Marvel Movies in Order: Release and Story Watch Guide

First MCU release: Iron Man, May 2, 2008 (Rotten Tomatoes (film review aggregator)) · Avengers: Endgame release: April 26, 2019 (PCMag (tech publication)) · The Incredible Hulk release: June 13, 2008 (Rotten Tomatoes, film review aggregator) · First Disney+ Marvel series: WandaVision, January 2021 (Yahoo Entertainment (entertainment news desk))

Eight anchor facts, one pattern: the release dates climb in a steady line from 2008, while the story settings jump between the 1940s and 1260 BC.

What order should you watch Marvel movies in?

Release order versus story order

• Release order follows the original theatrical dates, starting with Iron Man on May 2, 2008 (Rotten Tomatoes, film review aggregator).
• Story order follows the in-universe chronology, which often differs from release dates, and Plex’s timeline table opens with events set in the 1940s (Plex, streaming platform blog).
• According to DocumentaryTube (documentary blog), release order preserves reveals and post-credit setups as audiences first saw them.

Watch order for first-time viewers

1. Start with Iron Man (May 2, 2008) and move through Phase One in release order, ending with The Avengers on May 4, 2012 (PCMag, tech publication).
2. Continue through the later phases in release order, reaching Avengers: Endgame on April 26, 2019 (PCMag, tech publication).
3. Slot Disney+ series into the phase groupings, as the Hulu (streaming service guide) list does with WandaVision and Loki.

Watch order for returning viewers

• Viewers who want continuity can switch to story order and begin with Captain America: The First Avenger (Plex, streaming platform blog).
• Yahoo Entertainment places WandaVision between Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home in chronological order (Yahoo Entertainment, entertainment news desk).

The trade-off: release order keeps the reveals intact as they first arrived, while story order trades that surprise for a continuous timeline.

In what order were Marvel movies released?

Iron Man and the 2008 start

• Iron Man arrived in theaters on May 2, 2008 (Rotten Tomatoes, film review aggregator).
• The Incredible Hulk followed on June 13, 2008, and sits second in Phase One release order (Rotten Tomatoes, film review aggregator).
• Captain America: The First Avenger was released July 22, 2011 (PCMag, tech publication).

Avengers: Endgame in 2019

• Captain Marvel arrived March 8, 2019 (PCMag, tech publication).
• Avengers: Endgame was released April 26, 2019 (PCMag, tech publication).
• Spider-Man: Far From Home followed on July 2, 2019 (PCMag, tech publication).

The pattern: the release list moves in steady yearly steps, which makes it easy to track but leaves the in-universe calendar out of view.

What is the story order for Marvel movies?

Captain America: The First Avenger as a story starting point

• Captain America: The First Avenger is set during World War II, and NME (music and film magazine) places its events between 1942 and 1945.
• Disney+’s initial April 2019 timeline listed Captain America: The First Avenger first and ended with Avengers: Endgame (Wikipedia, open encyclopedia).
• Plex’s table places Captain Marvel in 1995, which makes it the second early entry in several story-order lists (Plex, streaming platform blog).

Following the timeline phase by phase

• Story order can place 1940s events before the 2008 release of Iron Man, so the first film a story-order viewer watches is not the first film released (Plex, streaming platform blog).
• Iron Man 3 takes place seven months after the Battle of New York, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier is set two years after it (NME, music and film magazine).
• Doctor Strange begins just before Captain America: Civil War and jumps forward in time, so it does not slot cleanly into a linear chronology (Tech Advisor (consumer tech guide)).

The catch for planners is that story order has no single canonical list, so the sequence you follow depends on which publisher you trust.

Where do Marvel series fit in the movie order?

When Disney+ series began

• WandaVision premiered in January 2021 as the first Disney+ Marvel series (Yahoo Entertainment, entertainment news desk).
• Disney+ placed Loki after Avengers: Endgame in its chronological listing and Loki Season 2 after The Marvels (Yahoo Entertainment, entertainment news desk).
• Hulu’s guide groups WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki inside its phase sections (Hulu, streaming service guide).

WandaVision as the first Disney+ Marvel series

• In chronological order, WandaVision sits between Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, because Monica Rambeau rejoins S.W.O.R.D. three weeks after being snapped back (Yahoo Entertainment, entertainment news desk).
• Series placement depends on whether the viewer follows release dates or story chronology.
• Film-only orders work, but the chronology places WandaVision between two films, so skipping it leaves a gap in the in-universe sequence.

The implication: a release-order viewer can skip the series without losing the thread, while a story-order viewer needs WandaVision to follow the calendar between Endgame and Far From Home.

What should you watch after Avengers: Endgame?

Films released after 2019

• Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2, 2019), Black Widow (July 9, 2021), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (December 17, 2021) follow Endgame in release order (PCMag, tech publication).
• Thor: Love and Thunder arrived July 8, 2022 (PCMag, tech publication).
• Most MCU films stream on Disney+, but titles such as Spider-Man: No Way Home are not on the service (Entertainment Weekly (entertainment magazine)).
• According to What’s On Disney Plus (Disney fan site), Sony holds distribution rights to the Spider-Man home trilogy, so those films are missing from Marvel Studios’ lists.

Where 2026 releases and Avengers: Doomsday fit

• Spider-Man: Brand New Day is listed for July 31, 2026 (Rotten Tomatoes, film review aggregator).
• Avengers: Doomsday is listed for December 18, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars for December 17, 2027 (Vandal, Spanish pop-culture site).

What this means: the post-Endgame list is short to start but still open at the end, because two of its anchor dates sit in 2026 and 2027.

Key dates on one timeline

Nine checkpoints, one pattern: release dates climb steadily from 2008 to 2027, while the story order runs on its own calendar.

Why this matters: the table reads cleanly in release order, and every story-order guide has to explain where its own dates break from this sequence.

Confirmed facts and open questions

Confirmed facts

• Iron Man was released May 2, 2008 (Rotten Tomatoes, film review aggregator).
• The Avengers was released May 4, 2012 (PCMag, tech publication).
• Avengers: Endgame was released April 26, 2019 (PCMag, tech publication).
• WandaVision premiered in January 2021 as the first Disney+ Marvel series (Yahoo Entertainment, entertainment news desk).
• Captain America: The First Avenger is set during World War II (Plex, streaming platform blog).

What’s unclear

• The Avengers: Doomsday date of December 18, 2026 comes from one aggregator listing, so confirm it against Marvel Studios’ schedule before planning around it.
• The total film count changes depending on whether one-shots and series are included.
• Disney+’s August 2025 update replaced Captain America: The First Avenger as the story start point, so guides published before that update disagree with newer lists.
• Doctor Strange’s chronological position is disputed, because the film jumps forward in time.
• Werewolf By Night has no stated in-universe date, so its placement follows Disney+’s own ordering (NME, music and film magazine).
• Non-US premiere dates are not covered by the sources used in this guide.

The implication: the confirmed list rests on release dates, while every open item sits in story placement or in 2026-2027 dates that have not yet arrived.

What the sources say

Iron Man arrived in theaters on May 2, 2008, and opens the release-order list.

Rotten Tomatoes (film review aggregator)

Iron Man 3 takes place seven months after the Battle of New York.

NME (music and film magazine)

According to the Plex timeline table, Captain America: The First Avenger is set between 1942 and 1945.

Plex (streaming platform blog)

Why this matters: the sources agree on release dates and split on story placement, and that split is the pattern to plan around.

What this means for your watch order

The next test is whether the 2026 and 2027 dates hold, since Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are both still listed in the future (Vandal, Spanish pop-culture site). Until then, the reliable choice is between two fixed sequences, one that keeps the 2008 reveals intact and one that follows the calendar. For a first-time viewer, the choice is clear: start with release order and let the reveals land as they did, or switch to story order for a rewatch once the World War II setting makes sense.

Related reading: Watch Scary Movie: Streaming Guide for All 5 Films

Frequently asked questions