Jay and Silent Bob movies have seen the iconic stoner duo playing ing characters as well as leading their own movies, and despite the madcap absurdism, they do have something of a continuity and chronological order. Writer/director Kevin Smith became an indie sensation thanks to his micro-budget debut Clerks in 1994. That was also the movie that introduced the world to Jay, a foul-mouthed, obnoxious, weed-loving punk, and his mostly mute friend Silent Bob. The popularity of these characters would lead to them appearing in several other movies that followed.

Long before the MCU, Smith created his own cinematic universe with the View Askewniverse, with Jay and Silent Bob as the common thread through all the movies. The characters have appeared in cartoon series and even shows and movies outside of Smith's own cinematic universe, but the Jay and Silent Bob movies of the View Askewniverse show the characters' wild journey together in a chronological way that makes sense. With Smith announcing another Jay and Silent Bob movie on the horizon, fans can prepare for it by looking back all all of their movies in order.

Mallrats (1995)

Jay And Silent Bob Cause Mayhem At The Mall

Mallrats stars Jeremy London and Jason Lee as T.S. and Brodie, two comic book-loving friends who, after one of them is dumped by his girlfriend, go to the mall to hang out for the day. Along with the relationship drama, a Stan Lee cameo, and other shenanigans, the pair also run into Jay and Silent Bob. The duo agrees to help Brodie and T.S. ruin a dating game show hosted at the mall when T.S. learns his girlfriend is appearing on it.

Though Mallrats was the second Jay and Silent Bob movie released, it was set before all the rest in the timeline. The movie mentions that a woman named Julie Dwyer died the night before the events of Mallrats, while Randal and Dante go to Julie's funeral in Clerks. Jay and Silent Bob are the only returning characters, but the movie was the first time Smith cast frequent collaborators, Jason Lee and Ben Affleck.

Clerks (1994)

Jay And Silent Bob Hang Out At Quick Stop

Clerks was the movie that started Smith's career and the View Askewniverse. The movie was also a hugely influential independent movie at the time, showing aspiring filmmakers the kind of audience they could reach even with low-budget movies they made on their own. The black-and-white comedy follows a convenience store clerk who is called into work on his day off and simply follows him on his many misadventures throughout the day.

Randal (Jeff Anderson) is also introduced for the first time with him and Dante appearing in two other Clerks movies and having various cameos in Smith's other movies.

As well as Kevin Smith, Clerks also introduced Jay and Silent Bob to the world, with the duo playing ing roles as a couple of aimless stoners who spend all their time hanging outside of the store and trying to sell drugs. The duo ended up being the scene-stealers of the movie despite their smaller role. Randal (Jeff Anderson) is also introduced for the first time with him and Dante appearing in two other Clerks movies and having various cameos in Smith's other movies.

Chasing Amy (1997)

Jay And Silent Bob Offer Their Advice On Love

Chasing Amy was the first time Ben Affleck starred in the leading role in one of Smith's movies, while also being Smith's first attempt at a romance story within the View Askewniverse. Affleck and Jason Lee play comic book creators named Holden and Banky, whose friendship is tested when Holden falls in love with Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), who is gay. Despite Alyssa wanting to be friends, Holden holds out hope there is a chance for a romance.

Out of all the View Askewniverse movies, this one has the least amount of screentime for Jay and Silent Bob. The duo only appear in one scene near the end of the movie. However, the movie also introduces a key new aspect of their characters as Holden and Banky have created the comic book characters Bluntman and Chronic based on Jay and Silent Bob.

Dogma (1999)

Jay And Silent Bob Face Rogue Angels And Demons

Dogma was Kevin Smith's attempt to show that the View Askewniverse could be used in other genres, taking it from grounded and simple comedies to a bigger-scale fantasy comedy. The movie stars Linda Fiorentino as a woman who is a descendant of Jesus Christ and the only person on Earth who can stop two banished angels (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) from reentering heaven and thus bringing about the end of all existence.

This Jay and Silent Bob movie is easily the most ambitious and brings in many exciting new cast to the View Askewniverse, including Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek, and Chris Rock. However, Jay and Silent Bob also show up to the adventure as they are roped into the high-stakes mission. This is also the first time in the View Askewniverse that the fast food chain Moobys is mentioned, which is featured in several later movies.

Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)

Jay And Silent Bob Try To Stop A Comic Book Movie

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is the first time Jay and Silent Bob step out of the ing roles and get to star as the leads of their own movie. It is also a culmination of the View Askewniverse up until that point, with characters and references to all the previous movies worked into the story. It follows the duo as they set out to go to Hollywood in order to stop the production of a movie based on Bluntman and Chronic.

Jason Lee appears as both Brodie from Mallrats and Banky from Chasing Amy.

The movie is filled with cameos, from Mark Hamill spoofing Star Wars to Will Ferrell as a bumbling lawman. However, several other characters from other View Askewniverse movies also appear. Jason Lee appears as both Brodie from Mallrats and Banky from Chasing Amy. Meanwhile, Ben Affleck appears as Holden as well as himself, alongside Matt Damon in a hilarious bit about a sequel to their Good Will Hunting.

A cameo from Alanis Morissette as God from Dogma at the end of the movie suggests this was meant to be the final View Askewniverse movie, but this ended up not being the case.

Clerks II (2006)

Jay And Silent Bob Relocate To Moobys

More than a decade after the first movie started Kevin Smith's directing career, he returned with Clerks II. The movie begins with Dante still working at the Quick Stop, only for it to burn down, causing him to get a job at Moobys instead. The movie follows Dante and Randal going about their jobs and having meaningless conversations, much like the original. However, there is a more serious tone at times as it also deals with these men facing the reality of adulthood.​​​​​​​

Jay and Silent Bob return for the sequel but do not show any of the signs of maturing. This Jay and Silent Bob movie features less overt references to the other View Askewniverse film, operating more as a standalone tale. However, several of Smith's frequent collaborators, such as Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, and Ethan Suplee appear in the movie in new roles.

Jay And Silent Bob Reboot (2019)

Jay And Silent Bob Try To Stop A Reboot

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot works as a sequel to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, as well as being another culmination of the View Askewniverse. The movie largely rehashes the plot of the first movie with the iconic stoner duo setting out to stop a reboot of the Bluntman and Chronic movie. However, this movie does also show the first sign of growth for Jay as he deals with meeting the daughter he never knew about (played by Kevin Smith's real-life daughter Harley Quinn Smith).

The movie features several actors reprising previous roles once again, including Ben Affleck back as Holden and Jason Lee back as Brodie.

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot also includes cameos from the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Val Kilmer, and director Kevin Smith as himself. Justin Long also reprises his role from Zack and Miri Make a Porno, bringing that movie unofficially into the View Askewniverse despite Jay and Silent Bob not appearing in it.

Clerks III (2022)

Jay And Silent Bob Return To The Quick Stop

Clerks III is the final movie to end the trilogy started with Kevin Smith's first movie. Mirroring some of the events of Smith's real life, the movie finds Randal having a heart attack and deciding that he wants to do something with his life and thus makes a movie about working in the convenience store. The movie takes a meta-approach as the movie Randal makes ends up being the original Clerks movie. While Jay and Silent Bob appear in ing roles once again, this is once again a story about the friendship between Dante and Randal.

To date, this is the final Jay and Silent Bob movie. However, Kevin Smith has made plans to bring the duo back for the third standalone movie. Rather than focusing on Jay and Silent Bob in Hollywood once again, the movie will reportedly be about the battle of the legal weed business in New Jersey. Smith has also teased a Mallrats sequel called Twilight of the Mallrats which would presumably bring Jay and Silent Bob back as well.

The Timeline For Jay & Silent Bob Isn't All That Important

The truth is that it doesn't really matter what order the Jay and Silent Bob movies are watched in. The two are mostly friends who just drift through life, smoking pot, and sometimes dealing out advice, some of it unwarranted. To them, they might have great adventures, but their lives are not about structure or moving through life in any predetermined order. Asking the characters might reveal that they don't even know when the big events in their lives happened.

Jay also has a daughter who was born out of the events from that earlier movie.

There is only one case where the chronology of the movies comes into play at all. That is the path from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back to Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. This is the only case for the duo where their past plays into the present day. They set out to stop a movie based on their likeness for the second time in the 2019 film and mention they had done so before. Jay also has a daughter who was born out of the events from that earlier movie, but this is the only case where the timeline matters.

In Mallrats, dialogue places it first in the timeline, but nothing else matters based on when or where it occurs. They move from the Quick Stop to Mooby's, but that is just them going where they need to be at that time in their lives. When watching Jay and Silent Bob movies, it is almost a slice-in-the-life story, much like the first two Clerks movies, but unlike Dante and Randal, Jay and Bob never really learn anything or mature and are in the same place in the end as they were when their journeys began.