Marvel Movies timeline: Marvel Cinematic Universe movie timeline and watching order

Marvel is unlike its competitor, Star Wars, in a variety of ways.

But one major difference is the chronology of the movies – where Star Wars’ chronology has jumped backwards and forward, Marvel has been fairly straightforward.

Marvel has released a slew of films since 2008’s Iron Man, which introduced Tony Stark as the face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

From there, the movies have flowed almost wholly chronologically – their release dates coinciding with their watching order with only a couple of exceptions.

Phase One introduced us to Tony Stark, the entrepreneur wealthy bad-boy who was thrust into the role of superhero.

Here, Marvel also brought us our first-time jump – with Captain America: The First Avengers taking place in the 40s during World War II.

However, the 2011 Chris Evans movie should still be viewed fifth in this list for story continuity (much like one would watch the original Star Wars trilogy before the prequels for the full storytelling impact).

Iron Man (2008)

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Thor (2011)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)

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Phase Two of the MCU brought a darker mood to the superheroes, with the introduction of Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy to the Avengers fold.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Ant-Man (2015)

With Phase Three, fans were introduced to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) but more importantly, Black Panther.

Black Panther helped breathe new enthusiasm into the Marvel franchise, with its stellar characters and outstanding performances.

Phase Three is still ongoing, with two more movies for release in 2019.

Captain Marvel comes first, another instance where the chronology doesn’t fit with the release date.

Captain Marvel will be set in the 1990s, featuring some familiar faces.

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The as of yet untitled Avengers 4 will be the final chapter in Phase Three.

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Doctor Strange (2016)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Black Panther (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Captain Marvel (2019)

Untitled Avengers Film (2019)

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Phase Four:

The fourth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be championed by Captain Marvel, taking the baton from Iron Man.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is already filming with a release date of July 5, 2019.

The controversial Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 should be out for release in 2020, presuming Disney can find a replacement for auteur James Gunn.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is now playing in cinemas.