How to Watch the ‘Avengers’ Movies in Order

This list breaks down several different ways you can watch—or play catch up with—the Avengers film franchise up to and including Avengers: Endgame. It stops at Endgame because the next Avengers movie, currently called Avengers 5, isn’t due until 2026, and there’s no way to be certain what other movies’ elements will be important.

Watching ‘The Avengers’ in Release Order

It’s easy to conflate “The Avengers” with “Marvel movies” in general since the franchise tends to try to tie all of the films together. Sometimes, it’s only a scene that pops up after the credits roll, but there are still a fair number of titles out there that tie in even without the super team name in the title.

If you’re only interested in the primary Avengers films, though, their release and chronological order are the same:

How to Watch the ‘Avengers’ Solo and Team-Up Movies in Order

The thing about The Avengers as a film series is that there are a lot of semi-standalone movies that tie into them, particularly when it comes to the introduction and establishment of several key characters. If you want to know all of the significant context thus far, you’re going to have to add a lot more titles to the list.

‘Avengers’ Movies in Chronological Order

The chronology of The Avengers is a bit complicated, and not just because of all the time travel. Some of the key characters for the franchise are introduced later in the filmography, but their stories take place decades before Nick Fury’s surprise cameo at the end of Iron Man.

To watch all of the significant stuff as it happens across somewhat linear time, follow this order:

Watching All of It

While the above list sets up all of the significant characters, moments, and plot elements that tie into the greater Avengers narrative, there are still more films that are connected. Not necessarily in extremely important ways, but if you really want to know who Ned (Spider-Man’s “guy in the chair") is or Groot suddenly being a teenager bugs you, this is for you:

Where Do the Other Movies Fit In?

Nods and winks to the larger “Marvel Cinematic Universe” are contained in most other Marvel films, but you really don’t need to watch them to follow along. You can certainly check out Deadpool, the various X-Men films, and so on if you’d like, of course. Just go in with the mentality that while they take place in the same multiverse, they don’t tie in with The Avengers. At least not yet.