I Love You 3000

“I am Iron Man”

This quote from Iron Man (2008) kicked off what many fans know as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It can be hard for new fans to get into the movies due to the large amount of content that is currently available. There are dozens of movies and several shows, but Marvel breaks it up into easier-to-consume chunks. 

The first division they split the movies into is phases. There are currently four complete phases, with phase five finishing after Thunderbolts comes out this May. According to Rotten Tomatoes, there are also plans for phase six with the first three movies being announced: The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Avengers: Doomsday, and Avengers: Secret Wars. The actual number of movies per phase varies because they aren’t organized by the number of movies, but are just a period of time, such as phase one, which includes the movies that came out from 2008-2012 (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers). 

Another way the MCU divides its movies is with sagas. These are larger groups of movies with only 2 sagas currently: the Infinity Saga (2008-2019) and the ongoing Multiverse Saga (2021- ). The Infinity Saga includes movies from the first three phases of the MCU, starting with Iron Man (2008) and ending with Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), which is set just after the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019). While each movie has its own plot and villains, the Infinity Saga has an overarching villain: Thanos, whose goal is to collect all six of the infinity stones and end half of all life in the universe. His collection of these stones is what gives the saga its name (MCU Wiki). The Multiverse Saga includes movies from phase four onwards. This saga has been very hit or miss for fans with successful movies such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), but also movies that received poor reception from fans such as Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and The Marvels (2023). 

A common way people watch the MCU is in chronological order. Most of the movies, come out in chronological order, but there are some exceptions. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) entered theaters a few years after Iron Man (2008), but takes place over 60 years before it, during WWII (Marvel.com). There are a few other exceptions as well suchas Black Widow (2021) and Captain Marvel (2019). The chronological order can sometimes become confusing, with exceptions such as those, but there are many resources for fans who want to watch it in the “correct” order, though fans can watch it in any order they choose.