Marvel Cinematic Universe - Timeline

[fuzzyfoot]

Also, my friend sent this to me directly because of how much I care about the timeline. Talbott specifically says back in season 2 that the Battle of New York was 2012.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B2SWYgMuQs

 

[Zpdedoda]

Also, Iron Man 2 features the Monaco Grand Prix, which takes place in May. Although to be fair, events in the MCU don't necessarily always take place in the same date as in real life.

It's not the Monaco Grand Prix but the Monaco Historic Grand Prix which happens a couple of weeks before in April.

 

[DIrishB]

The biggest issue will be lining up Agents of SHIELD with the Phase 2 stuff, since it, on multiple occasions, referenced real world time (the ID badge in Pilot being from September, 2013 and Talbot placing Avengers in 2012), not to mention their direct tie in episodes with films anchoring placement parameters for much of the show.

Uggghh, this is gonna be a major headache.

 

[Captain Canuck]

The biggest issue will be lining up Agents of SHIELD with the Phase 2 stuff, since it, on multiple occasions, referenced real world time (the ID badge in Pilot being from September, 2013 and Talbot placing Avengers in 2012), not to mention their direct tie in episodes with films anchoring placement parameters for much of the show.

Uggghh, this is gonna be a major headache.

Wait, I think I missed something. What are you about to do?

 

[selfishmisery]

I suggest completely ignoring the "eight years" thing.

 

[SexySnorlax]

I suggest completely ignoring the "eight years" thing.

I second that motion. We blame Doctor Strange and the Time Stone/Eye of Agamotto, at least until Marvel or Kevin Feige issue a response.

 

[Craig]

I suggest completely ignoring the "eight years" thing.

Yeah, that's where I'm at. Why ignore countless pieces of evidence that all made sense just to accommodate one film that contradicts everything? Are we giving Homecoming primacy just because it's the most recent release?

 

[Dallas Kinard]

Can't we just chalk it up to a mistake on Marvel's part and keep it 4 years like it should be? More evidence for that than the two 8 years later things.

 

[TalonCard]

I'll be honest...not to burst your bubble or anything, but given the films pathological fear of acknowledging anything other than the films Marvel and Disney make, I would not put it past them to only refer to Woo as 'Ex-Agent of Shield', because saying he is a current agent would actually imply that AoS is canon 'to the films'. GASP...

Yeah, I'm expecting that. But what I'm really looking forward to is Park showing up on AoS as his Ant-Man character, either in flashback or as, as you suggest, a former SHIELD agent. We can dream about the films acknowledging the TV shows, though.

Ant-Man did have a subtle return for the Ten Rings, though, which indicates that the AHTK one shot was taken into account. And the Civil War Newsfront tie-in acknowledged events in AoS, so the connective tissues is still being made, just not on the big screen.

I second that motion. We blame Doctor Strange and the Time Stone/Eye of Agamotto, at least until Marvel or Kevin Feige issue a response.

Always liked that as a potential for retcons. Hey, at least the SHIELD dating controversy has nothing on the UNIT dating controversy, right?

Yeah, that's where I'm at. Why ignore countless pieces of evidence that all made sense just to accommodate one film that contradicts everything? Are we giving Homecoming primacy just because it's the most recent release?

Can't we just chalk it up to a mistake on Marvel's part and keep it 4 years like it should be? More evidence for that than the two 8 years later things.

I'm not arguing for a timeline change at this point, but I think it's worth noting the evidence at hand, since there do appear to be two distinct dates for the Avengers within the MCU, and neither has an especially overwhelming amount of evidence. Early accounts that the film is set in 2020 appear to be mistaken, and as Nintendo pointed out, interpreting the "eight years" as "seven-and-change" makes more sense. So the question is really, does Avengers take place in 2010, or in 2012?

Evidence for 2010
Iron Man ends in 2008, according to Civil War and Homecoming. Iron Man 2. Iron Man 2 takes place six months after that, likely in the next year, according to title card and dialogue in the film. The events of Thor take place at the same time, and occurred "Last year", according to Fury in Avengers--2010.

Homecoming titles and dialogue.

Evidence for 2012

Direct reference in Agents of SHIELD.

Cut dialogue and background information from Iron Man 3.

References to "Thor: The Dark World" and subsequent general passage of time references in Agents of SHIELD. (Strictly speaking, since the reference to Avengers occurs within Dark World, this says more about AOS's relation to that film than AOS.)

It does appear that the eight years figure from Homecoming is rounding up regardless of the date, so there's some room for uncertainty, whereas the AoS date is firmly stated. On the other hand, it does seem like the films have trouble referencing even the broad strokes of the television continuity, never mind the timeline details. Homecoming's dates would be more or less consistent with the dialogue in all previous films, so it's possible this will be or has been the timeline used by the films all along. It remains to be seen which date is correct going forward.

TC

 

[Captain Canuck]

I second that motion. We blame Doctor Strange and the Time Stone/Eye of Agamotto, at least until Marvel or Kevin Feige issue a response.

Ben punched the dinosaur.

 

[Craig]

What's everyone's thoughts on the 2 months later tag separating Civil War and Homecoming? If it was really only two months, why was Peter in school in July when Tony came to recruit him?

 

[wyokid]

Ben punched the dinosaur.

Is that a reference to Ultimate Fantastic Four?

 

[selfishmisery]

What's everyone's thoughts on the 2 months later tag separating Civil War and Homecoming? If it was really only two months, why was Peter in school in July when Tony came to recruit him?

Another screw-up. Maybe it's in August? It seemed like the beginning of the school year.

 

[Captain Canuck]

Is that a reference to Ultimate Fantastic Four?

Yeah. It's also a long running inside joke from this forum.

 

[Dallas Kinard]

Has anyone else spotted this in Doctor Strange?

http://i.imgur.com/4oKGmi3.png

 

[Lebnyx]

Has anyone else spotted this in Doctor Strange?

http://i.imgur.com/4oKGmi3.png

Yes, that was the reasoning behind the placement for the movie in the timeline.

 

[DIrishB]

Yeah, I'm expecting that. But what I'm really looking forward to is Park showing up on AoS as his Ant-Man character, either in flashback or as, as you suggest, a former SHIELD agent. We can dream about the films acknowledging the TV shows, though.

Ant-Man did have a subtle return for the Ten Rings, though, which indicates that the AHTK one shot was taken into account. And the Civil War Newsfront tie-in acknowledged events in AoS, so the connective tissues is still being made, just not on the big screen.




Always liked that as a potential for retcons. Hey, at least the SHIELD dating controversy has nothing on the UNIT dating controversy, right?





I'm not arguing for a timeline change at this point, but I think it's worth noting the evidence at hand, since there do appear to be two distinct dates for the Avengers within the MCU, and neither has an especially overwhelming amount of evidence. Early accounts that the film is set in 2020 appear to be mistaken, and as Nintendo pointed out, interpreting the "eight years" as "seven-and-change" makes more sense. So the question is really, does Avengers take place in 2010, or in 2012?

Evidence for 2010
Iron Man ends in 2008, according to Civil War and Homecoming. Iron Man 2. Iron Man 2 takes place six months after that, likely in the next year, according to title card and dialogue in the film. The events of Thor take place at the same time, and occurred "Last year", according to Fury in Avengers--2010.

Homecoming titles and dialogue.

Evidence for 2012

Direct reference in Agents of SHIELD.

Cut dialogue and background information from Iron Man 3.

References to "Thor: The Dark World" and subsequent general passage of time references in Agents of SHIELD. (Strictly speaking, since the reference to Avengers occurs within Dark World, this says more about AOS's relation to that film than AOS.)

It does appear that the eight years figure from Homecoming is rounding up regardless of the date, so there's some room for uncertainty, whereas the AoS date is firmly stated. On the other hand, it does seem like the films have trouble referencing even the broad strokes of the television continuity, never mind the timeline details. Homecoming's dates would be more or less consistent with the dialogue in all previous films, so it's possible this will be or has been the timeline used by the films all along. It remains to be seen which date is correct going forward.

TC

Applause.

For those asking about change, I'm not certain how to approach this yet. My thinking is that this setting Homecoming (and Civil War) 8 years after Avengers directly contradicts Civil War's dialogue and specific dating from the TV shows (which I fully acknowledge the films ignore those). I do think this will be a timeline span reinforced in sequels, as well as reflective probably in Infinity War (which they're lining up to coincide with Peter's junior year, so a year later or thereabouts for the Homecoming sequel).

Or just ignore that 8 years thing in Homecoming, but I have a feeling this was intentional. Another retcon, perhaps, or not looking at Marvel's official timeline (in some respects).

 

[DIrishB]

Ben punched the dinosaur.

Fry became his own grandfather.

 

[Captain Canuck]

Jon Watts:

Well, there is this scroll. It's an actual scroll they unrolled for me. One of my producers, Eric Carroll, it was his first job at Marvel to work on this timeline and to see where things line up and where they didn't quite. It's the most amazing thing because it starts, no joke, at the beginning of time. So you can see where all the events line up! Like, oh that's when Captain America was born.

So... What happened?

 

[TalonCard]

This was one of the times when they didn't quite.

TC