The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a massive sandbox of superhero continuity with several important corners, and keeping the events of that continuity organized can be a hard task. Since these MCU projects have been released over the course of (nearly) a decade (as both movies and both broadcast and streaming branches of TV) keeping the actual chronology of those events in order has been near impossible. However, since Marvel has such dedicated (and/or neurotic) fans, there are some who may want to sit down and watch the MCU in the actual order that events happened. If you are so inclined, here's How to Watch The Marvel Cinematic Universe In Chronological Order.

MCU History Here's how to view the current history of the MCU, known as "BIM" - aka, the era before the milestone event that's was Tony Stark's declaration, "I am Iron Man." Captain America: The First Avenger (WWII)

Agent Carter Season 1 (post-WWII)

Agent Carter Season 2 (late 1940s)

Marvel one-Shot Agent Carter Most of the early history of the MCU has been chronicled in Steve Rogers' transformation into Captain America, as well as the exploits of Cap's lady love, Agent Peggy Carter, in the post-WWII era that led her to finally create S.H.I.E.L.D. There's ancient history referenced in both First Avenger and the Thor movies (i.e., Odin's time on ancient Earth, where he hid the Tesseract) - and other Marvel movies (Ant-Man) reference the 1950s era where Agent Carter started S.H.I.E.L.D. alongside Hank Pym and others. However, the only MCU projects actually set in that early era are the ones above. prevnext

Phase One: Road to The Avengers The road to The Avengers was paved by two significant MCU milestones: Stark's "I am Iron Man" declaration and "Fury's Big Week." Here are the projects that fall into that space: Iron Man

Iron Man 2

The Incredible Hulk

Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer

Thor

Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant

The Avengers

Marvel One-Shot: Item 47 Basically, this is the major thrust of the "Phase One" storyline of the MCU, detailing how a a group of individuals went through some traumatic events to become superheroes - and were then recruited by Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. to become a team capable of defending earth from invasion. Watching it unfold in order, with all the Marvel One-Shots filled in, is a lot of fun. prevnext

Phase Two: Rise of the Infinity Stones After The Avengers, the MCU moved into Phase II, which saw a much larger storyline beginning to unfold. Here are the projects in that segment of the saga: Iron Man 3

Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1, Episodes 1-7

Thor: The Dark World

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1, Episodes 8-16

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1, Episodes 17-22

Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2, Episodes 1 - 10

Marvel's Daredevil Season 1

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2, Episodes 11-19

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2, Episodes 20-22

WHiH Newsfront

Ant-Man This was the segment of the MCU saga in which we saw Thanos revealed as the mastermind of Loki's incursion of Earth, and that The Infinity Stones were the real prizes he was after. It was also the drastic transformation of the MCU playing field, as S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, and HYDRA rose in its place. As for The Avengers, they came together as a stronger fighting force than before - though the first cracks of schism were starting show, as Tony Stark created evil A.I. Ultron, straining the bonds between Avengers leaders, Iron Man and Captain America. prevnext