The order they were released, definitely. This allows you no extra information ahead of time, and you will understand every little callback and the after credit scenes will set up the next movies. The order exactly is this, as the entire MCU has been set up in phases. Now for phase one. (Author’s Note, The Way the films are structured are as such, the TL;DR list is at the bottom.
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Movie Poster
“Movie Name” -Director Name (US Release Date) - My personal commentary on the history in terms of the MCU and the history within the MCU. I will make a list in terms of chronological order as well after this in terms of time in the MCU itself.
Phase One- Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America the First Avenger, Marvel’s The Avengers.
“Iron Man” -Jon Favreau (May 2nd, 2008)-This movie set up and started the entire MCU, accidentally. Although Marvel movies had been made before, none of them had hinted at other heroes outside of the individual movie series. Even in this film, the end-credits scene which has become signature of Marvel, although not created by them, was merely just a sort of Easter Egg for fan boys and girls. Nobody, not even Marvel knew they were starting one of the biggest events in Movie History. It tells the origin story of Iron Man, and his armor. This movie is definitely necessary if you want to watch and really holds up in terms of graphics to date. Also as a joke, an ILF artist decided to put Captain America’s shield into the movie during the scene where pepper finds out about Tony’s armor.
Back in Black. Obviously the best part of this film.
“The Incredible Hulk”, Louis Leterrier (June 13th, 2008) - This movie was made as a sequel to the 2003 version, and although Edward Norton. due to personal issues with the script and his overall bossiness, was eventually (read thankfully) replaced with Mark Ruffalo for The Avengers, this movie is considered a part of phase one. Personally I wouldn’t consider it as such because of the confusion it causes with the actor that plays General Ross playing a different character with the same name in Avengers 2, however if for nothing else, watch this movie for its pretty awesome practical effects and its end credit scene. That’s the only reason though. Honestly it might be better for the new viewer to save this movie until after they have watched the rest of the movies.
“Iron Man 2”, Jon Favreau( May 7th, 2010)- This movie was what truly solidified the entire Avenger’s Initiative and with it the Marvel Universe. During this movie, we see how Tony has improved both his tech and his life, although he struggles with his demons, both the physical magnetic ones. and the alcoholic PTSD ones. All in all this is a good film, especially with the introduction of Scarlett Johannson as Natasha Romanov (AKA Black Widow). This movie brought Shield into the limelight and also showed off the ever evolving nature of technology in the MCU, both Stark’s and his enemies’. A must see. Of note was the recasting of James Rhodes, Iron Man’s best friend and the pilot of the War Machine Armor. Terrence Howard was replaced with Don Cheadle.OH YEAH ACDC’D Back in Black. Yes. Just. Yes.
“Thor” Kenneth Branagh(May 6th, 2011)- This movie is my favorite of Phase one. No, I’m not joking, it is honestly one of the best movies in terms of cinematic aura. I know I am biased, I love Kenneth Branagh. Big Shakespeare fan, sorry guys and girls. Anyway, his Directing, combined with the Amazing acting of Chris Hemsworth as the titular Thor, God of Thunder and Tom Hiddleston as the Mischievous Loki, God of (Trickery? Betrayal? Magic? IDK). and it showed us just how expansive this Universe was on track to become. We were introduced to the idea of the multiverse and the realms. Now we were all set to introduce aliens. But first, we needed to see the origin of The first superhero(not really)…
“Captain America: The First Avenger” Joe Johnston( July 22nd, 2011)- This movie honestly was one of the more boring movies of Phase One, in my not so humble opinion, (What do I know though?) However once it gets going, it really, really, gets going. I like the effects, and the amazing setup of Hydra and the problem they would present for years to come. Honestly this was an amazing recreation of 1941. Do not skip this movie if you want to know how Captain America’s mighty shield can fall Hitler. One of the best songs in the entire MCU. However now that we have our heroes setup, we are led to…
THE COOLEST MOVIE OF 2012 ( look i get hawkeye, somewhat not really, but black widow??? I mean yeah i get it if she has upgraded taser arms and rocket boots, but she doesn’t… at all. Yes she is an excellent spy, the best probably. BUT YOU ARE FIGHTING AN ARMY. HER AND FURY AND CLINT, JUST STAY DOWN PEOPLE.
“The Avengers”Joss Whedon(May 4th, 2012)- Okay, so here’s the thing. I love the Avengers. I do. I love the casting of Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, the amazing Loki/Thor dynamic, the introduction of the Infinity stone/Tesseract, the Hulk v. Thor fight, and literally everything. Here’s the thing, I cannot, and I mean can not, get over how ridiculous the choice to put Hawkeye and Widow into the middle of a god dang alien invasion. It’s ridiculous. Honestly I would have preferred them fighting Loki 2v1 then what they did. Once Hawkeye runs out of arrows, he has to rely on Alien Weapons. And apparently Chitauri weapons are easy to figure out, as in 5 seconds to get to weapons master class easy. But I digress. This is the second best movie of the MCU in my opinion.
PHASE TWO:- Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man
“Iron Man 3” Shane Black (May 3rd, 2013)
Okay so this movie was pretty damn awesome in terms of effects. Although the main twist in the movie is amazing, for comic fans or fans of the Iron Man Armored Adventures television show, the reveal was disappointing. Maybe a spoiler right here just warning you.
I’m glad however, that the MCU decided to wait until Doctor Strange to really dwelve deeper into magic.
End of spoiler.
Overall the movie is somewhat of a roller laser, but t does a good job of showing off Stark’s tech and of introducing another big evil organization into the MCU. Advanced Idea Mechanics(AIM). So all in all this movie is definitely worth watching.
“Thor: The Dark World” Alan Taylor(November 8th, 2013)- Okay so honestly I didn’t really know what to make of this movie. The effects only got better from the first Thor movie, and for true film effects/production fans, you’ll be delighted to know exactly how that truck scene was filmed. However overall the Villain was a bit dissapointig this time around. Honestly Melkor wasn’t all that great of a villain and I would have prefferred to see something like Jörmungandr (The Midgard Snake) (in Egyptian mythology it is better known as apophis( the chaos snake) . Honestly if you aren’t a super die hard fan, you could probably get away with skipping this movie. But that’s my opinion.
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” Anthony and Joe Russo (April 4th, 2014)- Okay so here’s one of my top three films of the entire MCU. Although with Thor:Ragnarock it may have moved down to number four on my list. This movie truly makes use of stunts and acrobatics and really shows off just what Shield does and how it fits into the MCU. My top scene is honestly the Elevator fight scene. No the Winter Soldier capturing Cap’s shield. No the Nick Fury car scene. No wait… I think you get the point. This movie is so cool mainly because it has less of the super powered mania that makes Marvel movies Marvel movies and rather pots for the awesomeness that is showing off Captain America. In this movie he really cements his place as a hero worthy of fighting amongst Gods(Thor) and Monsters(Stark). Plus we get to see the beginning of the Bucky Barnes arc which comes full front in Captain America: Civil War. So yeah. Definitely watch this movie. I can’t wait to see Bucky become WhiteWolf and finally step out of Cap’s shadow into his own.
“Guardians of the Galaxy” James Gunn (August 1st, 2014)- Obviously this is number three on my personal list. This movie brought the much needed Comedic element to the film. Because we can only hear so many Stark One Liners before we collapse from exhaustion. So. Yes. I’m not going to write much about this one because it’s an experience you should go into by yourself. Honestly you can watch this completely separate from the rest of the Universe and still understand it. Thanos becomes an even bigger threat.
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” Joss Whedon (May 1st, 2015)- James Spader is the absolute best villain. And I’ve only seen two episodes of The Blacklist. But his voice. His enunciation, his emotion always so sneaky and demanding and trustworthy. I get shivers hearing Ultron’s voice. Because I know that he could destroy in an instant with just his pinky finger. And if you mess up near him. He will destroy you. He makes this movie amazing. A few other great things? The opening scene with the slow mo of all the Avengers attacking the base. The language line. The creation of a better bond between Tony and Steve. The HULK vs HULKBUSTER. Yessssss. And Scarlett and Mark just have such test chemistry. And the whole Monster parallels between her training (BLACK WIDOW ORIGIN STORY PLEASE) and his gamma readiation. The guilt they both feel. It’s just awesome. Yessss. Anyway that’s that. Do not watch this movie before watching Thor, Captain Americas 1 and 2 and the first Avengers film. Also make sure you watch this without pause. Because it’s just such a cool movie.
“Ant-Man” Peyton Reed (July 17th, 2015)- Meh. I liked it and the humor was great. But really the only thing that saved this movie in my opinion was Paul Rudd. I am biased though. As Scott Lang’s Ant-Man can’t math the Uber genius Hank Pym’s Ant-Man. But. The effects aren’t once again great. As is the use of the tank in the end. That was an actual tank I believe.
Phase Three: Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther
(While the rest of the movies listed here are not yet out, they are still part of phase three, and I will still put release dates and directors here)
Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel, Untitled Avenger’s Film
“Captain America: Civil War” May 6th, 2016 (Anthony and Joe Russo)- I’ve watched this film about seven times, and each rewatching has only made me love it even more. While Tom Holland’s Peter Parker (Spiderman) and Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa (Black Panther), were amazing in their own respective ways, and the collapse of Steve and Tony’s relationship was played to perfection, and Bucky’s emergence from Steve’s shadow was looking good, the best, and I truly mean the best part of this movie was the fact that an ordinary man, Zemo, caused all of the violence and horro. That was what made the movie worth a seventh watch. There was no alien entity, or robotic psycho, or superpowered soldiers. No, it was in fact an ordinary human who used his anger and thirst for revenge to tear the Avengers apart. This is what made this movie amazing and earned it number two on my list.
“Doctor Strange” Scott Derrickson (November 4th, 2016)- This movie was done correctly. It didn’t get the rest of the Avengers involved, and it timed itself perfectly in the Marvel Universe. Plus I am definitely a Cumber-lover, (not from Sherlock but rather from seeing him voice Smaug) and I absolutely love how much of a sweetheart he is in real life. Anyway I digress. This movie has comedy, the amazing casting of literally everyone, and the ingenious hero’s sacrifice played to a new and fantastic measure. All in all this movie is amazing, even if the Inception-like effects sometimes had your mind reeling during the fight scenes. Also this movie successfully introduced magic the proper way, and gave real menace to the power of the infinity stones in the wrong hands/gauntlets.
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2” James Gunn (May 5th, 2017)- Okay so this movie was a bit of a let down, but that was to be expected. Noone believed that the second movie with the facetious five was going to be as amazing as the original. However, that does not mean the movie was bad. The overall storyline was great. Props go to the digital effects team that made Kurt Russel younger and gave me nostalgia for a time period that I never lived in. Also Baby Groot, Nebula, and Yondu, all these were great. Drax’s humor was much less endearing this time, and it seemed they went from literal humor to laughs at innapropriate things and attempts to make degradation funny. However this movie is definitely a necessary watch, especially for the reveal of Quinn’s true legacy.
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” Jon Watts (July 7th, 2017)- Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All of the yesses .Is that even a word? I don’t care it doesn’t have to be all of the yesses. From Zendaya’s dry sarcasm, to Ned’s existence, to the ultimate shocker of the film (you know what I’m talking about (the one where everyone gasped or went oooohhh read like hoo not like how), this movie is amazing. It finally gives us the Spider-Man that we want to see. The young parker who is still so very new to the whole saving lives thing. It also gives us Jon Favreau back, who is always welcome on my screen as Happy. I would have liked to see less Stark, more Karen, but you can’t have everything you want. This movie is just amazing. It almost makes number one. Let’s place it at 1 .5 on my list.
“Thor: Ragnarok” Taika Waititi (November 3rd, 2017)- It had to be obvious that this mad enumber one for me. Right? I mean c’mon, this story finally gave the hulk the respect je deserves. He finally changed from giant green ball of anger to giant green ball of anger who is able to express why he is angry. Jeff Goldblum, Valkyrie, Mjonirless Thor, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, And the amazing retelling of World War Hulk as a Thor Centrical movie is awesome. Just Awesome.Plus the comedy. The only way this could ever be better is if they had kept the big guy’s (hulk’s) involvement in the movie a secret so that the surprise reveal would be even more surprising. I was expecting him and although it didn’t lessen the awesomeness of it, I can’t help but wonder what might have been
“Black Panther” Ryan Coogler (February 16th, 2018)- Okay so, I have only watched this movie once, on an IMAX sized screen. Although amazing, I will have to rewatch it to get my own second and third opinions. let me say one thing. In the comics, Shuri is not smarter than Stark, which makes it all the more pleasing that she is in the MCU. That being said, I loved everything about this, not because of the only two white main stream actors thing, but rather because of the villain and his intensity, and Michael B Jordan’s truly awe-inspiring portrayal of Kill Monger. The fight scene at the end was a little disorienting due to the trains, but the last lines of KM were almost enough to bring tears to my eyes. Also Shuri, and the short lived revival of Klau. WHAT’RE THOOOOSEEEE?
TL;DR: Essentially this is the order.
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 2
Thor
Captain America the First Avenger
Marvel’s The Avengers
Iron Man 3
Thor: The Dark World
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant-Man
Captain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Thor: Ragnarok
Black Panther
All of those leading to the movie which the OP wants to prepare for…
“Avengers: Infinity War” Anthony and Joe Russo (Planned: May 4th, 2018)- Not much to say about this one really. I haven’t seen it yet unfortunately. But it definitely seems to be a good watch. I’ll update this answer once I do see it. As for the television shows. I haven’t seen all of them, and probably am missing out, however I know that you don’t need to understand the shows to understand the movies and that it is rather the other way around.
Thank You All for reading this far, if you made it.
And for the unreleased movies, I cannot say, however I doubt the formula will change, so…
Edit 2/21/18: I updated the answer with a list of the movies in their chronological order at the end. The movies are listed as such
“Movie Name” - Date/Year(s) within the MCU
Another thing to note is this and it is important, Marvel itself has broken its own timeline a few times. Spiderman Homecoming is said to take place 8 years after the Battle of New York, yet that would place it after Avengers Infinity War. For more details check out this explanation
Phase One:
“Captain America: The First Avenger” - 1942 (Undeniably the first movie chronologically)
“Iron Man” - 2010 (retconned because of “Spider-Man Homecoming”) Vision makes a slip up, by stating during “Captain America: Civil War” that Stark had become Iron Man 8 years prior, which would set the movie during 2008. We can either take this as an intentional retcon, or as a slip up on the living computer (AI)’s memory banks.
“Iron Man 2” - 2011 (set 6 months after Iron Man reveals his identity)
“The Incredible Hulk” - 2011 (the news report for the destruction from the Hulk's battle on the university campus is seen on the news near the end of Iron Man 2)
“Thor” - 2011 (right around the same time that Iron Man Two and Hulk take place)
“Marvel’s The Avengers” - 2012 ( by reference from various movies,)
“Iron Man 3” - 2012 ( it is said in the movie that it takes place both during Christmas, and 6 months after the events of the Battle of New York)
“Thor: The Dark World” -
2014 (Best guess via information from an interview with Craig Kyle. “
Just to kind of catch you guys up, this doesn’t fall right after the first Thor. It does fall right after Avengers. It’s been about a year and a half, two years since the first movie.” Source)
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” -
2014 (According to an Interview with Scarlett Johansson for refinery29,
“Yes. This film is in real time. It's been two years since [the characters] appeared, and now both are agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fighting in the streets.” Source)
“Guardians of the Galaxy” - 2014 (The movie’s prologue tells us this, you just need to do the math. Thankfully, in space, human calendars don’t really apply.)
“Guardians of the Galaxy 2” - 2014 ( The movie’s title card tells us 1980, then flashes forward 34 years. )
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” -
2015 (As I cannot find any solid evidence canonically, I am going to just accept that the movie takes place the same year it is released, in 2015. Although these answers go against what I have been saying, this question was asked and there are some mixed opinions but the general consensus seems to be 2015. See
In what year does Avengers: Age of Ultron take place? )
“Ant-Man” -
2015 (Taken directly from Marvel Universe’s President Kevin Feige’s own lips, “We don’t exactly say. There’s an indication that is probably just after
Ultron, just after
Avengers 2. The present day films take place within the chronology of the release of movies, the exact months and the exact weeks after sometimes determined later.”
Source )
“Captain America: Civil War” - 2016 (“We like to say that the amount of time that has passed in between films is the amount of time that has passed in the movies. So, it's about that amount time.”
Source )
“Doctor Strange” 2016, (Rhodey’s injury are one of the ones Stephen Strange is told about while driving at breakneck speeds around a mountain. He makes the comment that fifteen other doctors could also help Rhodey. I believe that places the events of Civil War and Doctor Strange right around the same week as each other, with Doctor Strange starting right around the time of the airport battle.
“Black Panther” - 2016 (Exactly one week after the bombing of the Vienna International Center during “Captain America: Civil War”. I placed it here because obviously T’Challa (Black Panther) was in Russia at the end of “Captain America: Civil War”, so “Black Panther” starts after “Doctor Strange”, in my opinion.)
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” 2020???? More likely 2016 and a major slip up on Marvel’s part (Okay so here’s the thing, Homecoming is said to take place 8 years after the Battle of New York, however this is odd, considering that Kevin Feige confirmed in an interview that Infinity War takes place in 2018. Also, the movie itself says that Spider-Man Homecoming began a few months after the battle at the Airport. I say we just have to wait for Infinity War
black canary costumes. I doubt that they will actually confront this timeline issue, but if they do, it’ll be through the use of the Infinity Stone. Just Please, please, please don’t retcon through use of the Time Stone(Gem) /Eye of Agamotto.)
“Thor: Ragnarok” 2016,2017 - ( I would say it takes place around the same time as Homecoming does. Here’s another iffy timeline error. During the movie, it is revealed that the Hulk hasn’t been seen for two years since he flew off into the horizon
injustice 2 joker costumes. This would place Thor Ragnarok in 2017, which makes somewhat more sense in terms of the end-credits scene with the ship. However more likely is that it takes place in 2016 and we will see what happens during that time they spend on the ship via flashback. “In the timeline of the MCU, things kind of happen on top of each other, especially now in Phase Three. They're not as interlocked as they were in Phase One, you know, during Fury's Big Week and everything. So it kind of happens maybe on top of
Civil War, maybe, you know, on top of
Spider-Man... Somewhere in that ball park.”)
Source
Edit One (March 6th,2018).
Thank you all for the support you have shown me.
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