TIMELINE: A comprehensive history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

The introduction to Phase One of the MCU, “Iron Man” set the pace for what would become the largest connected cinematic universe ever executed.

Tony Stark’s harrowing and humbling experiences begin to build his character from billionaire weapon salesman to one of Earth’s mightiest heroes.

In a post-credits scene, Tony is confronted by S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury regarding his potential participation in the Avengers initiative.

Although it is not the same version of the Hulk audiences have come to know by the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this film does set up the Hulk’s origin story.

This particular film was met with some criticism, despite receiving mostly favorable reviews. The film’s Hulk, portrayed by Edward Norton is eventually replaced by Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner in 2012’s ‘The Avengers.’

In a post-credits scene, Tony Stark confronts General Ross inquiring about Hulk, admitting he is searching for potential members of the Avengers Initiative.

The continuation of Tony Stark’s story sees Iron Man square off against the son of the defected Siberian scientist, Anton Vanko, who helped Howard Stark design the arc reactor. Ivan Vanko, known in the comics as Whiplash, seeks vengeance on Stark for his father’s banishment from America.

Tony discovers he was banished upon learning the malicious capabilities of the arc reactor's power. This story sees his ego challenged once again, ultimately humbling Stark further.

In the post-credits scene, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson arrives at a crater in New Mexico, saying “Sir, we’ve found him” to an unknown person over the phone before the camera pans down to Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, lying at the center of the crater.

A classic origin story, “Thor” sees Asgard’s noble prince cast out for committing treason against his father, King Odin.

Throughout the film, Thor’s will and might are tested as he struggles to regain his powers. Once he self sacrifices to save his friends, the power of Thor is restored to him and Mjolnir returns.

Unfortunately, Loki’s attempt to use the full power of the Bifrost to destroy Jotunheim is nearly successful, forcing Thor to destroy the bridge in order to spare the realm from destruction. This leaves Asgard disconnected from the nine realms, leaving the future of Thor’s story uncertain.

In the post-credits scene, Erik Selvig finds his way to Nick Fury in an underground S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. Fury mentions he’s impressed with Selvig’s work on the “New Mexico situation” in allusion to Thor’s arrival on Earth. Selvig says to Fury “a gateway to another dimension, it’s unprecedented...isn’t it?” Fury responds “Legend tells us one thing, history, another. Every now and then we find a little something that belongs to both.” Fury proceeds to open a briefcase containing the Tesseract.

“Well I guess that’s worth a look.” says Selvig, shown in the mirror to actually be Loki influencing Erik’s actions. This foreshadows and explains Loki’s invasion of Earth to obtain the Tesseract in “The Avengers.”

A blast from the past, Captain America’s first solo outing demonstrates the iron will of America’s mightiest hero in 1942 as he fights against the Red Skull and Hydra, who have obtained the Tesseract, an infinite source of power.

This film sees Steve Rogers sacrifice himself in order to bury the Tesseract in an emergency crash landing into the arctic. At the end, his frozen body is discovered onboard the ship buried in a glacier. He is thawed out and survives to awake in the modern world, 70 years later. Like Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers is sought out by Nick Fury upon awakening.

The culmination of the first five films sees supporting characters Black Widow and Hawkeye join Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk. Loki, at the order of Thanos and the assistance of the chitauri army attempts to invade Earth and recover the Tesseract seen in “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “Thor.”

The Tesseract is the Space Stone, the first Infinity Stone audiences see in the MCU. Loki’s scepter, which he uses to control the minds of Hawkeye, Erik Selvig, and various others contains the Mind Stone, the second Infinity Stone shown in the MCU, but this is not known until “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”

The post-credits scene shows a chitauri soldier explaining the events of the battle of New York to Thanos, warning “to challenge [humans], is to court death.” Thanos turns around and smiles at the camera, warning of his arrival.

As Tony Stark returns from the battle of New York, he struggles with anxiety attacks and an obsessive compulsion to improve the Iron Man armor to prepare for the next big threat he may take on.

Stark sacrifices all of the improved suits in a climactic final battle against the Extremis-powered Aldrich Killian. At the end, Stark starts a new chapter while focusing on his personal relationships rather than entirely on Iron Man. Despite this, Stark makes it clear he will always be Iron Man.

When Thor returns to Earth, he finds that Jane Foster has contracted a cosmic connection to the dark elves, known as the Aether. As the nine realms align in an event called “Convergence” for the first time in 5000 years, the Dark Elves attempt to seize the opportunity to use the aether as a weapon against the nine realms and consume them with darkness.

Thor defends the nine realms from their attack and the Aether is taken for safe storage to the Collector on the planet Knowhere. In the post-credits scene, it is revealed that the Aether is the third Infinity Stone in the MCU, the Reality Stone.

Steve Rogers’ best friend Bucky Barnes was one of the most tragic losses in “Captain America: The First Avenger.” This film sees his return as The Winter Soldier, turned into a weapon by Hydra after being found at the site of his separation from Steve Rogers.

Steve encounters him as he discovers S.H.I.E.L.D. has been infiltrated by Hydra over the past several decades. After taking down S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, Black Widow, Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers go their separate ways.

In the mid-credits scene, Steve goes after Bucky with the help of Sam Wilson, eventually culminating in the events of “Captain America: Civil War.”

In the post-credits scene, Sokovian operatives are shown in possession of Loki’s scepter, having used it to give Wanda and Pietro Maximoff their powers. The pair return in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”

The first cosmic outing in the MCU, this story introduces Peter Quill, abducted from Earth at a young age by ravagers for reasons made clear by this film’s successor. This film also sees the introduction of Gamora and Nebula, the daughters of Thanos.

Along with Rocket Raccoon, Groot and Drax the Destroyer this team eventually forms the Guardians of the Galaxy, who successfully share the energy of the Power Stone to prevent Ronan the Accuser, a Kree fanatic, from destroying the planet of Xandar.

They store the Power Stone with the Nova Core, Xandar’s police forces, for safekeeping. This marks the fourth Infinity Stone seen in the MCU.

The second outing for Earth’s mightiest heroes begins with an optimistic and ideal vision for the future of protection, Ultron. Tony Stark ends up mistakenly combining the Mind Stone from Loki’s scepter with Jarvis to create an artificially intelligent android which becomes corrupted and hellbent on destroying humanity for the protection of the Earth.

The Avengers spend the duration of the film battling against Ultron’s robot drones joined by Wanda Maximoff’s Scarlet Witch, Pietro Maximoff’s Quicksilver and The Vision alongside the original Avengers lineup. Upon defeating Ultron, the heroes are left to assess the damage done to Sokovia in the aftermath.

In the post-credits scene, an armored Thanos reaches his arm into the Infinity Gauntlet while saying “Fine, I’ll do it myself,” foreshadowing the arrival of the mad titan.

Ant-Man’s MCU debut brought another of Marvel’s legendary scientists, Hank Pym, connecting Howard Stark and Peggy Carter to the successor to Pym’s Ant-Man, Scott Lang. The film deals with Scott Lang’s Ant-Man learning to use the suit’s abilities from Pym and his daughter, Hope Van Dyne.

In the final act, Scott Lang is able to go subatomic to destroy the Yellow Jacket and re-emerge from the quantum realm. Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne are filled with hope that The Wasp, Janet Van Dyne, could still be alive inside the Quantum Realm.

Set in the wake of “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Civil War” sees a remorseful Tony Stark attempting to right his wrongs with Ultron a la The Sokovia Accords, a document which regulates superheroes under a special council of the United Nations to oversee their response to threats.

This film sees all the Avengers from Phase Two with additional support from Sam Wilson’s Falcon, Scott Lang’s Ant-Man, Bucky Barnes’ Winter Soldier, Wakandan King T’challa as Black Panther and a long-awaited surprise appearance of Peter Parker as Spider-Man.

Many Avengers, lead by Captain Steve Rogers, oppose these strict regulations as they could keep the Avengers from responding quickly enough to save lives.

Stark’s side of the fence feels guilt and regret for those who are not saved, or are injured in these large battles which cost lives.

By the end of the film, the Avengers are effectively divided in half and disconnected from one another as Thanos’ threat looms larger over the galaxy.

Perhaps the most mystical of the MCU, Doctor Strange is yet another origin of one of Earth’s mightiest heroes as he quickly falls from grace and opens his mind to new ideas only to become to protector of the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York City, and keeper of the Eye of Agamotto, an amulet deriving its powers from the Time Stone, the fifth Infinity Stone to appear in the MCU.

The film sees Steven Strange stepping up to the task as he masters the mystic arts and defeats Dormammu, a cosmic entity attempting to absorb the entire universe into his dark dimension.

Further explaining Peter Quill’s cosmic connection, this film tells the story of Quill’s father, Ego the Living Planet. Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora, Nebula and Drax return for the adventure as the audience gets to know the Universe and the Guardians more closely as their relationships grow and change throughout the story.

After his first appearance in “Captain America: Civil War,” Peter Parker’s return to normalcy is a rough transition. This story sees Peter attempting to live the life of a ‘normal’ teenager while longing for the larger than life excitement of being an Avenger.

Tony Stark acts as a father figure to Peter in this story, continuing his arc outside of the Avengers films. Peter’s ambition comes back to bite him when he makes enemies with the Vulture while trying to prevent the sale of black market alien weapons manufactured by the Vulture and his associates.

The third and most radically different film of the MCU trilogies, “Thor: Ragnarok” sees the character almost reimagined compared to his debut. After his unknown sister destroys his hammer and takes over Asgard, she banishes Thor to Sakkar, a garbage planet.

With the help of Bruce Banner’s Hulk, Loki and Valkyrie, Thor fights makes his way off of the planet and escapes back to Asgard to avenge his people and defeat his sister, Hela.

After his debut in “Captain America: Civil War,” King T’Challa’s Black Panther has already established rapport for being a powerful leader and even more powerful warrior. His will to lead and decision to open Wakanda’s resources to aid the world demonstrate his character’s ability to grow and change to the circumstances of the world rather than hiding and pretending as though they are a nation of chaos and turmoil, as seen in the early moments of the film.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking “Avengers” film to date, “Avengers: Infinity War” saw Earth’s mightiest heroes defeated. Thanos successfully collects every Infinity Stone in the universe after sacrificing his daughter, Gamora, to obtain the Soul Stone, the sixth and final of the Infinity Stones.

After acquiring the Mind Stone from the head of Vision, Thanos’ destructive rampage results in the worst case scenario - decimation. Half of the world’s populations disappear into dust, including many of Earth’s mightiest heroes.

The film closes out as a happy ending only for the antagonist, leaving fans with little hope for a full victory against the mad titan come “Avengers: Endgame.”

The post-credits scene shows S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury as he witnesses the Decimation. He reacts quickly, rushing to activate the pager given to him in “Captain Marvel” to call for help. As he activates the device, he slowly disintegrates and drops the pager to the ground to reveal Captain Marvel’s insignia.

Continuing the thread begun in 2015’s “Ant-Man,” this film sees Scott Lang reconvene with Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne after he receives a message from Janet Van Dyne (The Wasp) after his short stint in the quantum realm. With Scott’s help, Hank and Hope are able to build a quantum tunnel and travel into the quantum realm to rescue Janet Van Dyne nearly 40 years after her disappearance.

In the post-credits scene, Scott Lang uses a smaller version of the Quantum Tunnel located in the back of Lang’s van to obtain energy from the Quantum Realm. After entering the tunnel, Scott engages in banter with Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne and Hope Van Dyne over radio communication.

After capturing the quantum energy, Pym and Van Dyne are heard counting down to prepare for Scott's re-entry as the audience watches all three turn to dust as a result of Thanos’ decimation before Scott can be returned from the Quantum Realm.

The cosmically powerful Captain Marvel was first teased at the end of “Avengers: Infinity War” as Nick Fury saw the decimation occurring, frantically scrambling for and activating the pager modified by Carol Danvers “for emergencies only” as his body turns to dust and the pager falls to the ground with Captain Marvel’s insignia emblazoned on the display of the device.

This film tells the origin of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel, setting up her story with an early S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury and Phil Coulson as they meet their first superhuman. The post-credits scene of this film also reveals that Carol Danvers will not only appear in “Avengers: Endgame” but will likely play a pivotal role in helping the Avengers reverse Thanos’ decimation.

In the post-credits scene, the remaining Avengers are in possession of Nick Fury's pager, questioning its purpose as it suspiciously powers off. Captain Marvel appears unexpectedly and inquires of the team: "Where's Fury?"

Presumably, Captain Marvel will be integral in reversing the decimation, but fans have yet to know how.

After an entire year of anticipation since "Infinity War," fans will finally see the culmination of these 22 films in “Avengers: Endgame” April 26. Although anything could happen, we’re counting on Earth’s mightiest heroes to come back stronger than ever before and defeat Thanos and restore the lives taken in “Avengers: Infinity War.”