What Does MCU Stand For?

MCU stands for Marvel Cinematic Universe and it consists of multiple phases. These phases showcase Marvel’s heroes and villains across a timeline that can be broken down into character-driven movie sequences, stand-alone movies, and TV series on Disney Plus.

For more than a decade, Marvel movies have been dominant at the Box Office. Turning the once pre-noughties cheese-fest that comic book movies were, into thrilling big-budget action romps:

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And remarkably, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) consists of roughly 57-hours of movies today! And that doesn’t even include the Disney Plus series…

This massive duration poses a problem, do you watch them in order of release or chronologically?

All Marvel Movies In Order Of Release

Warning: Watching the MCU in order of release will result in seeing events out-of-order in terms of the overall story.

Phase 1

• Iron Man—that’s where MCU is born (2008)
• The Incredible Hulk (2008)
• Iron Man 2 (2010)
• Thor (2011)
• Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
• Avengers (2012)

Phase 2:

• Iron Man 3 (2013)
• Thor: The Dark World (2013)
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
• Guardians of the Galaxy (GotG) (2014)
• Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
• Ant-Man (2015)

Phase 3

• Captain America: Civil War (2016)
• Doctor Strange (2016)
• GotG 2 (2017)
• Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
• Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
• Black Panther—sadly, the hero is dead now (2018)
• Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
• Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
• Captain Marvel (2019)
• Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Phase 4

• Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
• Black Widow (2021)
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
• Eternals (2021)
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Swipe down to see the other movies in MCU Phase 4.

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All Marvel Movies In Chronological Order

We recommend watching the MCU in chronological order. It delivers a better movie experience, especially if you fit in the Disney Plus shows WandaVision, Loki, Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye:

1. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
2. Captain Marvel (2019)
3. Iron Man (2008)
4. Iron Man 2 (2010)
5. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
6. Thor (2011)
7. Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
8. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
9. Iron Man 3 (2013)
10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
11. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
12. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2017)
13. Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)
14. Ant-Man (2015)
15. Captain America: Civil War (2016)
16. Black Widow (2021)
17. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
18. Black Panther (2018)
19. Doctor Strange (2016)
20. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
21. Ant-Man And The Wasp (2018)
22. Avengers: Infinity War (2018) — Watch Hawkeye after this if including the MCU TV series.
23. Avengers: Endgame (2019) — Watch Loki, then WandaVision and finally Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
24. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
25. Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021)
26. Eternals (2021)
27. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Upcoming Phase Four Movies

• Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
• Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
• The Marvels (2023)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
• Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
• Fantastic Four (TBA)
• Blade (TBA)