Finding the best MCU watch order is practically an impossible job for newcomers. The Marvel Cinematic Universe got its start back in 2008 with Iron Man. Since then, there have been 55 movies, TV shows, and specials that tie together into one big story. Even if you’ve caught a few of them over the years, you’ll likely be a bit confused about how it all fits together without some sort of guide. Lucky for you, we’ve put one together, and you can check it out below.
What’s the best viewing order for the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and TV shows?
To find the best Marvel Cinematic Universe watch order, we had to wade through a ton of lore. Even though the MCU is one big storyline, it’s not always clear how each film relates to another. Some of them happen concurrently, and it’s unclear when others take place. Our list tries to take these discrepancies into account and place the MCU movies and TV shows in approximately chronological order. The exception to this is when seeing one movie would spoil another.
MCU Phase One viewing order
The initial chapters of the MCU were pretty straightforward. The only change we recommend from the release order is to watch Captain America: The First Avenger first. It’s the earliest movie chronologically, and introduces the big plot device of Phase One: the Tesseract. After that, it’s a swift run-up to the first ensemble movie, The Avengers.
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- Iron Man
- Incredible Hulk
- Iron Man 2
- Thor
- The Avengers
MCU Phase Two viewing order
Phase two is also fairly simple to understand. However, we’ve rearranged some entries to make the narrative more coherent. In particular, despite being released in MCU Phase Three, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 makes more sense chronologically if you watch it before Age of Ultron.
- Thor: The Dark World
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Iron Man 3
- Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (Released in Phase 3)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
MCU Phase Three viewing order
The MCU starts getting complicated in Phase Three. For example, Captain America: Civil War and Black Widow take place concurrently, while most of Captain Marvel occurs before the original Iron Man. So, we slotted these in the best we could. If you view the movies in this order, you’ll avoid spoilers for later entries, and the overarching narrative will flow fairly smoothly.
- Doctor Strange
- Ant-Man
- Captain America: Civil War
- Black Widow (Released in Phase Four)
- Black Panther
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Ant-Man & the Wasp
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Captain Marvel
- Avengers: Endgame
MCU Phase Four and Five viewing order
The MCU went off the rails a bit in Phases Four and Five. Neither phase had an anchor movie like The Avengers to build up to, so they sort of flow into each other. The TV shows also started releasing at this point, which only adds to the confusion.
Oddly, Phase Four started with Black Widow, which takes place during Captain America: Civil War, so (as you can see above). Luckily, you can now watch it at a point in the story where it makes a lot more sense (and Black Widow is a more relevant character). Otherwise, this list attempts to collect the various movies and TV shows in as close to chronological order as possible.
The MCU becomes somewhat meandering at this point due to production issues. Phase Four started “The Multiverse Saga,” and the plan was to introduce Kang the Conqueror, who would be the overarching villain for Phases 4-6. However, the character cast as Kang, Jonathan Majors, was arrested on multiple violent charges in March 2023. Additionally, the 2023 Writers Guide of America strike froze work on Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, the two films meant to conclude the story. Major’s fall from grace, in addition to the lackluster reaction to Kang as a villain from fans, led to Marvel Studios cutting Kang and going back to the drawing board.
- WandaVision Season 1
- Falcon & the Winter Soldier Season 1
- Spider-Man: Far from Home (Released in Phase Three)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home
- Hawkeye Season 1
- Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
- Loki Season 1
- Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania
- Loki Season 2
- Deadpool & Wolverine (Can be skipped)
- Thor: Love and Thunder
- Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Moon Knight
- Shang-Chi: Legend of the Ten Rings
- Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
- Agatha All Along Season 1
- Eternals
- She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Season 1
- Ms. Marvel Season 1
- The Marvels
- Secret Invasion Season 1
- Echo Season 1
- Daredevil: Born Again Season 1
- Daredevil: Born Again Season 2
- Captain America: Brave New World
- Ironheart Season 1
- Thunderbolts
MCU Phase Six viewing order
The MCU Phase Six is a soft reboot for the franchise. Fantastic Four: First Steps serves as a standalone introduction to the new round of Marvel movie and TV releases, and gets the franchise back on track and leading toward Avengers: Doomsday.
- Fantastic Four: First Steps
