Films · 22 events
Marvel Cinematic Universe chronology and timeline
The chronology puts Steve Rogers in 1943. The theatrical timeline puts the audience in 2008, with Tony Stark in the desert. Both queues fit on this spine.
The 2008 poster is not year one
The MCU timeline most rooms entered in 2008. The chronology of that universe does not. Iron Man opened on 2 May 2008 and, in the story, sits around 2010. Captain America: The First Avenger opened in 2011 and is set in the 1940s. Captain Marvel opened in 2019 and is set in 1995. Marvel numbered the phases by arrival in the room. The universe numbered them by the lives of the people on screen.
This line covers the Infinity Saga films, from The First Avenger to Endgame. Disney+ series and the Multiverse Saga wait for another page: dropping WandaVision into Civil War moves the ruler without closing the Stones.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is set in 2014, before Civil War, even though it opened in 2017. It is the cleanest poster-versus-calendar case on this list.
In-world
Before Tony Stark
The war, the ice, and 1995.
Captain America: The First Avenger
Release: 22 Jul 2011
1943–1945, with an epilogue in the present. Steve Rogers, the serum, Nazi Hydra. Release: 22 July 2011, already in Phase One, after four films. On the spine it is the first brick. In the room, the fifth.
Captain Marvel
Release: 8 Mar 2019
1995. Carol Danvers, the Kree, a Nick Fury with both eyes. Release: 8 March 2019, weeks before Endgame. Marvel put the last reinforcement in the room before the snap; in the story she had left Earth decades earlier.
The Avengers meet
From Iron Man to the New York invasion.
Iron Man
Release: 2 May 2008
Around 2010. Afghanistan, the reactor, the press conference. 2 May 2008. It is year one of the room and year three of this timeline. Without this poster the MCU has no release ruler.
The Incredible Hulk
Release: 13 Jun 2008
Parallel to Iron Man 2. Banner, Ross, Harlem. 13 June 2008. The only Phase One film Marvel treated as a distant cousin — and that the inner calendar still slots in the same year as Tony and Thor.
Iron Man 2
Release: 7 May 2010
2011. The Expo, Vanko, palladium. 7 May 2010. Nick Fury is already building the initiative. In the shop, the third film. In the story, the same summer as Thor and Hulk.
Thor
Release: 6 May 2011
2011. New Mexico, the hammer, exile. 6 May 2011. It reaches the room in the same inner year as Iron Man 2. For once the two rulers almost agree.
The Avengers
Release: 4 May 2012
2012. New York, the portal, the Chitauri army. 4 May 2012. End of Phase One on both rulers. It is the point where inner calendar and street date walk together for a film.
After the invasion
Hydra, Sokovia, Nick Fury’s notebook.
Iron Man 3
Release: 3 May 2013
Late 2012. The Mandarin, the panic after New York. 3 May 2013. Tony tries to leave the suit in the same year the invasion ended.
Thor: The Dark World
Release: 8 Nov 2013
2013. The Aether, Jane Foster, Asgard. 8 November 2013. The Reality Stone walks on without the audience using that word yet.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Release: 4 Apr 2014
2014. S.H.I.E.L.D. falls; Hydra was inside. 4 April 2014. Steve Rogers meets the twenty-first century for real. On the spine it is the same year the Guardians leave their sector.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Release: 1 Aug 2014
2014. Morag, Xandar, the Power Stone. 1 August 2014. Far from New York, in the same year as The Winter Soldier. The two plots never cross on screen; they cross on the calendar.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Release: 5 May 2017
2014, two months after the first. Ego, the planet. Release: 5 May 2017 — three years after the inner date, already in the middle of Phase Three. Follow the room and you see Vol. 2 after Civil War. Follow the world and you see it before.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Release: 1 May 2015
2015. Sokovia, the Mind Stone, the farm. 1 May 2015. The team splits. Vision is born. Inner calendar and release still walk together.
Ant-Man
Release: 17 Jul 2015
2015, shortly after Sokovia. Lang, Pym, the suit. 17 July 2015. It closes Phase Two in the room and on the calendar.
Until the snap
Civil War, the Stones, the snap and the five years.
Captain America: Civil War
Release: 6 May 2016
2016. The Sokovia Accords, the airport, Siberia. 6 May 2016. It splits the Avengers enough for Thanos to find an Earth already cracked.
Doctor Strange
Release: 4 Nov 2016
2016–2017. Kamar-Taj, the Time Stone. 4 November 2016. Stephen Strange walks in after the crack, not before. On the spine, after Civil War. In the room, the same.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Release: 7 Jul 2017
2016, two months after Civil War. The ferry, the Vulture, Stark’s voicemail. 7 July 2017. Peter Parker enters the room after Vol. 2; in the story Vol. 2 had ended three years earlier.
Black Panther
Release: 16 Feb 2018
2016, a week after Civil War. Wakanda, Killmonger. 16 February 2018. T’Challa takes the throne in the same year the airport split the team.
Thor: Ragnarok
Release: 3 Nov 2017
2017. Sakaar, Hela, the end of Asgard. 3 November 2017. The Asgardians leave on the ship Infinity War will find.
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Release: 6 Jul 2018
2018, just before the snap, with an epilogue after. 6 July 2018. The Quantum Realm becomes the device Endgame will use. Follow release alone and you see this film between Infinity War and Endgame — and the epilogue already hands you the dust.
Avengers: Infinity War
Release: 27 Apr 2018
2018. The Stones, the snap. 27 April 2018. On the spine and in the room, the same blow. Five years of silence start here — in the story. In the cinema queue Endgame arrived a year later, not five.
Avengers: Endgame
Release: 26 Apr 2019
2018 in the first act, 2023 in the rest. 26 April 2019. The five years the audience lived as twelve months. It closes the Infinity Saga on both rulers: last in the story on this page, last in the queue, with Captain Marvel in the middle of the release path.
See also the timeline index and films.