The MCU Timeline In Chronological Order
As a man who apparently has FAR too much time on his hands and is chock-full of self loathing, I decided to take on the extremely confusing and difficult task of sorting all of the major events of the MCU timeline into chronological order.
The idea to do this piece first came about when I was trying to work out whether Hawkeye takes place before or after Spider-Man: No Way Home. I was pretty sure that it was taking place afterwards, but it does seem slightly strange that we are now four episodes into the series and the reality-shifting events of No Way Home haven’t even gotten a mention or throwaway reference.
It has since been confirmed that Hawkeye does take place after No Way Home, but not by much, with the two only being a few months apart. Since the two are releasing concurrently with each other, I would assume that the events of No Way Home may be mentioned in the final episode of Hawkeye, as it will drop a week after No Way Home is released in cinemas.
The completed list of the MCU timeline in chronological order will be below the image of Thanos. As you scroll through the list, keep an eye of for the various asterisks throughout, as these will be detailed below the list.
The MCU Timeline In Chronological Order:
Phase 1
1. Captain America: The First Avenger
2. Agent Carter Season 1 *4
3. Agent Carter Season 2 *4
4. Agent Carter One-Shot
6. Iron Man
7. Iron Man 2
8. The Incredible Hulk
9. The Consultant One-Shot
10. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer One-Shot
11. Thor
12. The Avengers (aka Avengers Assemble)
13. Item 47 One-Shot
Phase 2
14. Iron Man 3
15. All Hail the King One-Shot
16. Agents of SHIELD Season 1, Episodes 1-7 *1
18. Agents of SHIELD Season 1, Episodes 8-16 *1
19. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
20. Agents of SHIELD Season 1 Episodes 17-22 *1
21. Guardians of the Galaxy
22. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
23. Daredevil Season 1 *3
24. Agents of SHIELD Season 2, Episodes 1-10 *1
25. Jessica Jones Season 1*3
26. Agents of SHIELD Season 2, Episodes 11-19 *1
27. Avengers: Age of Ultron
28. Agents of SHIELD Season 2, Episodes 20-22 *1
29. Daredevil Season 2, Episodes 1-4 *3
30. Luke Cage Season 1, Episodes 1-4 *3
31. Daredevil Season 2, Episodes 5-11 *3
32. Luke Cage Season 1, Episodes 5-8 *3
33. Daredevil Season 2, Episodes 12-13 *3
34. Luke Cage Season 1, Episodes 9-13 *3
35. Ant-Man
36. Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 1-10) *1
37. Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 11-19) *1
38. Iron Fist Season 1 *3
Phase 3
39. Captain America: Civil War
40. Black Widow
41. Agents of SHIELD (season 3, eps 20-22) *1
42. The Defenders *3
43. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 1-6) *1
44. Doctor Strange
45. Black Panther
46. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 7-8) *1
47. Agents of SHIELD: Slingshot (season 1, eps 1-6) *1
48. Agents of SHIELD (season 4, eps 9-22) *1
50. Thor: Ragnarok
51. Inhumans *5
52. The Punisher *3
53. Runaways *6
54. Agents of SHIELD (season 5, eps 1-10) *1
55. Jessica Jones Season 2 *3
56. Agents of SHIELD (season 5, eps 11-18) *1
57. Cloak & Dagger Season 1 *7
58. Cloak & Dagger Season 2 *7
59. Luke Cage Season 2 *3
60. Iron Fist Season 2 *3
61. Daredevil Season 3 *3
62. Runaways Season 2 *6
63. The Punisher Season 2 *3
64. Jessica Jones Season 3 *3
65. Ant-Man and the Wasp *8
66. Avengers: Infinity War
67. Agents of SHIELD (season 5, eps 19-22) *1
68. Agents of SHIELD (season 6) *1 *2
69. Agents of SHIELD (season 7) *1 *2
70. Runaways Season 3 *2 *6
Phase 4
72. Loki *9
73. What If…? *10
74. WandaVision
75. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
76. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
77. Eternals *11
79. Hawkeye
Discrepancies
Agents Of Shield
*1 – Whether or not Agents Of Shield is actually still considered official MCU canon is up for debate. Although the show featured appearances by Nick Fury and Agent Coulson, it also messed with time travel and dimension jumping. According to one of the authors of; The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is no longer considered canon. That said, it was technically considered canon at one point in time, which is why I chose to include it on the list.
During The Blip
*2 – Astonishingly, these are the only three pieces of live action media that we have gotten that take place during The Blip besides the first two acts of Endgame! What is even more crazy is that although Season 3 of Runaways takes place during this significant period in the MCU, it makes almost no mention of the major event that just changed the world.
Marvel/Netflix Shows
*3 – Part of the Netflix Marvel Universe, which like Agents Of Shield, may no longer be official MCU canon. When Disney+ was launched, it was said that any Marvel shows released before then were now not canon. However, Kevin Feige did recently reveal that Charlie Cox will be the MCU’s version of Daredevil in any future projects. This along with the hints towards Kingpin in Hawkeye give more credence to the idea of the Netflix Marvel shows being canon within the MCU.
Agent Carter
*4 – Thankfully, this one is a little more clear-cut. Agent Carter is officially considered to be MCU canon according to The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Inhumans
*5 – Technically speaking, The Inhumans was a spin-off from Agents of Shield. Therefore, if AoS is no longer considered official MCU canon, then neither is Inhumans. It was also a complete piece of garbage, so I don’t imagine that anyone out there will be campaigning to include it within the MCU. That said, like AoS it was bizarrely considered canon at one point in time, which is why it is on this list.
Runaways
*6 – The Darkhold’s first live action appearance was in Agents of Shield and it was later shown in Runaways. However, in Wandavision, Agatha Harkness was revealed to be in possession of The Darkhold and had been for centuries. Therefore rendering the events Runaways as non-canon. It is included on this list though as it was considered canon at one point in time.
Cloak & Dagger
*7 – According to the IMDB trivia section for Cloak & Dagger, the show is no longer considered canon to the MCU. Although it was considered canon at one time, hence its inclusion on this list.
Ant-Man & The Wasp
*8 – Although the main part of Ant-Man and The Wasp takes place before Infinity War, the post credits scene takes place concurrently with Infinity War’s finale.
Loki
*9 – Loki could technically be put directly after the first Avengers movie, as it is that version of Loki who we follow in the show. However, if a newcomer is using this list to make their way through the MCU for the first time, they would be better served watching Loki after Endgame.
What If?
*10 – Although the lead writer on What If, AC Bradley, stated that the show is canon, taking place within the multiverse unleashed at the end of Loki, I would argue that. The whole point of What If was that it ponders what could have happened to the characters in this universe, had things panned out differently. To call it canon sort of goes against the point of the show in my opinion. That said, I do not work for Marvel, so you can make up your own minds with this one.
Eternals
*11 – Eternals spans millions of years through the use of flashbacks, however the main plot elements take place after Shang-Chi.
So, there you have it. A complete list of the MCU timeline in chronological order. I hope that you enjoyed that and just maybe the list will come in handy to you one day. Honestly, one of the biggest discoveries that I made whilst researching this piece, was the bombshell that Runaways got three seasons. How the hell did that happen?
My head hurts now, so I am going to go and lie down in a dark room. If you feel the need to leave a comment below telling me that I missed out Helstrom then please, knock yourself out. I do not care.
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