall story makes sense either way, if it's your first time in the MCU you should probably start by watching the films in release order.

What order should I watch Marvel movies Reddit?

Is there a consensus? Thanks!.
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).
The Avengers (May 4, 2012).