Several MCU actresses were interviewed to discuss what makes their characters compelling to audiences, including Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, Florence Kasumba, and Letitia Wright; Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, and Teyonah Parris; Elizabeth Olsen, Kathryn Hahn, and Kat Dennings; and Zoë Saldaña, who executive produced the series alongside Victoria Alonso. The documentary series was originally scheduled to be removed from Disney+ on May 26, 2023, as part of Disney’s efforts to reduce content costs, but ultimately was decided to remain on the service at that time. The exhibit, which included “300 plus objects, films, costumes, drawings and other ephemera”, featured content “from the collection of Marvel Studios and Marvel Entertainment and private collections” with “significant focus given to the creative artists who translate the drawn narrative to the screen through production design and storyboarding, costume and prop design, and special effects and post-production”. The Las Vegas version of the exhibit featured updated character details and corresponding science to incorporate the Marvel films that were released since the original exhibit in New York. The exhibit also had smaller displays that included helmets and chest pieces from the earlier films and the gauntlet and boot from an action sequence in Iron Man 3.
Both movies and TV series have faced setbacks, with some pushed back by just a few months, while others remain stuck in development hell. It means settling in for a serious movie marathon—complete with a mountain of popcorn—to get through over 43 movies and 17 series. We recap the release and chronological order to watch all the Marvel movies and Disney+ series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The X-Men movies have so much going on that they deserve their own X-Men movies in order list to help unravel that timeline. But if you want to take an alternate route and see the movies chronologically within its own timeline (including the TV shows), check out our guide below! The next movie set in the timeline is Captain Marvel, the blockbuster with a Blockbuster, set in 1995 with Brie Larson starring as the cosmic Carol Danvers.
Marvel’s Daredevil: Season 3
- Feige was reporting to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn instead of Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac Perlmutter, and the creative committee began having only “nominal” input on the films.
- The series was produced by Herzog & Co., Saldaña’s production company Cinestar Pictures, and Just Entertainment.
- Each series was expected to be six to eight episodes and would be produced by Marvel Studios rather than Marvel Television, with Feige taking a “hands-on role” in each series’ development.
- In November 2012, 20th Century Fox announced plans to create its own shared universe of Marvel properties it held the rights to, including the Fantastic Four and X-Men, with the hiring of Mark Millar as supervising producer.
Next, you’ll jump forward in time to the 90s where Captain Marvel discovers grunge as well as a community of Skrulls hiding in plain sight on Earth. Travel back in time to watch Cap fight HYDRA masquerading as Nazis and fall for Peggy Carter, only to be frozen in ice so he could conveniently leapfrog through time to the present day and eventually team up with the Avengers. And then it’s time to hit the start with Iron Man and RDJ’s world-making turn as Tony Stark. So while Iron Man, set and released in 2008, can claim the banner as the first of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, within its story, Chris Evans has got Robert Downey Jr. beat.
After the acquisition by Disney in 2009, Marvel films began to be marketed at the Innoventions attraction in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. A year later, Sony officially announced the Venom film to be in development, for an October 5, 2018, release, along with a film centered on the characters Silver Sable and Black Cat known as Silver & Black. Sony Pictures would continue to finance, distribute, own, and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films. In March 2019, the film rights of Deadpool, the X-Men characters, and the Fantastic Four characters returned to Marvel Studios following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney. In his review of Dark Phoenix, Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal characterized the entire X-Men film series as being a “notoriously erratic franchise”. Following the commercial failure of Justice League (2017), which ended the DCEU approach spearheaded by Snyder, Warner Bros. executives reportedly reached out to Feige to have him lead the development of DC films but the talks “fizzled”.
For many of their early films, Feige was closely involved during a film’s development before allowing filming to be overseen by lower-level studio executives. Marvel later clarified which of the tie-in comics are considered canonical MCU stories, with the rest being merely inspired by the MCU “where we get to show off all the characters from the film in costume and in comic form”. Marvel Comics worked with Brad Winderbaum, Jeremy Latcham, and Will Corona Pilgrim at Marvel Studios to decide which concepts would be carried over from the Marvel Comics Universe to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, what to show in the tie-in comics, and what to leave for the films. Feige was involved with the creation of the comics, with the film’s screenwriters sometimes as well.
Starting with Iron Man, the franchise began with films independently made by Marvel Studios that are primarily set within this same universe, much like Marvel has done with their comics. Announced in February 2021, each special of the documentary series goes behind the scenes of the making of the MCU films and television series with cast members and additional creatives. With this announcement, sequels to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) were canceled, and by November 2015 the Venom and Sinister Six films, as well as spin-offs based on female characters in the Spider-Man universe, were no longer moving forward. The next month, Sony announced Venom and Sinister Six films, both set in the Amazing Spider-Man universe. In November 2013, Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal announced that the studio intended to expand their universe created within director Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man films (2012–14), with spin-off adventures for supporting characters, in an attempt to replicate Marvel and Disney’s model. Since that time, the shared universe model created by Marvel Studios has begun to be replicated by other film studios that held rights to other comic book characters.
Hong Kong Disneyland
- Disney reportedly began developing a Marvel-based television series for its new streaming service Disney+ by November 2017.
- Then he goes home to Earth and there’s a six-year time jump, making it 2024 in Wade’s timeline.
- Travel back in time to watch Cap fight HYDRA masquerading as Nazis and fall for Peggy Carter, only to be frozen in ice so he could conveniently leapfrog through time to the present day and eventually team up with the Avengers.
In July 2025, Feige said Marvel Studios was “already well into development” on the three phases of their next saga following the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga with Secret Wars. Feige called Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) the true start to Marvel Studios’ exploration and use of the Fox characters, and said every project after it would be part of the MCU’s “Mutant era”. The film also introduces the mutant Binary, an alternate version of Maria Rambeau, portrayed by Lashana Lynch. Some of the first elements to be integrated into the MCU following the vegas casino download acquisition were the organization S.W.O.R.D. in the Disney+ series WandaVision (2021) and the fictional country Madripoor in the series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021). In December 2017, Disney agreed to acquire assets from 21st Century Fox, and finalized the transaction on March 19, 2019.
Marvel Animation Series
Just make sure you watch this movie first so that the end-credits scene in The Incredible Hulk makes sense. According to dialogue from the movie, Iron Man 2 starts six months after the end of Iron Man and occurs more or less simultaneously with The Incredible Hulk and Thor. Iron Man was the first film released in what we now know as the MCU, and it’s also the first one to take place in the present day — which, in this case, is either 2008 or 2010.
Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 5
Alonso reportedly did not seek permission to work on the film and was asked by Disney to stop working on it or promoting it. At that time, Marvel was internally referring to The Kang Dynasty as Avengers 5; by early 2024, Marvel had decided to drop the Kang storyline and began searching for a new antagonist for the saga. He added that being asked by Disney to create these series “energized everyone creatively” within Marvel Studios, since they “could play in a new medium and throw the rules out the window in terms of structure and format”. Feige said these series would “tell stories… that we wouldn’t be able to tell in a theatrical experience—a longer-form narrative”. Each series was expected to be six to eight episodes and would be produced by Marvel Studios rather than Marvel Television, with Feige taking a “hands-on role” in each series’ development. The studio went on to establish the Marvel Studios Parliament, a “brain trust” of long-time executives at the company who help to elevate each other’s projects where possible.
In what order to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and series?
By March 2016, the Venom film had itself been retooled, to start its own franchise unrelated to the MCU Spider-Man. In February 2015, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios announced that the Spider-Man franchise would be retooled, with a new film co-produced by Feige and Pascal being released in July 2017, and the character being integrated into the MCU. In November 2012, 20th Century Fox announced plans to create its own shared universe of Marvel properties it held the rights to, including the Fantastic Four and X-Men, with the hiring of Mark Millar as supervising producer. Gunn revealed following the second season finale of Peacemaker in October 2025, that he had wanted to show Wade Wilson / Deadpool behind one of the alternate universe doors in the Quantum Unfolding Chamber and had reached out to Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds about it, who was interested in appearing. Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced a 10-year plan for the DC Extended Universe similar to the one that Horn and Iger employed with Feige for the MCU, with James Gunn and Peter Safran appointed in October 2022 to serve as the co-chairmen and co-CEOs of the newly formed DC Studios to develop a new shared universe, the DC Universe, the first content for which was announced in January 2023.
Many famous filmmakers expressed different views both on the success and quality of MCU. He also hoped that continuity from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be maintained in Captain Marvel, especially since Coulson has dealt with the Kree in the series. Civil War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely revealed that Woodard would instead be portraying Miriam Sharpe in the film, explaining that she had been cast on the suggestion of Robert Downey Jr., and they had not learned of her casting in Luke Cage until afterwards.
Marvel’s Daredevil: Season 1
In June 2021, Marvel Studios released a casting call for fans of “Marvel’s strong women” to be a part of an unscripted Disney+ documentary series showcasing the women who create the MCU in front of and behind the camera, including actors and creatives, and the fans who applied to participate in the series. Announced in December 2020, this series examines individual heroes, villains, moments, and objects from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how they connect, in anticipation of the upcoming stories that will feature them in Phase Four. A Marvel-themed orchestra performance of an extended version of Brian Tyler’s Marvel Studios theme and Alan Silvestri’s theme from The Avengers took place during China’s Bilibili New Year’s Gala on December 31, 2020, to promote the 2021 Marvel Studios film releases. It features a look at the original MCU TV series for Disney+, with interviews and concept art.
This saw the return of the film rights for Deadpool, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four to Marvel Studios, although Feige explained that despite the acquisition being completed in 2019, access and integration of these characters and concepts were unavailable “for a very long time” because of corporate acquisition laws. This was a decrease from up to four films and around four series being released in some recent years. He clarified their plans in May 2024, saying Disney would now release two, or at most three, Marvel films and two Marvel series a year.
Luma Pictures provided visual effects for the spot, having worked previously with the two characters in MCU films. Additional episodes were released ahead of a character and objects’ appearances in Disney+ series and films. The exhibit features replica set pieces and props from the films, mixed with interactive technology and information, crafted through a partnership with NASA and other scientists. It is set in the Tomorrowland section of the park, with the area built to look like a new Stark Expo created by Tony Stark after the 2010 one, as seen in Iron Man 2, with various exhibit halls that include the Mark III armor from the films.
This was done, along with the previously established Marvel Spotlight banner, to help indicate to audiences that they did not have to watch all of the studio’s projects to understand the overall story and could choose which storylines and characters under these banners to follow. In 2024, Marvel Studios introduced their “Marvel Animation” and “Marvel Television” banners for their animated and live-action series, respectively. Alonso’s lawyers refuted these claims, saying Disney was aware of, and agreed to, Alonso’s work on Argentina, 1985 and Alonso had been “silenced and was terminated when she refused to do something she believed was reprehensible”; this was reported to be a disagreement with a Disney executive over the censoring of gay pride elements in Quantumania so the film could be released in Kuwait in compliance with the country’s restrictive anti-LGBTQ laws. The company consistently reminded her of this while she continued to promote the film following its September 2022 premiere, ultimately leading to her firing.
The experience was available for a limited time starting in mid-October 2019 at select Void VR locations. The Marvels director Nia DaCosta filmed Vellani and Larson’s content in London ahead of principal photography for the film. Chris Pratt, Zoë Saldaña, Dave Bautista and Benicio del Toro all filmed exclusive footage for the attraction, reprising their roles as Peter Quill / Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax and Taneleer Tivan / The Collector, respectively. In addition, there was a simulator game, titled “Become Iron Man”, that used Kinect-like technology to allow the viewer to be encased in an animated Mark XLII armor and take part in a series of “tests”, in which you fire repulsor rays and fly through Tony Stark’s workshop. After Sony canceled its shared universe plans and began sharing the Spider-Man character with Marvel Studios, multiple critics discussed its failure to replicate the MCU.
–The Sony Spider-Man or Fox X-Men cinematic universes, even though they’ve had some crossover with the MCU. Phase 5 officially kicked off the heart of the Multiverse Saga in February 2023 and is set to run through the end of 2025. The second phase begins with Iron Man 3 (2013) and runs through Ant-Man (2015). Here we are going to show you both, including the Rotten Tomatoes ratings for each film. We finally get some MCU payoff to The Eternals, as the emergence of Tiamut at the end of the movie is revealed to have kicked off an arm’s race for adamantium. As a consequence, she is taking on her fair share of responsibility for a destabilized universe.