Entire MCU Recapped in Chronological Order | Marvel Cinematic Universe Timeline Explained

After 30 movies and 8 Disney+ series, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is getting complicated! So, I decided to recap it all in one place and in timeline order: staring before the creation of the universe all the way through the Guardians of the Galaxy celebrating Christmas 2025!

BILLIONS OF YEARS AGO
0:00 Arishem Brings Light into the Universe

MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO
2:19 Birth of Ego
3:08 Wakanda is Formed

THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO
4:04 Eternals Arrive on Earth
4:25 Asgard Faces the Dark Elves
5:41 The Fall of Ta Lo
6:28 Asgard Conquers the Nine Realms
7:05 The Eternals Are Changed by Their Experiences on Earth
8:35 Thor is Born
8:53 Asgard Defeats the Frost Giants
9:42 The Kree-Skrull War Begins
10:08 Xu Wenwu Discovers the Ten Rings

HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO
10:27 The Tesseract is Brought to Earth
10:46 The Eternal Split Up
11:59 Namor is Born

1930s
13:40 Red Skull is Created

1940s
15:15 Aisha Finds the Bangle
15:45 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
20:42 The Winter Soldier is Born
21:28 Aisha is Killed and Sana is Rescued

1950s
22:44 SHIELD is Created
23:02 The US Army Recklessly Tries to Recreate the Super Soldier Serum

1960s
23:43 Howard Stark Invents the Arc Reactor
24:44 Discovery of the Pym Particle

1970s
25:20 Dr. Zola Becomes a Computer
25:36 Ego Falls in Love

1980s
26:12 Ego Leaves Earth
27:09 Janet van Dyne is Trapped in the Quantum Realm
28:10 Peter Quill is Kidnapped and Brought to Space
29:03 Hank Pym Leaves SHIELD
29:24 Carol Danvers Gets Powers

1990s
31:42 Tony Stark’s Parents are Killed by the Winter Soldier
32:49 King T’Chaka Kills His Brother (Killmonger’s Backstory)
34:51 CAPTAIN MARVEL
37:54 Natasha Romanoff's Family is Dissolved
39:47 Thanos Adopts Gamora
41:11 Ava Starr Becomes Ghost
42:05 Xu Wenwu's Search for Ta Lo
43:02 Wanda Maximoff Loses Her Parents
44:12 Aldrich Killian Becomes Tony Stark's Enemy

2000s
45:44 The Hulk is Born
47:03 Shang-Chi's Training Begins
48:57 Natasha and Clint in Budapest (How Romanoff Joins SHIELD)

2009
50:00 IRON MAN

2010
55:18 IRON MAN 2 / THE INCREDIBLE HULK / THOR
(Combined because their timelines overlap significantly)

2011
1:09:15 Steve Rogers is found in the Ice

2012
1:09:43 THE AVENGERS
1:16:45 Derek Bishop is Killed
1:16:59 Loki is Imprisoned by Odin
1:17:05 Adrian Toomes Begins Selling Chitauri Tech on the Black Market
1:17:49 IRON MAN 3

2013
1:22:29 THOR: THE DARK WORLD

2014
1:26:42 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
1:26:17 Shang-Chi's First Kill
1:36:56 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
1:46:00 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

2015
1:51:27 AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
2:00:05 ANT-MAN
2:05:27 Thor and Jane Break Up

2016
2:06:03 DOCTOR STRANGE - Part 1
2:08:34 CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
2:15:58 BLACK WIDOW
2:20:01 BLACK PANTHER
2:25:33 The Avengers are Freed post-Civil War
2:25:44 Steve’s Letter to Tony
2:26:25 SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

2017
2:35:47 DOCTOR STRANGE - Part 2
2:39:55 THOR: RAGNAROK

2018
2:45:10 ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
2:49:58 AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

2023
3:00:35 AVENGERS: ENDGAME
3:13:16 LOKI
3:21:57 WANDAVISION
3:31:38 ETERNALS

2024
3:37:35 Gorr Vows to Kill all Gods
3:38:14 SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS
3:42:52 THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER
3:54:16 SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME
4:02:35 SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
4:11:01 T'Challa Passes Away
4:11:23 DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS
4:20:22 Peter Visits MJ and Ned
4:21:11 HAWKEYE

2025
4:29:31 MOON KNIGHT
4:37:39 SHE-HULK: ATTORNEY AT LAW
4:47:04 MS. MARVEL
4:55:33 THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER
5:00:41 BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
5:07:18 WEREWOLF BY NIGHT
5:09:28 THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY HOLIDAY SPECIAL

MUSIC CREDITS
Viking March by Pawl D Beats licensed through YouTube Creator Music
Autumn Breeze by Jacob’s Piano licensed through YouTube Creator Music
Rememberance by Jacob’s Piano licensed through YouTube Creator Music
.Goëtia. By Peter Gundry licensed through YouTube Creator Music
Peer Gynt Suite No 1 Op 55, Solveig's Song licensed through Videvo
Earliest Memories licensed through Videvo
We Wish You a Merry Christmas licensed through Videvo
'Sappheiros - Awake' is under a creative commons license

#Marvel #MCU #MarvelCinematicUniverse

[OneTakeVids]

It adds Quantumania, Guardians 3, and Secret Invasion + Incorporates the corrections below (and many others tweaks)

CORRECTIONS (To be implemented when/if I do any updated version):
- Captain America: Winter Solider + Civil War- Sharon Carter is NOT Peggy's daughter. She is Peggy's grandniece (also known as greatniece)
- Avengers: Endgame - When Rogers and Stark went to 1970, they were after the SPACE stone, not the POWER stone
- Pronunciation of Romanoff and M'Baku
- At the start of the "Wakanda is Formed" chapter, it should be "*millions of years later", 'billions of years later"

---


So, it had to go on the backburner thanks to some other OneTake priorities (like Better Call Saul’s final season! And wow… Still can’t believe that show is over).

Anyway, after my Halloween project, I finally decided to focus on the big MCU Recap. I got especially excited for it when I had the idea to do it in chronological order, rather than just a straightforward recap. I’m a big fan of puzzling things out / seeing how they fit together (if you couldn’t figure that out from my Dark or Raised by Wolves content haha) so I knew it’d be a fun project to see how well all the MCU content actually fits on a timeline.

A few notes on the timeline if you’re curious:

WHY DID I EXCLUDE AGENTS OF SHIELD, DAREDEVIL, ETC?
As you can see, this video only covers the movies and the Disney+ shows (excluding “What If” since so far that series has been relegated outside the main timeline). Although shows like Agents of SHIELD, Daredevil, Runaways, etc are “canon”. They’re mostly one-way canon. Meaning, they’ve existed outside or between the cracks of the mainline movies but don’t actually impact or push those movies forward in any way. In fact, until recently, the shows were all handled by a separate entity within Marvel entirely.

Now, everything is under Kevin Feige’s authority (or K.E.V.I.N… lol) so the shows and movies are much more closely linked. In fact, at Disney events, when Feige shows the upcoming slate of movies for a phase, the shows are actually included. So, to truly understand the entirety of the MCU that “matters” for movie-continuity, so far… It seems like you need to know the story of the movies + the Disney+ shows.

And… Let’s be honest… Including ALL the shows would be A LOT to cover. I’m not saying it’s out of the question for the future, but in terms of understanding the main events of the MCU. I think we have it covered in this vid :)

HOW DID I FIGURE OUT THE CORRECT TIMELINE ORDER?
First, I have to point out an insane coincidence. Literally, just a few hours ago, as I was putting the finishing touches on this video… Marvel Studios announced they are FINALLY releasing an official timeline. They released one when the first Avengers came out but that only covered Phase 1. Things have obviously gotten way more complicated since then so this is welcome news.

Until that comes out, how do we determine the right timeline order? A few ways. Sometimes the movies themselves are VERY clear about when something takes place. For example, there will be on-screen titled cards (see Eternals for example) indicating the year. Or, in Endgame, the Avengers time travel to specific moments we saw in the movies and the years are indicated.


When all else fails, Disney+ recently added a feature where you can watch the MCU in timeline order. I say “when all else fails” because they’ve changed the order there a few times so you can’t always take that page as gospel either.

Anyway, as you dig into the details, you find that the movies are internally contradictory. For example, throughout Iron Man, which came out in 2008, there are plenty of references to it taking place in 2008. Then Iron Man 2 is said to take place 6 months later… But, it takes place during Thor and Incredible Hulk which we know takes place in 2010. So, we have to assume that Iron Man retroactively takes place in 2009.

The list goes on! If there’s interest, I may do a sort of “supplemental” video to this one, going into more of the details of piecing together the timeline and the various judgment calls I made where there’s room for debate. Though, like I said, that may soon be unnecessary if the official timeline clears things up!

I NOTICED A MISTAKE IN YOUR VIDEO!
Feel free to let me know about it in the comments! I may re-release the video in the future and expand it as we get into Phase 5. At that point, I can incorporate corrections.

[BobbyJCFHvLichtenstein]

Good lord, this must have taken an insane amount of time to research, write, and put together! Massive kudos for your dedication!

[thatraqs]

Now that we're in phase 4, I've forgotten a lot of the smaller details from phase 1 and phase 2 movies, so this was a perfect video to watch to reconnect everything together, thank you!

[HearBobbyRoar]

Dude, I hope you are given the credit you deserve from Marvel. This is the most perfectly detailed layout of the MCU that is possible and Marvel should give you your just due. Thank you to everyone that truly appreciates the work you put into, creating this narrative and video. I will pay your tab anytime we may meet lol.

[joshmariscal]

Wow, what a fanfic, someone should turn this into a series of movies and shows!

[sixtothegeez]

You made this so interesting, you’ve made 5 hours feel like 2 and personally I’ve been waiting to see a video like this, with a real, complete and intricate timeline. Bravo sir, Bravo

[AxelsAndGears]

Oh, so this is where you've been, you madman.

[thedefinitionisthis]

Excellent work. Honestly, this really does make me appreciate the interconnectivity of the MCU overall. While some shows and movies are better than others, I appreciate the comic-book storytelling approach they've been able to apply to this on-screen franchise, and love how everything is connected in some way. Thanks for doing this, and continue to do great work!

[vincentthomas]

I watched all five hours of this and it is fantastic! Thank you for all the work that you put in.

[jonathanpayne]

This was incredible, I’d love to see an updated version post-Secret Wars!

[Lord.Ningirsu]

Thank you for this huge amount of passion you delivery for us with this massive work.

[teeseries]

I listened to a breakdown of the universe years ago with my grandma that had cancer and not enough time left to get caught up on the movies, it’s wild how in just the past years the video length for this type of breakdown has increased from 2 hours to almost 6. I don’t know why I think of her every time I see a universe recap video but Rip grandma.

[DerwinRoss]

This is by far the best recap of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You were able to capture so much with great detail and anyone who don't fully understand the MCU should watch this video as a 101. I have already shared the link with others to prove a point or two. Thanks for taking the time to create and share this with huge MCU fans like myself.

[CaptainKwame]

I am in awe of this video--took me three days, but the narrative, the framing, the connecting the dots, made this video so worth every second! Thanks for this amazing work and excellent storytelling!

[tikkigodman]

This is amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Thank you for all of your hard work!

[AuroraOceans]

This showed up in my feed not realizing it was over 5 hours long. Best 5 hours of my life!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. This was amazing to watch. You filled in some gaps, holes and movies I've missed and caught me up. I understood it all. You did a great job explaining everything. This is def a masterpiece and I'm looking forward to any future additions.

[turtletrekker]

Wow. I'm impressed. I am going to be watching this in chunks and in my first half hour of viewing I only noticed one omission, and it's a very minor one. In November 1971, Asgardian prince Loki, using the alias "DB Cooper", hijacked an airplane and escaped by way of parachute after losing a bet to his brother Thor.

[pretmetfred]

Funny how this is probably one of the best movies ive ever seen 😂. Ive only seen about half the movies in this recap so it makes it fun to see you connect all the dots! Thanks for this amazing recap and keep doing these things because your voice is perfect and your determination fits that very well :D

[stormtrooper]

1.5M people sat down and watched a five hour video, about the timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The passion is unreal.

[StrangePhoton]

This was absolutely fantastic. In fact, your recounting of Love and Thunder made that film more enjoyable than the film, itself. The idea was there, but the execution was a big let down - and you brought it back to its core essence. Thank you for this video, and for the many others on your channel that I've happily started going through! If you haven't already, I'd love to see a Star Wars complete retrospective like this one, but including the multiple animated series as well, since they're part of the canon. Again, fantastic job on this!