TL;DR
- The main MCU chronology begins with Captain America: The First Avenger before jumping forward to Captain Marvel and Iron Man.
- Tom Holland’s four Spider-Man movies are part of the main MCU timeline, beginning after Captain America: Civil War and continuing through Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
- Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man movies take place in separate universes but became relevant to the MCU through No Way Home.
- Loki, Deadpool & Wolverine and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are especially important for understanding the Multiverse heading into Avengers: Doomsday.
- Avengers: Doomsday arrives December 18, 2026.
Keeping track of the Marvel Cinematic Universe used to be simple. Watch Iron Man, follow the movies as they came out and eventually arrive at The Avengers. Nearly two decades later, the MCU contains alternate universes, time travel, resurrected characters, Netflix heroes, mutants and multiple versions of Spider-Man.
With Avengers: Doomsday approaching, now is a good time to straighten everything out.
This guide focuses on the major films and television chapters that build the road toward Doomsday rather than forcing you through every One-Shot or standalone animated adventure. Marvel’s official timeline currently stretches from the ancient events of Eyes of Wakanda through the latest adventures of its modern heroes, with several projects existing completely outside conventional time or on alternate Earths.
The MCU Begins Long Before Iron Man
Chronologically, Steve Rogers gets the first major chapter. Captain America: The First Avenger primarily takes place during World War II, introducing the Super Soldier program, Hydra and the Tesseract decades before Tony Stark builds his first suit.
From there, the movie timeline jumps to 1995 for Captain Marvel before arriving at the modern MCU.
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- Captain Marvel
- Iron Man
- Iron Man 2
- The Incredible Hulk
- Thor
- The Avengers
That first stretch establishes almost everything Marvel would build upon for years: the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., Asgard, the Infinity Stones and Thanos lurking in the background.
The Avengers Era Leads Directly To Civil War
After the Battle of New York, Marvel starts expanding outward. The Guardians introduce the cosmic side of the MCU while Steve Rogers discovers how deeply Hydra has corrupted S.H.I.E.L.D. Eventually, Tony Stark creates Ultron, Sokovia is devastated and the consequences of all those superhero battles catch up with the Avengers.
The chronological movie order through that period is:
- Thor: The Dark World
- Iron Man 3
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Ant-Man
- Captain America: Civil War
- Black Widow
- Black Panther
Civil War is one of the MCU’s most important turning points because it fractures the Avengers just before Thanos arrives. It also introduces a teenager from Queens named Peter Parker.
Here Is Where Spider-Man Enters The MCU Timeline
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man officially joins the story during Captain America: Civil War. His first solo film takes place afterward, when Peter returns to New York and desperately tries to prove to Tony Stark that he belongs alongside the Avengers.
- Captain America: Civil War
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Doctor Strange
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Ant-Man and the Wasp
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Avengers: Endgame
Peter obviously plays a major part in Infinity War and Endgame, including becoming one of the billions erased by Thanos before returning five years later.
Endgame Changes The Calendar
This is where MCU dates become strange. Thanos snaps half of all life away in 2018. Five years then pass before the Avengers reverse the Blip in 2023, meaning the MCU’s “present day” moves several years ahead of our real-world calendar.
The immediate post-Endgame era includes WandaVision, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Sam Wilson’s Disney+ journey is especially important because it explains how he fully embraces becoming Captain America before Captain America: Brave New World.
Spider-Man Goes From Far From Home To No Way Home
Peter Parker’s next two movies take place after Endgame.
- Spider-Man: Far From Home
- Eternals
- Spider-Man: No Way Home
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
- Hawkeye
Marvel’s current official chronology places Far From Home, Eternals, No Way Home, Multiverse of Madness and Hawkeye in that order.
No Way Home is where the Spider-Man timeline becomes a multiverse timeline. Doctor Strange’s spell brings Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men, along with villains from their respective franchises, into Peter Parker’s universe.
Do The Tobey Maguire And Andrew Garfield Movies Count?
Yes and no.
They are not part of Earth-616’s normal chronological history, so you should not insert Spider-Man from 2002 somewhere between Iron Man and Thor. They exist on alternate Earths that became connected to the wider MCU Multiverse through No Way Home.
If you want the complete Spider-Man experience before continuing, watch:
- Spider-Man
- Spider-Man 2
- Spider-Man 3
- The Amazing Spider-Man
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2
- Spider-Man: No Way Home
The Venom, Morbius and Kraven the Hunter movies belong to Sony’s separate universe rather than the main MCU, despite occasional multiverse crossover material.
The Multiverse Saga Takes Over
After Endgame, Marvel increasingly stops dealing with one timeline. Loki is arguably the most important television series for understanding that shift. Both seasons operate largely outside conventional time and establish the TVA, branching realities and the increasingly unstable Multiverse.
Other major post-Endgame chapters include:
- Moon Knight
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Echo
- She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
- Ms. Marvel
- Thor: Love and Thunder
- Ironheart
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
- Secret Invasion
- The Marvels
- Deadpool & Wolverine
- Agatha All Along
Deadpool & Wolverine is another major multiverse piece because the TVA directly connects the former Fox-controlled Marvel characters to the larger MCU framework without pretending their previous movies happened on Earth-616.
Captain America, The New Avengers And The Fantastic Four
The most recent Earth-616 storyline begins moving the MCU toward another Avengers-level collision.
Captain America: Brave New World continues Sam Wilson’s story as Captain America. Thunderbolts* then brings together Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, U.S. Agent and others, eventually establishing a new Avengers team.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps complicates things because Reed Richards and his family do not originate on Earth-616 at all. Their movie takes place on the retro-futuristic Earth-828, which Marvel has officially identified as an alternate universe. The Fantastic Four are nevertheless headed directly into Avengers: Doomsday.
That means First Steps should absolutely be on a Doomsday watchlist even though it cannot be neatly dropped into Earth-616’s calendar.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Is The Final Spider-Man Stop Before Doomsday
Four years after No Way Home, Peter Parker is living alone in a New York that no longer remembers who he is. That places Spider-Man: Brand New Day around 2028 in the MCU’s internal chronology, making it the latest main-timeline movie before Doomsday. Marvel describes the film as a new chapter in Peter’s life following his decision to erase himself from the memories of everyone he loves.
The complete Tom Holland Spider-Man path is therefore:
- Captain America: Civil War
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Avengers: Endgame
- Spider-Man: Far From Home
- Spider-Man: No Way Home
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day
One More Marvel Project Arrives Before Doomsday
Marvel Television’s VisionQuest premieres October 14, 2026, continuing the story that began with WandaVision. Because the series has not premiered yet, its precise chronological placement should not be assumed, but it will be the final major Marvel Studios release before Avengers: Doomsday arrives in December.
Then Comes Avengers: Doomsday
After years of fractured teams and increasingly unstable realities, everything converges with Avengers: Doomsday.
Anthony and Joe Russo return to direct, Robert Downey Jr. plays Doctor Doom, and the movie brings together characters from across the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Wakanda, Thunderbolts and X-Men corners of Marvel. Marvel has officially scheduled Avengers: Doomsday for December 18, 2026.
You do not need to watch every minute Marvel has produced to understand it. But if there are four branches worth paying particularly close attention to before Doom arrives, they are the Avengers story through Endgame, Peter Parker’s complete MCU journey, the Multiverse mythology established by Loki, and the alternate worlds explored through Deadpool & Wolverine and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
For the first time since Thanos, all of those roads appear to be heading toward the same destination.
Doomsday.
DC Fanboy! Superman is the greatest comic book character of all time. Favorite movies are Man of Steel, Goonies, Back To the Future
