Now with Black Widow updates!

Any Marvel fan worth their vibranium could tell you that the MCU as we know it launched in 2008 with Jon Favreau‘s Iron Man. A tougher task by far is to deliver a blow-by-blow retelling of the events that occurred within the MCU, from the Jotunheim invasion of Earth, to the foundation of the Arena Club, to the next wave of technological innovations on display at the Stark Expo, and the futuristic nation of Wakanda. So with that in mind, we’ve put together a list of the major events of the MCU timeline up to and including the latest releases. We’ll be updating this list as more films and TV series are released.

If you’re all caught up on every installment of the MCU so far and are curious about the upcoming releases (including those outside the MCU), you’ll want to check out our superhero release date calendar here. And if you’ve got a lock on the history of the MCU but are interested in just where on Earth the events occur, reddit’s MrRLopez has you covered with this interactive map. MrRLopez’s own timeline helped to fill out our own, in addition to assistance from the super-detailed Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki. Keep in mind, this is a fictional universe with lots of characters and a different timeline from those established in comics, etc.; take it as a general guide not a written-in-stone, be-all-end-all document.

Here’s a handy list of shortcuts to relevant sections of our guide to make your reading journey a bit easier:

Here’s a refresher on the chronological timeline of the MCU’s films and TV series in the order they were released:

Phase One:

Iron Man (2008)

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

(2008) Iron Man 2 (2010)

Thor (2011)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)

Phase Two:

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Ant-Man (2015)

Phase Three:

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Doctor Strange (2016)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Black Panther (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Captain Marvel (2019)

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Phase Four:

Black Widow (May 1, 2020)

The Eternals (November 6, 2020)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (February 12, 2021)

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 7, 2021)

Untitled Spider-Man: Far from Home Sequel (July 16, 2021)

Thor: Love and Thunder (November 5, 2021)

Black Panther 2 (May 6, 2022)

Future Films:

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (TBD)

Marvel’s TV:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Season 1 (2013)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Season 2 (2014)

Agent Carter – Season 1 (2015)

Daredevil – Season 1 (2015)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Season 3 (2015)

Jessica Jones – Season 1 (2015)

Agent Carter – Season 2 (2016)

Daredevil – Season 2 (2016)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Season 4 (2016)

Luke Cage – Season 1 (2016)

Iron Fist – Season 1 (2017)

The Defenders – Season 1 (2017)

Inhumans – Season 1 (2017)

The Punisher (2017)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Season 5 (2018)

Cloak & Dagger – Season 1 (2018)

Daredevil – Season 3 (2018)

Jessica Jones – Season 2 (2018)

Luke Cage – Season 2 (2018)

Iron Fist – Season 2 (2018)

The Punisher – Season 2 (2019)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Season 6 (2019)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Season 7 (2020)

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (August 2020)

WandaVision (December 2020)

Loki (Early 2021)

What If…? (Mid 2021)

Hawkeye (Late 2021)

Ms. Marvel (TBA)

Moon Knight (TBA)

She-Hulk (TBA)

Be aware that there are spoilers: