How to watch the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe in chronological order

Estimated read time: 14-15 minutes

THE INCREDIBLY LARGE MARVEL UNIVERSE — The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been dominating the box office and entertaining audiences for 14 years. Yes, some of you will argue that Marvel movies were being made long before 2008, and you're correct. Where you're incorrect, however, is as to when the Marvel Cinematic Universe started.

The MCU, as it's called, includes all the films, TV shows and shorts that are all tied together; it was born in 2008 with the release of "Iron Man." Since then, a total of 27 MCU films have been released with three more planned in 2022, starting with "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" scheduled to hit theaters on May 6.

That means by the end of 2022 there will be 30 MCU films. But that's just scratching the surface. In addition to all these films are multiple television series and shorts called "Marvel One-Shot."

To make things even more confusing, the movies, TV shows and shorts were not released in chronological order. For example, "Iron Man" was the first MCU movie, but it's the third film in chronological order and the sixth title in chronological order.

I let you know how to watch all the MCU films in chronological order in 2018, but a lot has changed since then and I'm here to help you out again. This time around, however, I will be including all of the Marvel TV shows and One-Shots. That includes the Netflix series as well.

I wouldn't have included them a few months back, as they weren't necessarily canon, but "Spider-Man: No Way Home" changed all that. "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." is also included, even though they seemed to stop ignoring the MCU timeline around Season five or six.

Below, you'll find the title of the movie/show/short along with the year it takes place within the MCU timeline and the runtime of the title. Here is how you can watch the entire MCU in chronological order:

The entire MCU

• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season 7 (1931-2019) — 9 hours 13 minutes
• "Captain America: The First Avenger" (1943-1945) — 2 hours 4 minutes
• "Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter" (1944) — 15 minutes
• "Agent Carter" 18 episodes (1946-1947) — 12 hours 37 minutes
• "Captain Marvel" (1995) — 2 hours 3 minutes
• "Iron Man" (2010) — 2 hours 6 minutes
• "Iron Man 2" (2011) — 2 hours 4 minutes
• "The Incredible Hulk" (2011) — 1 hour 52 minutes
• "Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened in the Way to Thor's Hammer" (2011) — 4 minutes
• "Thor" (2011) — 1 hour 55 minutes
• "Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant" (2011) — 4 minutes
• "The Avengers" (2012) — 2 hours 23 minutes
• "Marvel One-Shot: Item 47" (2012) — 12 minutes
• "Iron Man 3" (2012) — 2 hours 10 minutes
• "Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King" (2013) — 14 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" Season 1, Episodes 1-7 (2013) — 5 hours, 1 minute
• "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) — 1 hour 52 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" Season 1, Episodes 8-16 (2014) — 6 hours 32 minutes
• "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014) — 2 hours 16 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" Season 1, Episodes 17-21 (2014) — 4 hours 17 minutes
• "Daredevil" Season 1 (2014) — 11 hours, 47 minutes
• "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014) — 2 hours 1 minute
• "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2014) — 2 hours 16 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" Season 2, Episodes 1-19 (2015) — 14 hours 15 minutes
• "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) — 2 hours 21 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" Season 2, Episodes 20-22 (2015) — 2 hours 15 minutes
• "Ant-Man" (2015) — 1 hour 57 minutes
• "Jessica Jones" Season 1 (2015) — 12 hours 8 minutes
• "Daredevil" Season 2 (2015) — 11 hours, 42 minutes
• "Luke Cage" Season 1 (2015) — 11 hours 15 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season 3, Episodes 1-19 (2015-2016) — 14 hours 15 minutes
• "Captain America: Civil War" (2016) — 2 hours 27 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season 3, Episodes 20-22 (2016) — 2 hours 15 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season 4, Episodes 1-8 (2016) — 6 hours
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot" (2016) — 6 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season 4, Episodes 9-22 (2016) — 10 hours 30 minutes
• "Iron Fist" Season 1 (2016) — 11 hours, 55 minutes
• "The Defenders" (2016) — 6 hours 40 minutes
• "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2016) — 2 hours 13 minutes
• "The Punisher" Season 1 (2016) — 11 hours, 29 minutes
• "Doctor Strange" (2016-2017) — 1 hour 55 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season 5, Episodes 1-9 (2017) — 14 hours 15 minutes
• "Black Panther" (2017) — 2 hours 14 minutes
• "Black Widow" (2017) — 2 hours 14 minutes
• "Jessica Jones" Season 2 (2017) — 12 hours 8 minutes
• "Inhumans" (2017) — 5 hours, 44 minutes
• "Luke Cage" Season 2 (2017) — 11 hours 55 minutes
• "Iron Fist" Season 2 (2017) — 11 hours, 55 minutes
• "Daredevil" Season 3 (2017) — 11 hours 42 minutes
• "The Punisher" Season 2 (2017) — 11 hours 29 minutes
• "Jessica Jones" Season 3 (2017) — 12 hours 8 minutes
• "Runaways" Seasons 1 and 2 (2017) — 22 hours
• "Runaways" Season 3, Episodes 1-9 (2017) — 9 hours
• "Cloak and Dagger" (2017) — 14 hours 40 minutes
• "Thor: Ragnarok" (2017-2018) — 2 hours 10 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season 5, Episodes 19-22 (2018) — 3 hours
• "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (2018) — 1 hour 58 minutes
• "Avengers: Infinity War" (2017-2018) — 2 hours 29 minutes
• "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Season 6 (2018) — 9 hours 45 minutes
• "Avengers: Endgame" (2018-2023) — 3 hours 1 minute
• "Runaways" Season 3, Episode 10 (2023) — 1 hour
• "WandaVision" Episodes 1-9 (2023) — 5 hours 50 minutes
• "Loki" (2012-2023) — 4 hours 47 minutes
• "Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2023) — 2 hours 12 minutes
• "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" Episodes 1-6 (2023-2024) — 5 hours 4 minutes
• "Spider-Man: Far from Home" (2024) — 2 hours 9 minutes
• "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (2024) — 2 hours 28 minutes
• "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" (2024) — 2 hours 6 minutes
• "Eternals" (2024) — 2 hours 36 minutes
• "Hawkeye" Episodes 1-6 (2024) — hours 42 minutes
• "Moon Knight" Episodes 1-6 (2025) — about 5 hours

If you're hoping to do the whole thing, then you need to wait for "Doctor Strange into the Multiverse of Madness" to release. Also, you're in for quite some time in front of a screen.

All that content adds up to 402 hours and 37 minutes. That's about 17 days — if you're watching 24 hours a day. So, it's going to take you a long time to make all of that happen.

Films, One-Shots and new TV

If you're hoping to watch only the MCU films, One-Shots and the newer shows that have aired on Disney+ and stick to the overall timeline, your slate and order would look like this:

• "Captain America: The First Avenger" (1943-1945) — 2 hours 4 minutes
• "Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter" (1944) — 15 minutes
• "Captain Marvel" (1995) — 2 hours 3 minutes
• "Iron Man" (2010) — 2 hours 6 minutes
• "Iron Man 2" (2011) — 2 hours 4 minutes
• "The Incredible Hulk" (2011) — 1 hour 52 minutes
• "Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened in the Way to Thor's Hammer" (2011) — 4 minutes
• "Thor" (2011) — 1 hour 55 minutes
• "Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant" (2011) — 4 minutes
• "The Avengers" (2012) — 2 hours 23 minutes
• "Marvel One-Shot: Item 47" (2012) — 12 minutes
• "Iron Man 3" (2012) — 2 hours 10 minutes
• "Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King" (2013) — 14 minutes
• "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) — 1 hour 52 minutes
• "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014) — 2 hours 16 minutes
• "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014) — 2 hours 1 minute
• "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2014) — 2 hours 16 minutes
• "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) — 2 hours 21 minutes
• "Ant-Man" (2015) — 1 hour 57 minutes
• "Captain America: Civil War" (2016) — 2 hours 27 minutes
• "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2016) — 2 hours 13 minutes
• "Doctor Strange" (2016-2017) — 1 hour 55 minutes
• "Black Panther" (2017) — 2 hours 14 minutes
• "Black Widow" (2017) — 2 hours 14 minutes
• "Thor: Ragnarok" (2017-2018) — 2 hours 10 minutes
• "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (2018) — 1 hour 58 minutes
• "Avengers: Infinity War" (2017-2018) — 2 hours 29 minutes
• "Avengers: Endgame" (2018-2023) — 3 hours 1 minute
• "WandaVision" Episodes 1-9 (2023) — 5 hours 50 minutes
• "Loki" (2012-2023) — 4 hours 47 minutes
• "Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2023) — 2 hours 12 minutes
• "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" Episodes 1-6 (2023-2024) — 5 hours 4 minutes
• "Spider-Man: Far from Home" (2024) — 2 hours 9 minutes
• "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (2024) — 2 hours 28 minutes
• "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" (2024) — 2 hours 6 minutes
• "Eternals" (2024) — 2 hours 36 minutes
• "Hawkeye" Episodes 1-6 (2024) — hours 42 minutes
• "Moon Knight" Episodes 1-6 (2025) — about 5 hours

That will put you at 87 hours and 17 minutes, which is just shy of four days to watch all of this (again, that's watching 24 hours a day).

Just Films

One more option would be just watching the films in chronological order, which would look like this:

• "Captain America: The First Avenger" (1943-1945) — 2 hours 4 minutes
• "Captain Marvel" (1995) — 2 hours 3 minutes
• "Iron Man" (2010) — 2 hours 6 minutes
• "Iron Man 2" (2011) — 2 hours 4 minutes
• "The Incredible Hulk" (2011) — 1 hour 52 minutes
• "Thor" (2011) — 1 hour 55 minutes
• "The Avengers" (2012) — 2 hours 23 minutes
• "Iron Man 3" (2012) — 2 hours 10 minutes
• "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) — 1 hour 52 minutes
• "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" — (2014) 2 hours 16 minutes
• "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014) — 2 hours 1 minute
• "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2014) — 2 hours 16 minutes
• "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) — 2 hours 21 minutes
• "Ant-Man" (2015) — 1 hour 57 minutes
• "Captain America: Civil War" (2016) — 2 hours 27 minutes
• "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2016) — 2 hours 13 minutes
• "Doctor Strange" (2016-2017) — 1 hour 55 minutes
• "Black Panther" (2017) — 2 hours 14 minutes
• "Black Widow" (2017) — 2 hours 14 minutes
• "Thor: Ragnarok" — (2017-2018) 2 hours 10 minutes
• "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (2018) — 1 hour 58 minutes
• "Avengers: Infinity War" (2017-2018) — 2 hours 29 minutes
• "Avengers: Endgame" (2018-2023) — 3 hours 1 minute
• "Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2023) — 2 hours 12 minutes
• "Spider-Man: Far from Home" (2024) — 2 hours 9 minutes
• "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (2024) — 2 hours 28 minutes
• "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" (2024) — 2 hours 6 minutes
• "Eternals" (2024) — 2 hours 36 minutes

Just watching the movies makes for 61 hours and 5 minutes. This is more manageable at about two and a half days, 24 hours a day. Split that up in a week or so and you can make it happen.

There you have it: Multiple ways — and lots of hours in front of a screen — to prove you're the ultimate Marvel fan.

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John Clyde

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John has grown up around movies and annoys friends and family with his movie facts and knowledge. He also has a passion for sports and pretty much anything awesome, and it just so happens, that these are the three things he writes about.