Ten years ago there was no such thing as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Just a not-very good Hulk movie. It wasn't until 2008 that Robert Downey Jr had the mother of all comebacks in Iron Man. And even with a post-credits tease featuring Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury, we still didn't know that it would kickstart the most lucrative franchise in film history.
Fast-forward to 2017, and there have been 17 movies (with many still to come), six TV shows (with four to come), and several one-off movies, web series, comics and more.
But with all that magnificent geeky goodness, it can be pretty tough to keep on top of it all. And while you could make it easy by just watching them all in the order they were released, we can't help but turn the nerd factor up a notch: how do you watch them all in chronological order of when they were set?
Granted, certain films and TV episodes feature flashbacks (or contain two different time periods like the first Captain America), but for now we'll settle on the source material's major setting.
So, behold: the entire MCU in the "right" order:
PHASE 1
- 1. Captain America: The First Avenger
- 2. Agent Carter (season 1)
- 3. Agent Carter (season 2)
- 4. Agent Carter (one-shot on Iron Man 3 DVD)
- 5. Iron Man
- 6. Iron Man 2
- 7. The Incredible Hulk
- 8. The Consultant (one-shot on the Thor DVD)
- 9. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (one-shot on the Captain America: The First Avenger DVD)
- 10. Thor
- 11. Avengers Assemble
- 12. Item 47 (one-shot on the Avengers Assemble DVD)
PHASE 2
- 13. Iron Man 3
- 14. All Hail the King (one-shot on the Thor: The Dark World DVD)
- 15. Agents of SHIELD (season 1, eps 1-7)
- 16. Thor: The Dark World
- 17. Agents of SHIELD (season 1, eps 8-16)
- 18. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- 19. Agents of SHIELD (season 1, eps 17-22)
- 20. Guardians of the Galaxy
- 21. Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2
- 22. Daredevil (season 1)
- 23. Agents of SHIELD (season 2, eps 1-10)
- 24. Jessica Jones (season 1)
- 25. Agents of SHIELD (season 2, eps 11-19)
- 26.Avengers: Age of Ultron
- 27. Agents of SHIELD (season 2, eps 20-22)
- 28. Daredevil (season 2, eps 1-4)
- 29. Luke Cage (season 1, eps 1-4)
- 30. Daredevil (season 2, eps 5-11)
- 31. Luke Cage (season 1, eps 5-8)
- 32. Daredevil (season 2, eps 12-13)
- 33. Luke Cage (season 1, eps 9-13)
- 34. Ant-Man
- 35. Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 1-10)
PHASE 3
- 36. Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 11-19)
- 37. Iron Fist (season 1)
- 38.Captain America: Civil War
- 39.Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 20-22)
- 40. The Defenders (season 1)
- 41. The Punisher (season 1)
- 41. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 1-6)
- 42. Doctor Strange
- 43. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 7-8)
- 44. Agents of SHIELD: Slingshot (season 1, eps 1-6)
- 45. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 9-22)
- 46. Spider-Man: Homecoming
- 47. Thor: Ragnarok (concurrent with Spider-Man: Homecoming)
- 48. Inhumans (season 1)
We'll keep updating this list once each new Marvel property is released, so keep checking back to make sure you're up to date.
Upcoming MCU projects (chronological order unknown):
- Runaways (season 1) - November 21, 2017 (on Hulu)
- Agents of SHIELD (season 5) - January 2018 (on ABC)
- Black Panther - February 16, 2018
- Avengers: Infinity War - May 4, 2018
- Cloak and Dagger (season 1) - 2018 (on Freeform)
- Ant Man and the Wasp - July 6, 2018
- Jessica Jones (season 2) - 2018 (on Netflix)
- Daredevil (season 3) - TBA (on Netflix)
- Luke Cage (season 2) - TBA (on Netflix)
- Iron Fist (season 2) - TBA (on Netflix)
- Captain Marvel - March 8, 2019
- Untitled Avengers film - May 3, 2019
- Untitled Spider-Man sequel - July 5, 2019
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - TBA
