The image above is one I created for this article. It's a great resource when trying to piece together the MCU and the order of watching. I like to think of Captain America: First Avenger as the jumping off point. Other than the end of the film where it directly ties into the Avengers film the movie takes place before anything else in the MCU. This movie does introduce us to Bucky Barnes who we will see later and Peggy Carter. She is featured next in the Agent Carter One Shot that was included on the Iron Man 3 Blu-ray release & the Agent Carter television series that will debut fall of 2014. All three of these focus on the building of SHIELD prior to, during, & directly after World War II. At this point we can only speculate on what all will be in the new television series but it shouldn't be too much of a leap to think that it will all take place before the events of the next film on the list.
Iron Man is where we start in the current age of Marvel. It is very much based in the 2000's with very little to tie it to other films other than the introduction of SHIELD & Agent Coulson as well as its after credit scene that gives us our first look at Nick Fury. The next film on our list, The Incredible Hulk much like Iron Man has very little ties to the other films. There is mention of the super soldier serum developed during WWII and an after credit scene that features a cameo from Tony Stark himself. That after credit scene is explored more in the Marvel One Shot, "The Consultant" that was included on the Thor Blu-ray. In this one shot Agent Coulson & Agent Sitwell discuss the best way to deal with General Ross and make the decision to send in Tony Stark to the the work.
From there we move onto Iron Man 2, a movie that does its best to bring together this Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nick Fury & Agent Coulson are back and are joined by the Black Widow. The film features video footage from Incredible Hulk during a briefing with Nick Fury and the end credit scene sees Agent Coulson arriving in New Mexico where Mjolnir is resting in a crater. That leads us into the Marvel One Shot, "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer" that was included on the Captain America: First Avenger Blu-ray. In this one shot we see Agent Coulson stop at a gas station on the way to New Mexico where he ends up thwarting a robbery. It doesn't have a lot to do with future plots but helps establish Agent Coulson as a character to be taken seriously. This obviously leads us into Thor. There are plenty more SHIELD tie-ins here. As mentioned Agent Coulson is on sight as is Agent Sitwell and we get the first appearance of Clint Barton aka Hawkeye. Thor also introduces us to Erik Selvig who goes on to appear in Avengers & Thor: Dark World. The after credit scene features Nick Fury offering Erik a job working on the Tesseract that was introduced in Captain America: First Avenger all while Loki looks on.
The climax of what was dubbed "Phase One" was the move The Avengers. Here our heroes come together to fight Loki and his army of Chitari. SHIELD brings the team together under the leadership of Nick Fury and Agent Coulson gives his life to provide them with something to Avenge. Everything ties into this film. Jane Foster from Thor gets a mention, Asgard gets mentioned, Pepper Pots from Iron Man makes an appearance, and of course all the major players are there. The after credit scene gives us our first look at who is pulling all the strings, The Mad Titan, Thanos. Thanos' full role has yet to be played out in the MCU but it is obvious he is and will be a major player. The Avengers is followed up by the Marvel One Shot, "Item 47" where we see some citizens of New York get their hands on Chitari weapons left behind after the Avengers battle in New York City. They use these weapons to commit crimes and there is very little tie in from this one shot to the following films.
This is where the "Phase Two" starts up with Iron Man 3. Here we see Tony Stark dealing with some kind of PTSD from the battle he had in The Avengers. The story introduces The Mandarin, AIM, & The Extremis, all things that will appear later in the MCU. We see War Machine who was introduced in Iron Man 2 back as Iron Patriot but he has yet to cross over into any of the other MCU titles. The post credit scene does see an appearance from Bruce Banner, a nice nod to the Avengers film. The next stop in the MCU is Agents of SHIELD the television series. It picks up the Extremis being on the open market and being sold by terrorist organizations. Agent Coulson leads a team to look into this and other super hero matters. Much of the early season is building ground work for later in the season. From the first third of the first season of Agents of SHIELD we move on to the Marvel One Shot, "All Hail The King". In this one shot Trevor Slattery, the man who pretended to be the Mandarin returns. He is broken out of jail and it appears that the "Real" Mandarin wants to have words with him. At the time of this article we don't know if Trevor or the Mandarin will appear in any future MCU properties.
Thor: Dark World is next on our list. This movie features primarily characters from the first Thor film including crossover characters from Avegers, Erik Selvig & Loki. Other than that the tie in to past films is pretty much non-existent however the tie in to future films is very impressive. In the end credit scene we meet the Collector who is given the Aether. This is where we find out that both the Aether & the Tesseract seen in Captain America: First Avenger, Thor, & Avengers, are both Infinity Stones. This has huge implications on what is to come. Next on our list is the second third of the first season of Agents of SHIELD. The SHIELD agents end up cleaning up after the mess left in England from Thor's fight in Thor: Dark World and are later visited by Sif who helps them stop the Asgardian Lorelei. Agents of SHIELD then continues and sees the MCU debut of Deathlok before the appearance of Nick Fury in a scene taken directly from Captain America: Winter Soldier.
Captain America: Winter Soldier is the point where we see EVERYTHING start to tie together. We see the return of Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier. We see the inner workings of SHIELD on a larger level than in the television series and we find out that Hydra, the organization started by the Red Skull back in WWII has infiltrated SHIELD. This movie introduces Falcon to the MCU and directly affects the season finale of Agents of SHIELD. In the after credit scene we are introduced to Barron Zemo and more importantly Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch, who will appear in the next Avengers film. From there we jump back to Agents of SHIELD where the team is dealing with the information that SHIELD has been compromised by Hydra and that Nick Fury is in the wind. It focuses on this team trying to clean up the mess that was left at the end of Captain America: Winter Soldier.
Next up is Guardians of the Galaxy where we get introduced to the cosmic aspect of the MCU. Not only do we get introduced to this new rag tag team but we also get our first look at the Nova Corp, the Kree, the Celestials, & Ronan the Accuser. Thanos reappears for the first time since Avengers and he is once again behind the scenes pulling strings. In Guardians he is trying to get his hands on the Infinity Stones. One of these stones if found by Star Lord and the Guardians take it to The Collector to sell it. This is where we see more tie-ins. In his collection are Chitari seen in Avengers, Dark Elves seen in Thor: Dark World, a creature that may be Beta Ray Bill, Cosmo the dog, Howard the Duck, & a cocoon that may be holding Adam Warlock. The Collector is the first person to describe to the audience what the Infinity Stones are. Guardians of the Galaxy opened things up for the possible future introduction of Nova & Adam Warlock as well as other characters into the MCU.
This is where speculation comes into play. The assumption is the next part of the MCU will be Agents of SHIELD Season 2 as they are dealing with putting SHIELD back together after the Hydra infiltration. From there we know that Avengers: Age of Ultron releases in 2015 and will see Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch return along with the Avengers team. We also know this will be the debut of Ultron & Vision to the MCU. Also in 2015 we will see the release of Daredevil on Netflix & Ant-Man on the big screen. It will be the MCU debut for both of those characters even though Daredevil once did have a stand alone film when under the 20th Century Fox Umbrella. From that point on there is rumor of a Black Panther & Doctor Strange Movie and we will definitely be getting a third installment in the Captain America series.
So this is where we leave off until more moves come out. I hope this article helps anyone who wants to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Chronological order (at least for the most part) and I hope you are just as excited as I am for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.