How to watch all the Marvel films in storyline order

The National

12-05-2025

This month's release of Thunderbolts* marked the 36th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and the final film in the timeline before Avengers: Doomsday in 2026. Before the release of the 1960s-set The Fantastic Four: First Steps in July, which sets the stage for next year's game-changing team-up, there's plenty to catch up on. For those looking to begin a venture into, arguably, cinema's most popular worlds of the past two decades, it's best to start at the beginning. Here is how to watch all movies of the MCU in chronological order. A great intro to the MCU, set during the Second World War, it has Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) being recruited as part of the super-soldier experiment, causing – hey presto – the birth of Captain America. We also get a first look at an Infinity Stone, the power-wielding jewels that will escalate in importance. Rating: 4/5 While this marks the fourth iteration of the Fantastic Four assembled for the big screen – an unreleased movie from 1994, the two modestly successful films from the 2000s and the calamitous 2015 reboot – the latest version seems poised to be the greatest. Harkening back to the 1960s setting of the original comics run by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, this period film promises to adapt one of the Kirby and Lee's most popular stories – the coming of the world-eater Galactus, announced by his herald the Silver Surfer. But because it's set decades before the rest of the MCU, fans are eagerly awaiting the many intersections it may include of the overarching Marvel story – and how it may connect with the multiverse. Rating: TBD Arriving in the nick of time before Avengers: Infinity War, cosmic hero Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) gets her origin story here – all set in 1995 – as two alien races come to blows. The fun part is seeing Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury, a regular from the intelligence agency S.H.I.E.L.D., as his younger self, before he got that distinctive eye patch. Rating: 3/5 It all began here. Back in 2008, Jon Favreau's Iron Man was something of a risk. But casting Robert Downey Jr as the snarky Tony Stark, an inventor-billionaire who builds himself a weapon-clad suit, was a masterstroke. An entire generation-defining movie series got off to a splendid start. Rating: 4/5 Downey Jr flexed his muscles further against Mickey Rourke's whip-cracking Russian baddie, but this is most notable for introducing Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff – aka Black Widow, the ultra-limber spy who will eventually join Iron Man in the S.H.I.E.L.D. superhero gang The Avengers. Rating: 3/5 It took Marvel three goes to get the angry green giant right. This wasn't it. Following 2003's Hulk (not part of the MCU), this reboot had Ed Norton take over as Dr Bruce Banner, before Mark Ruffalo later inherited the mantle. It pre-dates The Avengers, though it's unclear where it sits in the timeline. Iron Man does make a cameo, though. Rating: 2/5 Set six months before The Avengers, Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston first appear as Asgard warrior Thor and his mischief-making, power-grabbing adoptive brother Loki, in a fine effort by Kenneth Branagh, who compared it all to King Lear. Intern Darcy Lewis, later to return in TV spin-off WandaVision, also makes her MCU debut. Rating: 4/5 Marvel's so-called Phase One came to a resounding close in Joss Whedon's titanic superhero flick, as the Avengers assemble against Loki and his alien hoards. Watching Iron Man bicker with Captain America and 'Hulk smash' were only two of the highlights of a film that also, properly, introduced Jeremy Renner's archer Hawkeye after his Thor cameo. Rating: 5/5 Six months on from The Avengers, Iron Man deals with the fallout from those events while coming up against the Mandarin, the leader of a terrorist group known as the Ten Rings. Shane Black directs with his usual wit, though Sir Ben Kingsley's role – a huge twist in the film – left some fans a bit bemused. Rating: 3/5 Directed by Games of Thrones' Alan Taylor, this second outing for Thor – which concludes with half of Greenwich in London being destroyed – was inferior to the first, owing to Christopher Eccleston's generic villain Malekith. It does introduce Benicio Del Toro's infinity stones-hoarder, the Collector, though. Rating: 3/5 The first of four essential MCU movies directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Captain America's second solo outing, digging further into S.H.I.E.L.D., comes two years on from The Avengers' climactic Battle of New York. Drawing from 1970s-style conspiracy/espionage tales such as Three Days of the Condor, it further expanded Black Widow's character too. Rating: 4/5 Director James Gunn's first entry into the MCU arrived with this insouciant tale of intergalactic rogues. Chris Pratt leads the way as Peter Quill – aka Star-Lord – but the show is stolen by Rocket, a talking raccoon, and his pal Groot, a tree of very few words. Rating: 4/5 A disappointment after the highs of its predecessor, but still a lot of fun – with the Guardians again patrolling the outer reaches of the galaxy. It also expands on the Celestials, the cosmic beings that created the Eternals, with Kurt Russell as Ego. Rating: 3/5 As the Avengers team up to fight Ultron, an AI enemy hellbent on destruction, more get recruited, including Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany) and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), aka Falcon. Doesn't hit the highs of Whedon's earlier movie, though. Rating: 3/5 Its tortured genesis notwithstanding – director Edgar Wright quit the project, Peyton Reed took over – this is one of the most irreverent MCU entries. Thief Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is shrunk to insect-size by tech invented by Michael Douglas' former S.H.I.E.L.D. employee Hank Pym, just in time to join the fight in the coming Civil War. Rating: 4/5 One of the great comic-book movies, as Iron Man and Cap come to blows and the Avengers' infighting escalates to epic proportions. This second Russo brothers' MCU effort includes the glorious introduction of Tom Holland as Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man – the third, and certainly the best, actor to play Stan Lee's web-spinning hero in the 21st century. Rating: 5/5 Taking place directly after the events of Captain America: Civil War, this origin story for Romanoff also introduces her "sister", Yelena (Florence Pugh), also trained in the so-called Red Room. To stay spoiler-free, avoid the post-credits sequence, though, until you've watched Avengers: Endgame. Rating: 4/5 Set post-Civil War, Jon Watts' effort goes all The Breakfast Club, with Peter Parker hanging out at Midtown School of Science and Technology with his pals, including love interest MJ (Zendaya). Michael Keaton pops in as the bad guy, Adrian Toomes, with an axe to grind against Stark Industries. Rating: 4/5 This intro for Benedict Cumberbatch's mystic, time-bending neurosurgeon came under fire for Tilda Swinton's casting as the Ancient One, a Tibetan character from the comics refashioned as Celtic. But no question, this is the MCU's most surreal movie yet and a vital primer for Avengers: Infinity War. Rating: 4/5 Never mind its place in the MCU, Blank Panther was a genuine cultural moment, when Marvel unveiled the fictional African nation of Wakanda and Chadwick Boseman in the title role. The first superhero movie to get a Best Picture Oscar nomination, this fired imaginations in its positive, passionate representation of black culture. Rating: 4/5 The best Thor movie yet, thanks to the arrival of Kiwi director Taika Waititi, who imported his off-kilter humour perfectly into the MCU. With Thor fighting against Cate Blanchett's Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death, it also brings in Loki and Hulk for a hugely enjoyable space romp. Rating: 4/5 Be careful here. The post-credits scene ties into the finale of Infinity War, so maybe hold off on watching until you've seen IW. But timewise, this quantum realm-hopping adventure begins two years on from Scott Lang's initial involvement with the Avengers in Civil War, with him now under house arrest. Rating: 4/5 The pinnacle of the series and everything the MCU was building towards, as the Avengers confront alien megalomaniac Thanos, now in possession of the Infinity Stones and with a major grudge against the universe. Filled with genuine jaw-dropping moments, this was comic book fare on a Shakespearean level. Rating: 5/5 It became the biggest-grossing movie of all time (before Avatar's re-release before the sequel in 2022). This conclusion to the MCU's Infinity saga storyline is another epic, spanning five years. Dealing with the theme of sacrifice for the greater good, it might just be the most emotional Marvel movie yet. Be warned: not everyone makes it out alive. Rating: 5/5 Eight months after Endgame, Spidey takes a European holiday with his classmates and comes up against the Elementals and Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio. Watts's sequel neatly touches on the Americans-abroad trope in a breezy and much-needed pick-me-up after the apocalyptic events of before. Rating: 3/5 Picking up directly after Far From Home, this mind-bending multiverse movie sees Holland's Spider-Man face friends and foes from parallel universes in a film that feels like a joyous slice of fan service. Spinning a wild web, it feels like a movie that will send the MCU in an entirely new and bold direction. Rating: 5/5 Director Destin Daniel Cretton says his effort takes place in the 'present day' so that makes it the most up-to-date entry in the series. Starring Simu Liu as the titular trained assassin, who left behind a life of killing, it reacquaints us with the Ten Rings in a more satisfying way than Iron Man 3 managed. Rating: 4/5 Five years on from events in Infinity War and eight months after Endgame, Eternals comes late in the MCU ordering. But – just to confuse you – there are some flashbacks to ancient Aztec, Babylon and so on, as the world's oldest superheroes are introduced in their battle against the alien Deviants. Rating: 3/5 In the wake of King T'Challa's death, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and her daughter Shuri (Letitia Wright) along with M'Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje, the team of women who serve as special forces for Wakanda, are in a fight to protect their nation from new intervening and threatening world powers. As Wakanda rises up to embrace its future without its king, the heroes must work together to forge a new path for the kingdom. Rating: 4/5 A combination of drama, comedy, familiar faces, nostalgia and heart-warming moments the superhero franchise has become known for, Waititi returns with his signature humorous touch in this sequel to Thor: Ragnarok (2017). Thor reunites with Dr Jane Foster, who broke up with him "eight years, seven months and six days, give or take" ago, putting this timeline to between 2023 and 2025 and after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. A fun ride from beginning to end, and possibly Hemsworth's last outing as Thor, this one is all about growing up, getting older and finding the one you love. Rating: 4/5 The film takes place after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home and sees Doctor Strange continue his research on the Time Stone. However, when Strange casts a forbidden spell, he accidentally opens the doorway to the multiverse and unleashes evil. Faced with old enemies and new foes, he is forced to break the very seams of reality to save it. Rating: 3/5 Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania signals the start of the fifth phase of the MCU. The story begins when the family of microscopic heroes – which include Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) – are unwillingly sucked into the Quantum Realm. However, the deeper we venture into the story, and the Quantum Realm, it becomes clear that the film is less about Ant-Man than it is a vehicle to introduce the big baddie of phase five of the MCU: Kang the Conqueror. Rating: 2/5 The last instalment, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, is bittersweet. The film is a testament to director and writer James Gunn's singular vision where action, comedy and emotional storylines meet powerful music for a gripping cinematic experience. Unlike the previous films, the Guardians aren't facing off against one ominous villain whose plan is to eradicate half of all life in the universe. But on the whole, Gunn has delivered to audiences what they expected and always loved about the Guardians of the Galaxy universe: an adventure full of heart, humour and friendship. Most importantly though, what Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 achieves is ultimately a satisfying finale to a story of unforgettable characters. Rating: 4/5 While Deadpool & Wolverine was billed as the debut of the two titular characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this manic, violent and thoroughly R-rated buddy comedy features very little interaction with the MCU. Instead, it acts as a coda to the 20th Century Fox Marvel film universe, including Blade, Electra, Fantastic Four and the X-Men series, which unofficially ended when Disney bought the studio back in 2019. While there is one scene set before Avengers: Endgame in 2018 when Iron Man was still alive and numerous scenes in the in-between world established in the Disney+ Loki series, Deadpool and Wolverine probably won't enter the proper Marvel timeline until the coming Avengers: Doomsday, which is set for a 2026 release and will star Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom, or Avengers: Secret Wars, which is set to release in 2027. Nevertheless, while it falls apart a bit in the final act, it's a must-watch for Marvel fans new and old, and proves that the MCU still has some tricks up its sleeve. Rating: 3/5 Set in 2026, The Marvels is not merely a sequel to the 2019 hit Captain Marvel, which introduced Brie Larson's hero of the same name, it also continues the female-led stories established in Disney+ MCU series WandaVision and Ms Marvel, the latter of which introduced Kamala Khan, Marvel's first Muslim superhero. The breezy tone runtime makes it watchable if mostly forgettable, but the film also adds little to the overall Marvel narrative, with only Iman Vellani's committed and fun performance as Ms Marvel to buoy the proceedings. Rating: 2/5 In many ways, the Captain America franchise has been the beating heart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, establishing Steve Rogers as the grander story's moral centre. His successor and former partner Sam Wilson tries to do the same in his first solo film, to near-disastrous results. While Sam has earned a lot of good will from fans of the past 15 years, Captain America: Brave New World fails to provide a good reason why he should be Marvel's main character moving forward. Here, he mainly goes through the motions in one of the least watchable political thrillers ever put to film, which goes from boring to silly when president Harrison Ford begins turning into a big red monster because he'd been given the wrong pills. Taking place in 2027 (we know this because Sam Wilson says that Bucky Barnes, born in 1917, is 110), this sets the stage for Sam-led Avengers team to potentially debut in Avengers: Doomsday in 2026. But honestly, you can skip it. Rating: 0/5 When Marvel is at its worst, keeping up with the ins and outs can feel like homework. When Marvel is at its best, everything clicks into place even without context. Thunderbolts*, which is set in 2027 after Brave New World, finds Marvel once again at its best, uniting discarded supporting characters from other stories and turning that seeming weakness into the film's greatest asset. Told with empathy and humour, this is a story of flawed, human characters that audiences can't help but root for. And thanks to director Jeff Scheier's reliance on old-fashioned in-camera stunt work and committed performances from top-tier talents in Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan in particular, the film ultimately earns its second name The New Avengers – which ensures that these characters will be a prominent part of Avengers: Doomsday. Rating: 4/5