Marvel movies in order by release date

If the chronological order sounds a little too confusing from our recent article, there is also the option to simply watch in release date order, which also neatly categorises the MCU story into four distinct “phases”.

The first three phases make up what is now referred to as the Infinity Saga, beginning with the introduction of the Avengers characters and ending with the time-hopping mega-event that was Avengers: Endgame.

Watching this method will send you on the same journey that millions of Marvel fans all over the world have enjoyed, allowing you to watch first-hand how the MCU grew from a fairly grounded superhero flick to an all-out space opera.

It’s true that watching this way will mean you see some events outside of their in-universe order, i.e. the origin of Captain America or the first meeting between Nick Fury and Captain Marvel, but this doesn’t cause any serious storytelling problems.

In release date order, the MCU begins with 2008’s Iron Man and continues all the way up to 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with several new movies to be added to that list next year.

The Infinity Saga

Phase One

Iron Man (May, 2008)
The Incredible Hulk (June, 2008)
Iron Man 2 (May, 2010)
Thor (May, 2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22, 2011)
Avengers Assemble (May 4, 2012)

Phase Two

Iron Man 3 (May, 2013)
Thor: The Dark World (November, 2013)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April, 2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (August, 2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (May, 2015)
Ant-Man (July, 2015)

Phase Three

Captain America: Civil War (May, 2016)
Doctor Strange (November, 2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May, 2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (July, 2017)
Thor: Ragnarok (November, 2017)
Black Panther (February, 2018)
Avengers: Infinity War (April, 2018)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (July, 2018)
Captain Marvel (March, 2019)
Avengers: Endgame (April, 2019)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (July, 2019)

The Multiverse Saga

Phase Four

WandaVision (TV series) (January, 2021)
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (TV series) (March, 2021)
Loki season 1 (TV series) (June, 2021)
Black Widow (9th July 2021)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (3rd September 2021)
Eternals (5th November 2021)
Hawkeye (24th November 2021)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (17th December 2021)
Moon Knight (TV show -30th March 2022)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (5th May 2022)
Ms Marvel (TV show – 8th June 2022)
Thor: Love and Thunder (8th July 2022)
She-Hulk (TV show – 18th August 2022)
Werewolf By Night (TV special – 7th October 2022)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (11th November 2022)
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (TV special – 25th November 2022)