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A Nifty Timeline of the Most Important Events Throughout the Marvel Movies

Marvel Movie Timeline

A Nifty Timeline of the Most Important Events Throughout the Marvel Movies

Marvel Movie Timeline
Image Source: Everett Collection

Now that we've been blessed with the record-smashing Captain Marvel, we bet you're already looking forward to ordering Avengers: Endgame tickets. Before you watch Endgame, you'll want to freshen up your knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies — all 20 installations of them. If you, like most, don't have the time to devote 40 or so hours to the franchise, don't freak out yet. Just before the wild events of Endgame go down, check out this convenient timeline to refresh your memory (hopefully you weren't brainwashed like Bucky Barnes). From the forging of the Infinity Stones to Thanos's notorious finger snap, we've gathered the most important events of the MCU all in one place. It goes without saying that there are HUGE spoilers ahead for virtually all of the MCU films, so let this be your warning!

A Long, Long Time Ago

A Long, Long Time Ago
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • 13.8 billion years ago: Before the creation of the universe, there are six singularities: time, mind, reality, soul, power, and space. After the Big Bang, the Celestials forge these singularities into the Infinity Stones. Around the same time the stones are created come the Dark Elves.
  • 2.5 million years ago: A vibranium meteorite hits Wakanda.
  • 2988 B.C.: The Dark Elves try to destroy the Nine Realms with the Reality Stone, but Bor, Odin's father, defeats their leader Malekith and seals away the stone.
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1940s

1940s
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • 1942: The Red Skull, or Johann Schmidt, discovers the Tesseract while visiting Norway. He works with HYDRA to develop weapons with it.
  • 1943: Steve Rogers becomes Captain America after Dr. Erskine injects him with the Super Soldier Serum in Captain America: The First Avenger.
  • 1945: Captain America crashes a HYDRA bomber into the Atlantic Ocean to save New York City. He's suspended in ice for 66 years. S.H.I.E.L.D. forms shortly after Steve Rogers's sacrifice, with leadership from Peggy Carter and Howard Stark.
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1980s

1980s
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • 1984: Hank Pym, who discovered the Pym Particles, pairs his EMP Communication Device with his newly created Ant-Man suit to command bullet ants.
  • 1987: During a mission in her Wasp suit, Janet van Dyne gets trapped in the Quantum Realm.
  • 1989: Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., an Air Force and NASA initiative, forms under Dr. Wendy Lawson (aka Mar-Vell) to study the Tesseract and develop the Light-Speed Engine. The same year, Yon-Rogg attacks her and Carol Danvers, who destroys the engine of their plane (aka the Tesseract). When the engine explodes, Danvers gains superpowers. Yon-Rogg wipes her memory and enlists her in the Starforce.
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1990s

1990s
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • 1991: The Winter Soldier (aka Bucky Barnes) kills Howard and Maria Stark while brainwashed by HYDRA.
  • 1995: Vers, aka Captain Marvel, discovers her past life as Carol Danvers. She teams up with Nick Fury and Maria Rambeau to defeat Yon-Rogg and help the Skrulls. After rescuing Earth from Ronan the Accuser's missiles, she goes back to space to end the Kree-Skrull War. Nick Fury then develops The Avengers Initiative, looking for superheroes like Carol.
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2009

2009
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • Tony Stark gets kidnapped and held captive by the Ten Rings under Obadiah Stane's orders. Afterward, he creates the first Iron Man suit and defeats Obadiah.
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2011

2011
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • After Odin banishes him to Earth, Thor defeats Loki, who falls into a hole and meets Thanos.
  • Steve Rogers wakes up at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger.
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2012

2012
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • The Avengers form after Loki enters a portal to Earth, which results in the Battle of New York during the Chitauri Invasion in The Avengers.
  • The same year, Tony Stark takes over cleaning up New York, which leaves Adrian Toomes angrily out of work and paves the path to the events of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
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2014

2014
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • The Guardians of the Galaxy form and confront Kree radical Ronan the Accuser, who has promised to deliver Thanos the Power Stone in exchange for help with destroying Xandar's Nova Corps. They defeat Ronan with the Power Stone housed inside of the Orb.
  • Meanwhile, Alexander Pierce of S.H.I.E.L.D. launches Project Insight, which would unwittingly allow HYDRA to take over the world. Captain America gets blacklisted because of this initiative but enlists the help of Falcon and Black Widow in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
  • Peter Quill defeats his Celestial father Ego, and his mentor Yondu dies saving him in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
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2015

2015
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man and the Hulk discover Loki's scepter, finding in it the Mind Stone they use to create Vision. They and the other Avengers also defeat Ultron, an AI that the two scientists created that had planned to wipe out humanity.
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2016

2016
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • This year is all about the events that unfold in Captain America: Civil War. There's a terrorist attack on Lagos that results in the deaths of 26 people — 11 die after Scarlet Witch moves too close to a nearby building while trying to contain an explosion and accidentally destroys it.
  • The Avengers face the Sokovia Accords, which is an attempt to manage them. During the ratification in Vienna, there's a bombing, and the team splits into two factions that eventually battle.
  • Cap and Iron Man later have a showdown in Siberia, where the latter learns about how Bucky Barnes, Cap's friend, was involved in his parents' deaths.
  • T'Challa then defeats Zemo, the terrorist obsessed with breaking up the Avengers.
  • In Black Panther, T'Challa becomes the King of Wakanda following his father's death during the Vienna bombing but gets dethroned by Killmonger. He then becomes king once more after defeating his long-lost cousin in another fight.
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2017

2017
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • When we first meet him, Doctor Strange, using the Eye of Agamotto (which contains the Time Stone), defeats Dormammu.
  • In Thor: Ragnarok, Ragnarok occurs after Surtur destroys Asgard under Odin's disgraced daughter Hela. Thor and Loki then confront Thanos's Sanctuary II while trying to help the refugee Asgardians.
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2018

2018
Image Source: Everett Collection
  • Thanos, after eventually acquiring all six Infinity Stones for the Infinity Gauntlet, snaps his fingers and kills half of the life in the universe (including many Avengers). Before he disappears, Fury pages Captain Marvel.
  • Meanwhile, in one postcredits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp, Hank Pym, his family, and Ant-Man try to help Ava Starr. Ant-Man collects enough particles in the Quantum Realm but gets stuck there when his friends disappear after Thanos's finger snap.
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