How to watch the Marvel movies in order

Want to know how to watch the Marvel movies in order? Allow us to be your guide.

Our Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films and TV show article is packed with all of the information you need to make sense of the increasingly complicated Marvel timeline. In this guide, you'll learn what the best two methods are for streaming every Marvel superhero movie and Disney Plus show in the correct order. We'll also run you through how many films have been released so far, and which ones are coming as part of Marvel's Phase 5 and Phase 6 slates.

That's not all, either. You'll find additional information on what the best Marvel movies are, our verdict on the best way of watching them, and where you can stream them all. As a tease, most are available on Disney Plus – but you'll have to look elsewhere for a select few.

Without further ado, then, here is how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Stream Marvel movies and TV on Disney Plus (opens in new tab)Every MCU movie (apart from The Incredible Hulk (opens in new tab) and a few Spider-Man (opens in new tab) films) is available on Disney Plus. A subscription costs $7.99 / £7.99 / AU$11.99 a month, but you can also buy an annual subscription for a discounted $79.99 / £79.90 / AU$119.99. If your country's price isn't listed here, check out our subscription cost guide (opens in new tab).

The cost of Disney Plus rises in December (opens in new tab), so grab a subscription at its cheaper price while you can.

Best for: Marvel fans who want to try something new

This is how to watch the Marvel movies in order of the year they're set. You'll start with Captain America's origin story in World War II and end with Werewolf by Night, which appears to take place in 2025.

Without an exact breakdown from Marvel, it's hard to pinpoint where each movie fits on the MCU timeline, so we've done our best with the knowledge available to us. The Marvel TV shows and Special Presentations are also important MCU staples, so we've included them below, too.

Best for: first-time MCU viewers

Want to watch the Marvel movies in order of their release dates? Try this list instead. Make sure you begin with Iron Man, which arrived in 2008, and end with Werewolf by Night, Marvel's first TV special that was released in October 2022.

It's an easier blueprint to follow than streaming every MCU production chronologically, so Marvel newcomers are best sticking to this one.

Streaming the Marvel movies in order of release date is the best way to binge them if you're a first time viewer. That way, you can keep track of the MCU's main storyline and overlapping subplots with each movie.

Streaming the MCU films and TV shows chronologically is a great choice and one established fans should try to mix things up. However, this method can feel slightly messy from an MCU timeline perspective, especially for newcomers.

If you choose the chronological path, you'll start with Captain America's story in WWII. Its final scene playing out in the late 2000s when Steve Rogers wakes up in present-day New York – and where he meets Nick Fury. But this isn't the first time we're supposed to see the ex-director of SHIELD – it should be in 2008's Iron Man, with events in that flick preceding the end of Captain America. This makes it difficult to follow the story that the franchise is trying to tell.

MCU fans will have their own preferred method for watching the Marvel movies in order. But, for us, the answer to watching the MCU films for first timers is a simple one: watch them in release date order.

Best for: fans who only want to stream the Avengers movies

We already covered the best way to stream the Avengers films as part of our release date section. If you only want to know how to watch these specific Marvel movies in order, though, look at the list below.

Best for: those who want to watch every Netflix Marvel TV series

She-Hulk episode 8 confirmed that Netflix's Daredevil TV show is canon in the MCU. That's because Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock/Daredevil is seemingly the same version of the character who appeared in Netflix's Marvel universe between 2015 and 2019.

If Daredevil's Netflix series is canon in Marvel's wildly popular cinematic universe, that must mean all the others are, too. Every Netflix Marvel TV show is available to stream on Disney Plus so, if you missed them first time around, you can watch them on Disney's streaming platform instead.

Here's a list of every upcoming MCU movie and TV show, including the recent spate of release date changes Marvel has made:

Marvel has also confirmed Armor Wars, which was previously set to be a TV series, is being turned into a movie (opens in new tab). No release date has been announced, nor do we know which Phase it'll fall into. We'll add it to list above once those details are confirmed.

29 MCU movies have been released so far. Iron Man kicked things off in 2008, while Thor: Love and Thunder is the latest to arrive in theaters. By the end of 2025, there'll be at least 40 movies (at least) to fit on the MCU timeline.

If you're thinking about watching all of the Marvel movies in order, you'll need to set aside 3,812 minutes – that's 63 and a half hours, or 2.6 total days. Add in the TV shows, though, and it'll take a whopping 5,957 minutes (99.2 hours or 4.1 days) to watch them all.

You can stream the Marvel movies in order, as well as the TV shows, on Disney Plus, but there's a slight catch. Some, including The Incredible Hulk and some Spider-Man movies, aren't available on Disney's streamer. Universal and Sony own the distribution rights to them, so Marvel can't include them on Disney Plus.

The Incredible Hulk is on HBO Max in nations where the streamer is available. Meanwhile, a new deal between Marvel and Sony means that select Spidey flicks are now on Disney Plus. 

The Tobey Maguire Spider-Man films, plus the Andrew Garfield-led webslinger flicks, are available to stream. Spider-Man: Homecoming, as well as animated flick Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, are also available to stream on Disney Plus. Spider-Man 3 and Into the Spider-Verse are only be on Disney's streamer in the UK, though. US fans can watch those on Netflix instead.

It's unclear if Sony's Spider-Man spin-off films, such as Venom and Morbius, will also come to Disney Plus. Stick with TechRadar for future updates.

For us, the Avengers movies are the best MCU films around, but the whole thing is subjective. You can check our ranking of the best Marvel movies for our full thoughts on the matter.

We've also ranked the Marvel movies and shows based on their IMDb (opens in new tab) user scores. Now that the Netflix Marvel shows are apparently canon, we've added them to the list. However, we haven't included Sony's Spider-Man spin-off films. Until Marvel and Sony confirm they're all canon in the MCU, we've left them out.

For more Marvel movie-based content, find out how to watch the Spider-Man movies in order. Alternatively, read up on how to stream the X-Men movies in order, or learn more on how we've ranked every MCU villain to date.