MCU Viewing Order (Plus upcoming projects)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) optimal viewing order:


Phase 1:

FILM - Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
  TV - Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter (2013)
  TV - Marvel's Agent Carter [Season 1] (2015)
  TV - Marvel's Agent Carter [Season 2] (2016)
  ***
FILM - Iron Man (2008)
FILM - The Incredible Hulk (2008)
FILM - Iron Man 2 (2010)
  TV - Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant (2011)
  TV - Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (2011)
FILM - Thor (2011)
FILM - The Avengers (2012)
  TV - Marvel One-Shot: Item 47 (2012)

Phase 2:

FILM - Iron Man 3 (2013)
  TV - Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King (2014)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 1 - Episodes 1-7] (2013)
FILM - Thor: The Dark World (2013)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D [Season 1 - Episodes 8-16] (2013-2014)
FILM - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 1 - Episodes 17-22] (2014)
FILM - Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
  TV - Marvel's Daredevil [Season 1] (2015)
FILM - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 2 - Episodes 1-19] (2014-2015)
FILM - Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 2 - Episodes 20-22] (2015)
WSDE - WHIH Newsfront with Christine Everhart [Minisodes 1: 1-5] (2015)
FILM - Ant-Man (2015)
  TV - Marvel's Jessica Jones [Season 1] (2015)

Phase 3:

  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 3 - Episodes 1-10] (2015)
  TV - Marvel's Daredevil [Season 2] (2016)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 3 - Episodes 11-19] (2016)
WSDE - WHIH Newsfront with Christine Everhart [Minisodes 2: 1-5] (2016)
FILM - Captain America: Civil War (2016)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 3 - Episodes 20-22] (2016)
  TV - Marvel's Luke Cage [Season 1] (2016)
FILM - Black Widow (2021) (Watch post-credit scene after Avengers Endgame. No spoilers!)
FILM - Black Panther (2018)
  TV - Marvel's Iron Fist [Season 1] (2017)
  TV - Marvel’s Inhumans (2017)
  TV - Marvel's The Defenders [Season 1] (2017)
  TV - Marvel's The Punisher [Season 1] (2017)
FILM - Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 4 - Episodes 1-10] (2016-2017)
WSDE - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot (2016)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 4 - Episodes 11-22] (2017)
  TV - Marvel's Runaways [Season 1] (2017-2018)
  TV - Marvel's Cloak & Dagger [Season 1] (2018)
FILM - Doctor Strange (2016)
  TV - Marvel's Jessica Jones [Season 2] (2018)
  TV - Marvel's Luke Cage [Season 2] (2018)
  TV - Marvel's Runaways [Season 2] (2018)
  TV - Marvel's Cloak & Dagger [Season 2] (2019)
  TV - Marvel's Runaways [Season 3] (2019-2020)
  TV - Marvel's Iron Fist [Season 2] (2018)
  TV - Marvel's Daredevil [Season 3] (2018)
  TV - Marvel's The Punisher [Season 2] (2019)
  TV - Marvel's Jessica Jones [Season 3] (2019)
FILM - Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) [NOTE: Avoid post-credit scene if you don’t know about ‘the snap’]
FILM - Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 5] (2017-2018)
FILM - Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 6] (2019)
FILM - Captain Marvel (2019) (Could be watched after Agent Carter. ***)
FILM - Avengers: Endgame (2019)
  TV - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Season 7] (2020)
  TV - Helstrom [Season 1] (2020)

Phase 4:

FILM - Venom (2018) [MULTIVERSE]
  TV - WandaVision [Season 1] (2021)
  TV - The Falcon and the Winter Soldier [Season 1] (2021)
  TV - Loki [Season 1] (2021)
FILM - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
FILM - Eternals (2021)
  TV - What If...? [Season 1] (2021)
FILM - Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
FILM - Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) [MULTIVERSE]
FILM - Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
FILM - Morbius (2022) [MCU uncertain]
FILM - Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
  TV - Hawkeye (2021)
  TV - Moon Knight [Season 1] (2022)
  TV - Ms. Marvel [Season 1] (June 2022)
FILM - Thor: Love and Thunder (July 2022)

NOTES: Agents of SHIELD Season 6 appears to diverge from the main timeline completely, as it doesn’t reference the events
* Infinity War or Endgame, despite Season 5’s final 3 episodes and the events of Infinity War happening simultaneously (the references are minimal - limited to the news, name drops and motivation). This is due to Endgame’s air date complicating things and the producers were unsure when they’d air S6 - so they decided to set it before not just that, but also Infinity War.

Season 7 has a minor connection to Endgame, however it could be argued that the connection is also to a couple of past MCU films due to the technology used. It’s a connection, not a reference. No mention of Endgame’s events or characters are made.

Helstrom was confirmed to no longer be a part of the MCU and makes no effort to connect itself to Marvel beyond comic inspiration. It also started production as an MCU show, but the folding of Marvel Television stopped that.



Upcoming:
  TV - What If...? [Season 2] (Aug/Sep 2022)
FILM - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (11th November 2022)
FILM - Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (17th February 2023)
SPCL - The Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special - One-Shot (December 2022)
  TV - She-Hulk (2022)
  TV - Secret Invasion (2022)
FILM - The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (27th July 2023)
FILM - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (5th May 2023)
FILM - Fantastic Four (TBA - 28th July 2023?)

Phase 5?
FILM - Blade (TBA - 10th November 2023?)
FILM - Captain America 4 (TBA - 16th February 2024?)
FILM - Deadpool 3 (TBA - 3rd May 2024?)
FILM - Spider-Man 4 (TBA - 26th July 2024?)
FILM - Shang-Chi 2 (TBA - 8th November 2024?)

Unknown date:
  TV - Ironheart
  TV - Armor Wars
  TV - I Am Groot
  TV - Ryan Coogler's Wakanda-Set Series
  TV - Untitled Okoye Series
  TV - Echo
  TV - Agatha: House of Darkness
  TV - Marvel Zombies
  TV - Spider-Man: Freshman Year (Animated)
???? - Untitled Scarlett Johansson Production
  TV - Untitled Destin Daniel Cretton (Comedy)
FILM - Untitled mutant-centered Film
FILM - Nova

MAYBE The Thunderbolts, The Dark Avengers, Namor: The Submariner, Warlock

Future X-Men films may now connect to the MCU through the MULTIVERSE. Deadpool 3 has been confirmed to connect to the MCU.

Other:
  TV - X-Men '97 (Animated - NOT MCU) 2023


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Source: https://www.cnet.com/uk/how-to/marvel-cinematic-universe-timeline-avengers/
Shortened to - tinyurl.com/MarvelWatchGuide

New sources for updates:

https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/marvel-movies-watch-order-mcu-timeline/
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Xfe--9Wshbb3ru0JplA2PnEwN7mVawazKmhWJjr_wKs/edit#gid=1655440490
https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/full-list-of-all-upcoming-marvel-movies/

Other sources:

https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline
http://thetimelinesite.com/timelines/1-marvel-cinematic-universe-timeline
https://mcureadingorder.com/reading_order.php?list_type=2&page=1&limit=40

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Other in-universe promotional material:

Before Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S1:
* WeAreTheRisingTide.com (Blog) - tinyurl.com/WeAreTheRisingTide

Before Ant-Man:
* WIRED: PYM TECHNOLOGIES. WHERE THE PAST MEETS THE PRESENT. (Article) - tinyurl.com/WiredPym

Before Captain America: Civil War (First 10 tweets from before Ant-Man):
* @WHIHOfficial Twitter - https://twitter.com/WHIHOfficial

Before Marvel’s Iron Fist S1:
* New York Bulletin Joy and Ward Meachum Special Report - https://youtu.be/AJjYzbbq6-I
* Learn Kenjutsu - The Wing Way! - https://youtu.be/bg-725HzJtc

Before Marvel’s Defenders S1:
* Midland Circle Security Elevator B - https://youtu.be/ostYFNFjhJ4

Before Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot:
* Ghost Rider Found Cell Phone Footage - https://youtu.be/04Ov7mkgc6k

Before Marvel’s Iron Fist S2:
* More Than An Arm - https://twitter.com/LukeCage/status/1006298963312455680?s=19
* Marvel’s Iron Fist - Season 2 Date Announcement - https://youtu.be/cMtrmDhI1LQ
* Marvel’s Iron Fist Season 2 Memories Teaser - https://youtu.be/Pu5FAWnFRI0

Unsorted extras:

Come to Wakanda - Before
CordCo - IM2 : https://vimeo.com/12018967
Fujikawa - IM2 : https://vimeo.com/12014660
Team Thor: Part 2 - https://vimeo.com/204671187
Come to Wakanda - After
More Than An Arm : https://twitter.com/LukeCage/status/1006298963312455680
The Mortgage Process Doesn’t Have to be a Battle : https://vimeo.com/264736037
Sequoia’s Instagram Stories - https://www.reddit.com/video/cym88hvfyp131
Hertz + Marvel Studio’s Avenger’s: Endgame - No Drama
Thor is Fine Guys : https://www.instagram.com/p/Byp1h06nq8g/?igshid=1tmu8x4d9thas
Spider-Man FFH Deleted Scenes : https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/d7pvlj/6_deleted_scenes_spiderman_far_from_home/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Cinematic_Universe_tie-in_comics

Final notes: I’m essentially caught up on the MCU now. I’ll try to find more promo material some time, but it’s not my focus as of right now.