Ten years and over twenty movies later, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a global phenomenon. Audiences have been transported all over the galaxy and even into the Quantum Realm, with more adventures to come, including a final showdown with Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
With so many movies in the MCU, it can be tough keeping track of what's what. Luckily, Marvel has released an official timeline detailing the first ten years of the MCU, from Captain America: The First Avenger up through Avengers: Infinity War.
Here's a list of the MCU movies that have been released and the years in which they take place. Their actual release dates are in parenthesis:
- 1942 - 1945: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
- 1995: Captain Marvel (2019)
- 2009: Iron Man (2008)
- 2010: Iron Man 2 (2010), The Incredible Hulk (2011), Thor (2011)
- 2012: The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013)
- 2013: Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- 2014: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
- 2015: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Ant-Man (2015)
- 2016: Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Black Panther (2018)
- 2016 - 2017: Doctor Stranger (2016)
- 2017: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
- 2018: Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Ant-Man & the Wasp (2018)
- 2019: Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
As you can see, the way the timeline has played out isn't in chronological order. Movies that recently came out fit differently into the actual timeline.
Marvel has tweaked and retconned the timeline a few times over the years, but this is the most current as far as we're aware. When Spider-Man: Homecoming was released, for example, Marvel initially said it took place eight years after The Avengers. The studio later halved that.
Once Marvel announces more movies beyond 2019, we'll be sure to update the timeline.
