With the Marvel Cinematic Universe well into its fourth phase, it’s time to look back on what’s happened. Here’s a recap of the MCU movie timeline so far.
Now concluding its fourth phase, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has 30 movies, with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever the most recent release in November 2022. There are many more movies in the works, as well as a whole host of shows, including Moon Knight, WandaVision, Loki, and Hawkeye now out on Disney+. With so much content coming out at different times, covering different time periods, it’s tough to understand the order of events.
Want to watch the MCU in chronological order? You’re in the right place. We’ve organized the movie in story order, so your watching experience can be as seamless as possible. We’ve also included some quick movie summaries for a refresher (consider this your spoiler warning).
Steve Rogers undergoes a dangerous, experimental procedure during World War II to turn him into a super-soldier. Dubbed “Captain America,” he then battles the Nazis and Hydra — a covert division of the Nazi Party developing powerful weapons fueled by a mysterious artifact known as The Tesseract. Along the way, Captain America loses his best friend James “Bucky” Barnes during a mission, defeats Hydra leader Johann Schmidt (aka Red Skull), loses The Tesseract, and eventually sacrifices himself to save the world by piloting an airplane full of explosives into the Arctic Ocean. Found and thawed out 70 years later, he meets SHIELD Agent Nick Fury, who offers him a chance to become a hero all over again.
Read our full Captain America: The First Avenger review
Air Force pilot Carol Danvers is caught in the explosion of an engine built using alien technology, developing powerful abilities that she first wields as a soldier for the Kree, the alien race that saved her life with a blood transfusion. She later uses her powers to defend Earth when the Kree endanger the planet during their war with the shape-changing Skrulls. She leaves Earth in the 1990s to help bring an end to the Kree-Skrull war, only to be called back years later due to the events of Avengers: Infinity War.
Read our full Captain Marvel review
Brilliant billionaire engineer Tony Stark develops a high-tech armored suit and becomes a one-man army. After stopping a former partner whose greed had turned him into a war profiteer, Stark is approached by SHIELD agent Nick Fury to join something he calls “The Avengers Initiative.”
Tony Stark’s battle against a pair of competitors — one with a personal vendetta against Stark and his family — results in some new additions to the MCU, including SHIELD agent Black Widow and Tony’s friend James Rhodes, who gets his own set of military-enhanced armor (earning him the code name “War Machine”). Nick Fury reveals that Tony’s father was a founding member of SHIELD, and after the dust settles following a battle with Russian villain Ivan Vanko and his army of drones, SHIELD reports that a strange hammer has been found in the desert in New Mexico.
Read our full Iron Man 2 review
Genius scientist Bruce Banner attempts to replicate the super-soldier serum that gave Captain America his abilities, only to suffer an accidental exposure to gamma radiation that causes him to transform into a green-skinned behemoth — dubbed The Hulk — when his heart rate rises above a certain level. After defeating a psychopathic soldier mutated by a mix of the serum and Banner’s blood, Banner (and Hulk) go into hiding.
Hot-headed Asgardian Thor is stripped of his powers and banished to Earth — specifically, New Mexico — after the latest transgression against his father, Odin, the ruler of Asgard. His diabolical half-brother Loki schemes to keep him there and take the throne for himself, but after Thor redeems himself, his powers and his magical hammer, Mjölnir, return to him. Later, Nick Fury reveals that SHIELD is in possession of The Tesseract (last seen in Captain America: The First Avengers), and we learn that Loki is very much still alive and is manipulating the scientist tasked with studying the powerful artifact.
Read our full Thor review
Loki agrees to obtain The Tesseract for an alien race called the Chitauri in exchange for an army that will help him take over Earth. He infiltrates SHIELD headquarters, prompting Nick Fury to assemble The Avengers for the first time. Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, and Steve Rogers are eventually joined by Thor, along with SHIELD agents Black Widow and Hawkeye, and together they stop Loki and his Chitauri army after a massive battle in Manhattan. The Tesseract is sent to Asgard, and the Chitauri’s mysterious leader is later revealed to be Thanos, who was attempting to acquire The Tesseract for his own purposes.
Tony’s pursuit of the terrorist leader known as The Mandarin embroils him in a conflict with a rival scientist that endangers everyone around him and injures both his friend Happy Hogan and his girlfriend, Pepper Potts. He eventually decides to destroy the majority of his Iron Man suits in order to keep them out of the wrong hands.
Read our full Iron Man 3 review
An ancient war between the Asgardians and the Dark Elves is reignited when a cosmic convergence of events unleashes the Aether, a powerful weapon hidden eons ago. Thor’s mother is killed in the ensuing battle and Thor is forced to enlist the help of Loki, who had been imprisoned on Asgard since the events of The Avengers. Thor defeats the Dark Elves’ leader, Malekith, and the Aether is moved off Asgard for safekeeping. The Aether and The Tesseract are first identified as “Infinity Stones” in this film, and because of that, it’s indicated that they shouldn’t be stored near each other.
Read our full Thor: The Dark World review
Captain America, Nick Fury, and Black Widow discover that SHIELD has been infiltrated by Hydra, the evil organization introduced in The First Avenger, but are forced to go on the run when they’re framed as murderers and enemies of the state. They’re joined by Air Force rescue pilot Sam Wilson (aka Falcon) and his high-tech wings as they attempt to expose Hydra. They soon discover that Bucky Barnes is not only alive but has been brainwashed by Hydra and turned into the powerful assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Hydra’s plot is eventually foiled, leaving SHIELD in disarray and the Winter Soldier on the run.
Read our full Captain America: The Winter Soldier review
Half-human mercenary Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord) steals a mysterious orb from a remote planet but is forced to assemble a ragtag team of reluctant heroes — including Thanos’ daughter, Gamora — to retrieve it after it’s taken by the renegade Kree warrior Ronan. The orb is another Infinity Stone, one of six ancient artifacts with power over time, space, and reality. Ronan decides to use the stone for himself instead of giving it to Thanos, but Quill and his team defeat him and give it to the galactic peacekeepers known as the Nova Corps on the planet Xandar.
