Phase 1 - The Avengers Initiative (2008 - 2012) · MCU timeline #11
The Avengers
- runtime with credits
- 2h 23m
- release date
- May 4, 2012
- #33 in release order
- #11 timeline
- Movie
- Essential
Why it is here
The payoff the first five films were buying. Loki arrives with a scepter, the team assembles badly, then properly, and the Battle of New York rewired blockbuster cinema for a decade.
What it sets up
Show spoilers for The Avengers
Coulson dies to give them something to avenge, the wormhole closes, and the mid-credit scene reveals Thanos smiling for the first time. The scepter contains the Mind Stone, which nobody learns for years.
Position in the MCU timeline
14h 28m of Marvel screen time comes before this. Another 12d 18h 33m follows it in this sequence. It sits inside Phase 1 - The Avengers Initiative, alongside everything else released in 2012.
Where to stream it
Currently on Disney+. Availability shifts by region; our data notes say when this was last checked.
Viewers rate it 8.1/10 across 39,027 votes on TMDB.
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Open the trackerCommon questions
Where does The Avengers fit in the Marvel timeline?
Position #11 in the MCU timeline, inside Phase 1 - The Avengers Initiative (2008 - 2012). It is #33 in factual release order.
Is The Avengers essential watching?
Yes. The main timeline does not work without it.
How long is The Avengers?
2h 23m including credits.