Where Should You Start With the Marvel Movies? 5 Viewing Paths Explained

It’s hard to believe, but there are still people out there who have not yet embarked on the grand adventure that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you’re one of those people, it’s time you changed that.

Since the MCU began way back in 2008, we’ve now had close to 40 movies, plus a whole bunch of TV shows on Disney Plus to supplement the big screen stories. Granted, if you haven’t watched any of it yet, this vast franchise can be pretty daunting to even consider starting now.

But, fear not: JustWatch has come up with five viewing paths you could take to make this all a lot easier. From the ultimate commitment, to a more casual dip of the toe in this superhero world, and even a speedy shortcut, there’s bound to be a route that suits you.

MCU Release Order Makes The Most Sense

You probably didn’t need us to tell you this, but the easiest and probably the most sensible way to watch the Marvel movies in order is to go by release date. Kevin Feige and co. know what they’re doing, and they put these films out in a very specific order, so you’d be wise to follow that.

That means working from Phase One through to Phase Six (which has just started), and watching all 37 movies so far. By the time you finish that task, you might even get to watch Spider-Man: Brand New Day at home on Disney Plus (if it lands on streaming ahead of Doomsday).

You’ll start with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, both of which came out in 2008. Iron Man 2 is next, then origin movies Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, before they all unite for The Avengers to round out Phase One.

Phase Two includes a few sequels for the core Avengers team, with Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. We then get some really fun stuff, with the brilliant Guardians of the Galaxy, another team-up movie in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and an introduction to Scott Lang in Ant-Man.

Phase Three is huge, with more films than any other period of the MCU, and some absolute bangers, too. You kick things off with Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange from 2016, before moving on to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Thor: Ragnarok. Then, it’s full steam ahead to the big showdown with Thanos, as you watch Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel, and Avengers: Endgame. There’s room for one more flick in this phase, as Spider-Man: Far From Home wraps things up in 2019.

Brace yourself for Phase Four, as it’s a bit of a bumpy ride. Black Widow starts things off here, even though it’s set in 2016, just after the events of Captain America: Civil War. Then, you’ve got Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals, which are totally separate from the rest of the timeline. Spider-Man: No Way Home is next, and it’s very much linked to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with the titular sorcerer featuring in both. A couple of sequels complete this era, with Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever providing useful context for where the characters are at post-Endgame.

You’re on the home stretch once you get to Phase Five, and there are some really fun, interesting movies in here, too. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania shows us a lot of Kang the Conqueror, who was going to be really important but now isn’t at all. Then, we pretty much say goodbye to the team in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, before seeing a new team form in The Marvels. There was only one entry in the MCU in 2024, but it was a big one, with Deadpool & Wolverine bringing the Merc with a Mouth into the franchise. 2025 gave us Captain America: Brave New World, which is a bit of a mess, to be honest, but Marvel redeemed themselves with Thunderbolts* to close out Phase Five.

Phase Six has only just begun, with Fantastic Four: First Steps leading us on the path to Doctor Doom and Avengers: Doomsday.

Start With ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ For Chronological Order

If you want to be really clever with it, you could watch the Marvel movies in chronological order instead. It’s a method that can get a little fiddly at times, especially as time travel comes into play, but it totally works.

Captain America: The First Avenger would be your first stop, with the events in that movie taking place between 1942 and 1945 during World War II. It’s pretty cool going all this way back, too, and getting to see the old world reacting to seeing a superhero for the first time.

Next up, we move ahead to 1964 and to an alternate dimension, with Fantastic Four: First Steps. They’re not on Earth-616 at this point, but Marvel’s First Family come with a retrofuturistic backdrop to their battle against Galactus. By the end of the movie, they’re hurtling towards the main timeline, which is the perfect setup for what’s to come in the rest of Phase Six.

It’s another big leap forward to get to the next stop, as we head to 1995 for Captain Marvel. Yes, long before Tony Stark became Iron Man or Thor crash-landed on Earth, this planet made contact with another incredible hero, but only a few people knew about it – namely, Nick Fury.

There is a lot less jumping around once you get to Iron Man, which is set in 2008. So, to make things simpler, here’s a rundown of the chronological timeline of the rest of the movies:

• Iron Man 2 (2010)

• The Incredible Hulk (2010)

• Thor (2010)

• The Avengers (2012)

• Thor: The Dark World (2013)

• Iron Man 3 (2013)

• Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

• Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2014)

• Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

• Ant-Man (2015)

• Captain America: Civil War (2016)

• Black Widow (2016)

• Spider-Man: Homecoming (2016)

• Black Panther (2016)

• Doctor Strange (2016)

• Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

• Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

• Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

• Avengers: Endgame (2023)

• Spider-Man: Far From Home (2024)

• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2024)

• Eternals (2024)

• Spider-Man: No Way Home (2024)

• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2024)

• Thor: Love and Thunder (2025)

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2025)

• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2025)

• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2026)

• The Marvels (2026)

• Deadpool & Wolverine (2026)

• Captain America: Brave New World (2026-2027)

• Thunderbolts* (2027)

It’s worth noting that, within this list, there are a few discrepancies. Firstly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Widow, and Black Panther all have prologues that are set years prior to the main events of their respective films – but, it’s not the kind of thing that is going to disrupt the chronology too much.

Avengers: Endgame is an interesting one. It includes a huge five-year time jump early on, and also features a lot of time travel. So, technically, it’s set in multiple different years, but 2023 is when the main action takes place.

Finally, while Eternals is set in 2024, it actually includes a really chunky portion of the film that takes us back in time to pretty much the dawn of mankind. That’s when the titular heroes first touched down on this planet, and they’ve been hiding here ever since.

Focus On The Core Avengers To Get A Taste For The MCU

Now, I wouldn’t blame you if all that sounds a bit intimidating. So, if you don’t want to dive headfirst into a 37-film binge, you could just get a taste for the MCU by spending a little time with the main heroes and going from there.

To do this, you’ll want to watch the origin movies of the core members of the Avengers team. Queue up Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger and you’ll have a good idea as to what the key characters are all about, as well as getting an introduction to Loki.

That’ll stand you in good stead for The Avengers movie from 2012. Loki is the main villain in this epic team-up event, throwing New York City into chaos in pursuit of the Tesseract. It’s one of the coolest, most exciting superhero movies ever made, with a great blend of action and humour, and terrific character work. 

If you’re still not sold on the MCU after this five-movie stretch, I’d say this is probably not the franchise for you. However, if you find yourself wanting more, you can move onto Phase Two and beyond with a strong foundational knowledge of what’s going on.

Avoid The Connected Universe With These Standalone Films

You know, there was a time when interconnected universes weren’t really a thing at all. And, while that interweaving of different characters and stories is all part of the appeal of the MCU, you don’t necessarily have to buy into all that. In fact, there are more than enough standalone films in this franchise for you to get a healthy dose of superhero goodness without feasting on the whole buffet.

Guardians of the Galaxy is a really vibrant and absolutely hilarious adventure movie set light years away from Earth and the Avengers. While you’ll get a glimpse of Thanos, there’s little else to tie this to the wider franchise, and it’s a perfectly fun action-comedy that can be enjoyed in its own right.

The same applies to Ant-Man. This is a really cool film to show younger viewers, with silly capers aplenty as Scott Lang and his crew take on ambitious heists and face off against the villain Yellowjacket. I would say this is one of the funniest films in the MCU, and there’s absolutely no obligation to watch anything else outside of this, too, so you can just think of it as a nice, light, family comedy movie.

For something more action-packed and weighty, you could check out Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. It starts off as a slick and dynamic martial arts movie, before stepping things up and taking on a more fantastical turn for the third act. We haven’t heard of or seen Shang-Chi since this film, making this a totally isolated watch if you want it to be.

Captain Marvel is also a great pick for a one-off expedition away from the main timeline. It’s set a good 13 years before any of the Avengers emerge, so there’s no crossover in terms of characters. A lot of the story is tied to Hala, the homeworld of the Kree, too, and even when the titular hero lands on Earth, she keeps her presence low-key. This film has a great soundtrack, thrilling fight sequences, and Brie Larson is an absolute delight in the lead role.

Watch The Highlights To Catch Up Before ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

If you still want to get up to speed before Avengers: Doomsday arrives at the end of this year, but you don’t fancy trawling through all 37 movies (and the TV shows), you can take a sneaky shortcut. Indeed, I reckon you can crash course your way through the MCU with just ten films.

Iron Man is a must. Tony Stark is the heart of the MCU, so it’s important to see where his story begins. This is one of the greatest origin movies in the superhero realm, and while that’s largely down to the impeccable work of Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role, we have to give some credit to Jon Favreau for his direction, too. He gives the story a bombastic edge and a verve that matches the character perfectly, and proved from the get-go that the MCU was going to be a lot of fun.

Obviously, keeping track of the major team-up moments is going to be key to your path to Avengers: Doomsday. So, be sure to watch The Avengers, as well as Avengers: Age of Ultron. The latter is underrated, if you ask me. It’s not as grandiose as the former, but Ultron is a formidable and fascinating villain, and the film brings out the best in the heroes as they get creative in their efforts to save the day.

There are a couple of Captain America outings you should probably check out, too. First off, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which details the downfall of S.H.I.E.L.D and offers a glimpse of Steve Rogers’ more rebellious side. For my money, this might just be the very best film in the entire MCU. Then, watching Captain America: Civil War will show you how the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were torn apart, with Iron Man and Cap going head-to-head and leaving The Avengers team in tatters.

Black Panther is the only other film you really need to watch before you get to the Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame two-parter. Learning about Wakanda is useful, given the big battle against Thanos takes place there in Infinity War, but beyond that, Black Panther is just a truly poignant and stirring story of family, legacy, and what it means to rule and be ruled.

As for Infinity War and Endgame, well, what can I say? The action is out of this world, with some genuinely jaw-dropping, super cool moments for all the big characters, while Thanos finally getting his chance to show what he can do is so enthralling, even if he is a little scary. By the conclusion of Endgame, the whole journey of the MCU to that point feels complete and very, very worthwhile.

But, the show must go on. The MCU has been shaky since Endgame, to say the least, but there are a couple of films that are important to offer context as to what’s next. Spider-Man: No Way Home really dives into the multiverse element that underpins the latest phases, and it’s also just a very enjoyable, high-stakes outing for Spidey, with a whole bunch of cameos that older superhero movie fans will love.

And finally, with Doctor Doom on his way, it’s crucial that you watch Fantastic Four: First Steps. Marvel’s First Family will have a huge role to play from here on out, and we even get a glimpse of Doom in the post-credits scene. I’m not saying you’ll be an expert after watching these ten movies, but you’ll certainly be well-placed to at least know what’s going on when Doomsday arrives.