MCU In Order: All 43 Marvel Movies & Shows, Chronologically
All vegas casino download key film decisions moving forward were to be made by Feige, D’Esposito, and executive vice president Victoria Alonso. Arad decided to form Marvel Studios, Hollywood’s first major independent film studio since DreamWorks Pictures was founded in 1994. The franchise has been commercially successful, becoming one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time, and it has received generally positive reviews from critics. The first MCU film, Iron Man (2008), began Phase One, which culminated in the 2012 crossover film The Avengers.
Starting with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the franchise expanded into television series, including series premiered on the ABC and Freeform channels, and on the Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ streaming platforms. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, or the MCU, is a media franchise created by Marvel Studios and set primarily in a shared universe, with some installments also set in adjacent or branching realities. Each guidebook is compiled by Mike O’Sullivan and the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe team, with cover art from Mike del Mundo and Pascal Campion, and features facts about the MCU films, film-to-comic comparisons, and production stills. Kai Young of Screen Rant felt that the series’ exclusion of an episode focused on Scarlett Johansson’s MCU character Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow was another “insult against” the character as she was “pivotal to the MCU”, and had wanted such an episode to focus on developing Romanoff as an individual beyond her relationships with male characters and alongside her family.
Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 1
The two were made producers on the Justice League films, on top of Johns’ involvement in several “solo” films, such as the post-production process of Suicide Squad (2016) or the writing process of a standalone Batman film. In 2014, Warner Bros. announced that slate of films, similarly to Disney and Marvel claiming dates for films years in advance. In February 2022, director Roland Emmerich felt large blockbuster films such as the MCU and Star Wars films were “ruining our industry a little”, since “nobody does anything original anymore”.
Marvel’s Iron Fist: Season 1
There’s no explicit reference to the year, but Steve has settled into his life in the present day and has an established dynamic with Natasha. The Winter Soldier is set in 2014, about two years after we last saw Steve in The Avengers. It’s also clear that Loki has been imprisoned for some time after he lost in The Avengers. It’s set up as the immediate follow-up to The First Avenger, Thor, and Iron Man 2’s post-credits scene, thanks to appearances from Nick Fury and Phil Coulson. It sets up SHEILD and introduces Thor and Loki’s Shakespearean brotherly conflict.
- Early on, the shared universe element of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was criticized by some journalists.
- At that time, Marvel was internally referring to The Kang Dynasty as Avengers 5; by early 2024, Marvel had decided to drop the Kang storyline and began searching for a new antagonist for the saga.
- See marvel.com/unlimited for additional details.
- The television specials Werewolf by Night (2022) and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) are also included in the phase.
- Now suit up, because we’re bringing a list of the Marvel movies in order to you!
- The franchise has been commercially successful, becoming one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time, and it has received generally positive reviews from critics.
Marvel Studios began producing its own television series for the streaming service Disney+, starting with WandaVision in 2021, marking the beginning of Phase Four. Marvel Television expanded the universe to network television with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC in 2013 before further expanding to streaming television on Netflix and Hulu and to cable television on Freeform. The Marvels definitely takes place after WandaVision, Ms. Marvel, and Secret Invasion, since those three projects set up the backstory for Monica Rambeau, Kamala Khan, and Nick Fury.
Sony’s Spider-Man Universe
Kang wants Ant-Man’s help getting out of the Quantum Realm so he can conquer and destroy even more universes and he’s not above threatening Cassie to do it. It turns out that a race of immortals called the Eternals have been living on Earth in secret since the dawn of time, protecting humanity from the Deviants. Once in Ta Lo, their aunt tells them that their dad is being manipulated by the Dweller-in-Darkness monster into setting him free, and they have to work together to try and stop him.
Loki Season 2 (
The MCU films are released in groups called “Phases”, beginning with Phase One and Phase Two. Since the franchise expanded to other media, some have used this phrase to only refer to the feature films. Feige initially referred to the shared narrative continuity of the films as the “Marvel Cinema Universe”, but later used the term “Marvel Cinematic Universe”.
Now, on to if you want to watch the MCU chronologically in-universe. See marvel.com/unlimited for additional details. In June 2021, The Simpsons short film The Good, the Bart, and the Loki was announced, which was released alongside “Journey into Mystery”, the fifth episode of Loki on Disney+.
With this announcement, IGN stated that the spin-offs are “the latest example of what we can refer to as “the Avengers effect” in Hollywood, as studios work to build interlocking movie universes.” Sony chose not to replicate the Marvel Studios model of introducing individual characters first before bringing them together in a team-up film, instead making the Spider-Man adversaries the stars of future films. Prior to his death in 2018, Stan Lee, the creator or co-creator of many of the characters adapted in the MCU, made cameo appearances in all of the feature films and television series except Inhumans. With the deal, Whedon contributed creatively to all of the Phase Two films and also developed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the first television series set in the MCU. In July 2019, Feige announced the Phase Four slate at San Diego Comic-Con, consisting of films and, for the first time, television event series on Disney+. Here’s another instance of the official timeline contradicting the movies.
The films included The Consultant (2011), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer (2011), Item 47 (2012), Agent Carter (2013), and All Hail the King (2014). An untitled Punisher television special (2026) is also expected to be released during the phase. The television specials Werewolf by Night (2022) and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) are also included in the phase. Actors appearing in Marvel Television series, such as Charlie Cox (who portrayed Matt Murdock / Daredevil in Daredevil) and Adrianne Palicki (Bobbi Morse / Mockingbird in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), were contractually obliged to appear in a Marvel Studios film if asked. When developing the crossover miniseries The Defenders, showrunner Marco Ramirez consulted with the creators of all the individual Marvel Netflix series, having them read each of the scripts for The Defenders and provide insight into individual characters’ worlds. TheWrap reported that the new contracts would likely only apply to films about to enter production.
Not the best Marvel movie by a long shot, but given it takes place during World War 2, in 1942 to be exact, its setting is certainly the oldest. Now suit up, because we’re bringing a list of the Marvel movies in order to you! While 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine saw the Merc with the Mouth and the X-Men step into the MCU — and as much as we love them — you won’t find their previous movies on this list either. This means that we’re not including any Marvel movies before this, nor will you see any of the Sony Spider-Verse (sorry) or Morbius stuff (you’re welcome).
The Avengers
Just make sure you watch this movie first so that the end-credits scene in The Incredible Hulk makes sense. According to dialogue from the movie, Iron Man 2 starts six months after the end of Iron Man and occurs more or less simultaneously with The Incredible Hulk and Thor. Iron Man was the first film released in what we now know as the MCU, and it’s also the first one to take place in the present day — which, in this case, is either 2008 or 2010.
The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters. The films are based on characters from American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Hulk’s appearance in She-Hulk raised a lot of questions about its timeline placement, but the official timeline book confirms that the show starts in 2024 and ends in 2025.
- The studio was excited to explore Kang the Conqueror as an overarching villain of the Multiverse Saga after Thanos in the Infinity Saga, because Kang was a different villain in part because he has multiple variants from different timelines within the multiverse.
- The second three phases are collectively known as “The Multiverse Saga”, and include television series on Disney+.
- The Marvels director Nia DaCosta filmed Vellani and Larson’s content in London ahead of principal photography for the film.
- TheWrap reported that the new contracts would likely only apply to films about to enter production.
- When developing the crossover miniseries The Defenders, showrunner Marco Ramirez consulted with the creators of all the individual Marvel Netflix series, having them read each of the scripts for The Defenders and provide insight into individual characters’ worlds.
Marvel’s the Avengers
It doesn’t directly connect to the events of other films, but in this was back when the real-life release dates of the movies roughly correlated with the in-universe timeline. The fictional timeline of the MCU includes the feature films, television series, television specials, short films, and the I Am Groot shorts from Marvel Studios and Marvel Television’s Netflix series. The first two Deadpool movies happen in Fox’s X-Men universe, which is notorious for its inconsistent timeline.
Deadpool discovers that his timeline is deteriorating due to the death of its stabilizing “anchor being”, which just so happened to be Wolverine. Deadpool’s use of the time device (that he got at the end of Deadpool 2) draws the attention of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) from the Loki show. Despite the quantum shenanigans and weird ways that interacts with time, this one easily slots into the timeline. Plus, it was the first Marvel movie to have one of its main characters de-aged using some impressive CGI so a young Nick Fury could kick ass right alongside one of the most powerful superheroes in the franchise.
There have been numerous attempts by Marvel Studios and others to codify the events of the MCU, which have been subject to perceived continuity errors, resulting in Marvel Studios releasing an official timeline book in 2023 for their first four phases that were designated as part of their “Sacred Timeline”. Were the first properties to occur outside of the main timeline and explore alternative timelines and universes. WHIH Newsfront (2015–16) is an in-universe current affairs show that serves as a viral marketing campaign for some of the MCU films, created in partnership with Google for YouTube. Marvel One-Shots are a series of direct-to-video short films that are included as special features in the MCU films’ Blu-ray and digital distribution releases.
The Infinity Saga
The book, which exists within the universe, was written by Troy Benjamin and published by Epic Ink and Quarto Publishing Group. Phase Six includes the animated miniseries Eyes of Wakanda (2025) and Marvel Zombies (2025), Wonder Man (2026), the second and third seasons of Born Again (2026–27), and VisionQuest (2026). Phase Four includes the series WandaVision (2021), The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), the first season of Loki (2021), the first season of the animated series What If…? Additionally, Vincent D’Onofrio first reprised his role as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin from Daredevil in the Disney+ series Hawkeye (2021). He said the studio was able to work on so many series across different networks and platforms because all they needed was one person working on each series to help “guide the process”. By December 2020, because of the impact COVID-19 had on theaters and film studios shifting away from theatrical releases, Marvel Studios began exploring updated contracts for actors, writers, directors, and producers to receive adjusted compensation in the event a film had to debut on Disney+ instead of in theaters.
