(Credit: René Ramos; Marvel Studios/Disney)
The Punisher, Marvel's unstoppable crime-fighting machine with a tortured past, had a two-season run on Netflix years ago. He made a big return to the small screen last year in Daredevil: Born Again. With that show's second season wrapped, Punisher is back again, on his own, on May 12 with an ultra-violent TV special. (He'll next appear in a few weeks on big screens as part of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.)
To date, there are nearly 20 streaming shows taking place in (or adjacent to) the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU); over 30 if you are liberal with your definition of "adjacent." The Punisher: One Last Kill is the third official one-off Disney+ special in the MCU, a shared world that includes movies (the most recent of which was Fantastic Four: First Steps), shows, and shorts. Together, they create a (somewhat) cohesive whole. We're here to tell you how to watch each movie and show in the proper order.
That order depends on your preference. You could opt for release order, since that's how everything was intended to be viewed. Alternatively, you could check out the chronological order option if you're a seasoned veteran and want something different. For even more fun (and homework) you could include every TV show and short in that watch order, which will have you watching as many MCU-related TV shows and short films as possible.
For the most part, Disney+ is all you need to stream the MCU, though a few things are available elsewhere. That's where you'll find the latest releases, like the excellent Wonder Man and last year's truly stellar Thunderbolts*, as well as Fantastic Four and classic shows like Agent Carter. Other exceptions are noted below.
Order of Release (Movies Only)
Dates indicate when the film was released to theaters.
MCU: Phase One
- Iron Man (May 2, 2008)
- The Incredible Hulk (June 13, 2008)
- Iron Man 2 (May 7, 2010)
- Thor (May 6, 2011)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22, 2011)
- The Avengers (May 4, 2012)
MCU: Phase Two
- Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013)
- Thor: The Dark World (Nov. 8, 2013)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Apr. 4, 2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (Aug. 1, 2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1, 2015)
- Ant-Man (July 17, 2015)
MCU: Phase Three
- Captain America: Civil War (May 6, 2016)
- Doctor Strange (Nov. 4, 2016)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May 5, 2017)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 7, 2017)
- Thor: Ragnarok (Nov. 3, 2017)
- Black Panther (Feb. 16, 2018)
Avengers: Infinity War (Apr. 27, 2018)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6, 2018)
- Captain Marvel (Mar. 8, 2019)
- Avengers: Endgame (Apr. 26, 2019)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2, 2019)
MCU: Phase Four
- Black Widow (July 9, 2021)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Sep. 3, 2021)
- The Eternals (Nov. 5, 2021)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (Dec. 17, 2021)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 6, 2022)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8, 2022)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Nov. 11, 2022)
MCU: Phase Five
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Feb. 16, 2023)
- Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023)
- The Marvels (Nov. 10, 2023)
- Deadpool & Wolverine (July 26, 2024).
- Captain America: Brave New World (Feb. 14, 2025)
- Thunderbolts* (May 2, 2025)
MCU: Phase Six
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25, 2025)
Coming in 2026
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31, 2026)
- Avengers: Doomsday (Dec. 18, 2026)
- Avengers: Secret Wars (Dec. 17, 2027)
Chronological Order (Movies Only)
The date on each film below indicates the estimated year or years it takes place. There are caveats about timeline anomalies, and that's before the films even get to the time travel stuff.
We also have links to find the movies. The majority are on Disney+. But Marvel's rights issues with some characters go back decades, particularly with the Hulk and Spider-Man, which is why they're sometimes on other services.
Disney bought Fox, so most of the Fox-produced X-Men movies—even Deadpool—are on Disney+ or Hulu. Unless explicitly told otherwise, consider that a different section of the multiverse.
The post-credits scenes at the end of each Marvel movie sometimes take place in wildly different timeframes than the main film itself or were bits cut from the next movie to come out. We're not counting them here.
- Captain America: The First Avenger (1942)
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps (the 1960s, but on another earth in the Multiverse)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (opening takes place in 1980)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (opening takes place in 1988)
- Captain Marvel (1995)
- Iron Man (2010)
- Iron Man 2 (2011)
- Thor (2011)
- The Incredible Hulk (May-June 2011; takes place after Iron Man 2 and Thor, despite being released first)
- The Avengers (2012)
- Iron Man 3 (2012)
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (the rest of it is set in 2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (the remainder of it is set in 2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Ant-Man (2015)
- Doctor Strange (2016-17; part of it happens after Civil War)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2016—the opening takes place during Captain America: Civil War; the rest is set only four years after The Avengers, despite what it says on screen)
- Black Panther (2017)
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
- Black Widow (2017)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (2017)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2017)
- Avengers: Endgame (starts in 2018, jumps to 2023, with hops back to 2012, 2013, 2014, and 1970)
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2023)
- Eternals (2023)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (summer 2024)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (2024)
- Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (early 2025)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2025)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2025)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (probably 2026)
- Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (mid-2026)
- The Marvels (2026)
- Deadpool & Wolverine (outside of time, but this is when to watch it according to the timeline on Disney+)
- Captain America: Brave New World (2027)
- Thunderbolts* (2027)
Popularity Order (Movies Only)
Here's yet another option: Watch the MCU in the order of movie quality.
Quality here is in the eyes of the users at JustWatch.com, a service for finding and rating anything streaming. It put together this infographic depicting the popularity ranking of the first 30 films in the MCU, everything up through 2022.
(Credit: JustWatch)Spider-Man is the favorite franchise within the franchise, which is no surprise. Nor are the ranks for the much-reviled first sequels for Thor and Iron Man.
But The Eternals ranking above the Captain America films, especially The Winter Soldier? Madness!
Chronological Order With TV Shows and Shorts
A shared universe that encapsulates not only movies but also TV shows? Sometimes it works, but usually it doesn't. The original MCU shows were kept separate—a by-product of factions of Disney production that didn't see eye to eye. Now, with the mega-producer of the MCU, Kevin Feige, overseeing even the TV shows on Disney+, the ties to the MCU are tight.
Feige has also brought back favorite characters such as Daredevil and the Kingpin. They were featured on the MCU shows that originally aired on Netflix. Those shows—Daredevil, Jessica Jones, The Punisher, and others—are now on Disney+ too and considered MCU canon.
Shows like Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are full of flashbacks and bits that are out of step with the established timeline; we didn't account for them all. But don't watch those episodes out of order—that's nuts. And don't watch Inhumans at all. Ever. Even if it is on Disney+.
Pre-20th Century
- Eternals--Various flashbacks in the film go back to ancient times
- Eyes of Wakanda—Each episode covers Wakandan and Black Panther history in previous centuries
The 20th Century
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 7, Episodes 1-2 (1931)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (1942)
- Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter (1946)
- Agent Carter (1946-1947)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 7, Episodes 3-4 (1955)
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps (the 1960s, but on another earth in the Multiverse)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 7, Episodes 5-6 (1972-1976)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (opening in 1980)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 7, Episode 7 (1982)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (opens in 1988)
- Captain Marvel (1995)
2010-11
- Iron Man (2010)
- Iron Man 2 (2011)
- The Incredible Hulk (May-June 2011; most sources say it takes place after Iron Man 2 and Thor, but the official Marvel timeline disagrees)
- Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer— short film starring Agent Phil Coulson (2011)
- Thor (2011)
- Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant— short film starring Agent Phil Coulson; plays right into the post-credits scene of The Incredible Hulk (2011)
2012
- The Avengers (2012)
- Loki (2012 for the variant Loki who then steps out of the timestream entirely, thanks to the Time Variance Authority)
- Marvel One-Shot: Item 47—takes place post-Avengers (2012)
2013
- Iron Man 3 (2012)
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King— short film, takes place post-Iron Man 3 (2013)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 1, Episodes 1-16 (2013-14)
2014
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 1, Episodes 17-22 (2013-14)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- I Am Groot ("Groot’s First Steps" short)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (three months later)
- I Am Groot (The rest of the short episodes take place between the end of the Guardians Vol. 2 and the tag at the end where Groot is a teen.)
- Daredevil—Season 1 (2014)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 2; Episode 20 is concurrent with Avengers: Age of Ultron (2014-15)
2015
- Jessica Jones—Season 1 (2015)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 3, Episodes 1-10 (2015)
- Ant-Man (2015)
- Cloak and Dagger—Season 1 (2015)—Disney+/Hulu
2016
- Daredevil—Season 2 (2016)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 3, Episodes 11-19 (2016)
- Luke Cage—Season 1 (2016)
- Iron Fist—Season 1 (2016)
- Cloak & Dagger (2016)—Season 2 is set after the events of Luke Cage
- The Defenders—Mini-series (2016)
- Doctor Strange (act one in 2016)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Black Widow (according to the official MCU timeline on Disney+, this happens in 2016)
- Black Panther (2016)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 3, Episodes 20-23 (2016)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Set between Seasons 3 and 4
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2016)
- Punisher—Season 1 (2016 holidays)
2017
- Doctor Strange (the rest is set in 2017)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 4, Episodes 1-8 with Ghost Rider (2017)
- Inhumans (2017)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 4, Ep 9-22 (2017)
- Jessica Jones—Season 2 (Summer 2017)
- Luke Cage—Season 2 (2017)
- Runaways—Season 1 and 2 (2017-2018)
- Iron Fist—Season 2 (late 2017)
- Daredevil—Season 3 (2017)
2018
- Thor: Ragnarok (2018)
- Punisher—Season 2 (2018)
- Jessica Jones—Season 3 (2018)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018, but see below)
- Runaways—Season 3 (2018)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 5, Eps 11-22 (final four episodes concurrent to Infinity War in 2018)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (the credits tag takes place at the same time as Thanos's snap, trapping Scott Lang in the quantum realm from 2018 until 2023)
- Avengers: Endgame (starts in 2018, then jumps to 2023, with hops back to 2012, 2013, 2014, and a quick jump to 1970)
2019
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 6 (seems to be out of continuity by ignoring the Snap; or it's in a new timeline/alternate universe altogether)
2023
- Avengers: Endgame ending (2023)
- WandaVision (three weeks post-Endgame, 2023)
2024
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Spring 2024)
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Spring-Summer 2024)
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (a full school year after Endgame, Summer 2024)
- Eternals (Oct. 2024)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (Immediately follows Far from Home, but ends near Dec. 2024)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—Season 7 - Episodes 8-13, which are entirely out of whack with continuity
- Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (Autumn 2024)
- Hawkeye (December 2024)
2025
- Moon Knight (Spring 2025)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (First half of 2025; following the death of T'Challa in Spring 2024)
- Echo (this placement is according to the official MCU timeline)—Though you don't need to have watched any MCU content to enjoy it, it makes much more sense if you at least saw Daredevil and Hawkeye.
- She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Spring-Autumn 2025)
- Ms. Marvel (Autumn 2025)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (Autumn 2025...that's eight years and seven months after Jane and Thor broke up)
- Werewolf by Night (Some won't say for sure, but the official MCU timeline on Disney+ says it takes place after Love and Thunder in 2025)
- Ironheart (mid-October 2025)
The Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special (Holiday time 2025)
(Credit: Marvel Studios)2026
- Wonder Man
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (early 2026)
- Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (mid-2026)
- Secret Invasion (2026)
- The Marvels (2026)
- Loki Season 2
- Deadpool & Wolverine (Who knows)
- Agatha All Along (Fall 2026, three years after WandaVision)
- Daredevil: Born Again (Late 2026 for the first episode prelude)
The Future(s)
2027
- Captain America: Brave New World
- Daredevil: Born Again (early 2027 for the remainder of the first season; season 2 set six months later)
- Thunderbolts* (six months after Captain America: Brave New World; post-credit sequence jumps ahead a year or more)
As you can see, the post-Snap continuity is messy. Shows like What If...? and its spin-off, Marvel Zombies, take place completely outside of continuity.
If you don't like this timeline, you have other options. Check out the scarily detailed one at the Marvel Cinematic Universe Fandom Wiki. Or buy the hardcover coffee-table book The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline. It covers the Sacred Timeline (IYKYK, right Loki fans?)—which means it doesn't include Marvel TV shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daredevil, etc. (those are a separate branch, of course)—up through Phase 5.
What's Coming?
Plenty of movies and TV shows are coming to the MCU. These are the titles we know, with updated release dates.
MCU: Phase 6
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31, 2026)—Direct to theaters
- Vision Quest (2026)—Direct to Disney+
- Avengers: Doomsday (Dec. 18, 2026)—Direct to theaters
- Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 (2027)—Direct to Disney+
- Avengers: Secret Wars (Dec. 17, 2027)—Direct to theaters
- Wonder Man Season 2 (eventually)—Direct to Disney+
This story doesn't even dip into Sony's Marvel-adjacent films, including Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Venom: The Last Dance, as well as Morbius (Disney+, Tubi), Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter. It also doesn't mention Fox's X-Men franchise or Sony's previous Spider-Man films, even if they are technically "in continuity" now.