Items38The creator’s order
  1. 1Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) 6.9/10 on IMDbReleased 22 Jul 20111940s. Steve Rogers' main story makes this the chronological starting point, despite the modern framing scenes. Peggy Carter, Bucky and the Tesseract establish strands followed decades later.0
  2. 2The Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025)The Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025) 6.8/10 on IMDbReleased 23 Jul 2025An alternate Earth's retro-futuristic 1960s, so it sits between the Second World War and 1995 here. This is not the main MCU Earth's history, and its credit material is a later multiverse connection.0
  3. 3Captain Marvel (2019)Captain Marvel (2019) 6.7/10 on IMDbReleased 6 Mar 20191995. Carol Danvers and a younger Nick Fury bridge the historical films and Tony Stark's era. The mid-credit scene jumps to the Infinity War period, so defer it until then on a first watch.0
  4. 4Iron Man (2008)Iron Man (2008) 7.9/10 on IMDbReleased 30 Apr 2008Tony Stark's origin comes after Captain Marvel's 1995 adventure and before the overlapping Iron Man 2, Hulk and Thor stories. This is the modern MCU's technological starting point.0
  5. 5Iron Man 2 (2010)Iron Man 2 (2010) 6.9/10 on IMDbReleased 28 Apr 2010Return to Tony before The Incredible Hulk and Thor in this practical ordering of their overlapping S.H.I.E.L.D. era. Black Widow joins the film story at this stage.0
  6. 6The Incredible Hulk (2008)The Incredible Hulk (2008) 6.6/10 on IMDbReleased 12 Jun 2008Part of the overlapping early S.H.I.E.L.D. period alongside Iron Man 2 and Thor. Bruce Banner's fugitive story belongs here even though it reached cinemas before Iron Man 2.0
  7. 7Thor (2011)Thor (2011) 7.0/10 on IMDbReleased 27 Apr 2011Thor's banishment to Earth overlaps the Iron Man 2 and Hulk period. Meet Loki and Asgard here before the characters converge in The Avengers.0
  8. 8The Avengers (2012)The Avengers (2012) 8.0/10 on IMDbReleased 25 Apr 20122012. The first Avengers team-up brings the early solo stories together in the Battle of New York, the event that shapes much of the next stretch.0
  9. 9Thor: The Dark World (2013)Thor: The Dark World (2013) 6.7/10 on IMDbReleased 30 Oct 20132013. Thor and Loki's next chapter precedes the Christmas setting of Iron Man 3 in this chronology. The Aether adds another piece to the Infinity Stone story.0
  10. 10Iron Man 3 (2013)Iron Man 3 (2013) 7.1/10 on IMDbReleased 18 Apr 2013Christmas 2013, with a later epilogue. Tony's response to the New York battle follows Thor: The Dark World in this story chronology, reversing their cinema release order.0