Marvel Cinematic Universe - Timeline

[DIrishB]

Want to get feedback on what you guys think is best approach to take on the current two timeline issues:

The Luke Cage Season 2/Infinity War potential conflict, and the Cloak & Dagger Season 1 placement.

Luke Cage Season 2 pretty definitively sets itself as occurring in August 2018 based on the April/May 2018 Magazine cover (indicating its a few months old) and the September, 2018 next statement thing on Mariah's bank account, along with the obvious Summer weather for most of season, with last few episodes showing weather cooling and some trees turning, which would indicate the progression into September.

This means Infinity War--whose date is indeterminate and not specifically tied down to any visible dates in the film itself, but is pinned down to early 2018 due to the Agents of SHIELD timeline--would have to occur after August/September, 2018, meaning Thor and the Asgardians were on the ship MUCH longer than we thought, and it doesn't work in any way with AoS's established timeline and IW crossover elements.

So, the most logical assumption I can make is that the Netflix shows (at least, possibly even some of the others) are occurring in the "fixed" timeline from Avengers 4. The rumors indicate time travel is an element, and the film's indicated time jump of five years or so to the future means by film's end odds are they'll have fixed the timeline and reverted back to "present time", whether thats at same time as Infinity War (or just after or before depending on the time travel approach) or aligns with when the film comes out in 2019 remains to be seen.

And now the Cloak & Dagger conflicting info. I'm still more inclined to believe C&D's specific camera date, since it was blatant (and had to be intentionally inserted, indicating it was intentional), but we'll see what rest of the season has in store.

 

[Lebnyx]

Want to get feedback on what you guys think is best approach to take on the current two timeline issues:

The Luke Cage Season 2/Infinity War potential conflict, and the Cloak & Dagger Season 1 placement.

Luke Cage Season 2 pretty definitively sets itself as occurring in August 2018 based on the April/May 2018 Magazine cover (indicating its a few months old) and the September, 2018 next statement thing on Mariah's bank account, along with the obvious Summer weather for most of season, with last few episodes showing weather cooling and some trees turning, which would indicate the progression into September.

Since Jeph Loeb said the upcoming shows would take place before the snap, I'd personally be inclined to place Luke Cage season 2 in August-September 2017. Punisher season 1 was placed on November 2016 even though props indicated a 2017 placement, so it's possible that the prop department in both instances wasn't paying attention to its placement relative to the other shows' seasons and wrote the release year on the props.

This means Infinity War--whose date is indeterminate and not specifically tied down to any visible dates in the film itself, but is pinned down to early 2018 due to the Agents of SHIELD timeline--would have to occur after August/September, 2018, meaning Thor and the Asgardians were on the ship MUCH longer than we thought, and it doesn't work in any way with AoS's established timeline and IW crossover elements.

In regards to the placement of Infinity War: if they're still planning on having a Spider-Man movie for each of his high school years, then Infinity War is indeed between January and June 2018.

The main events of Ant-Man and the Wasp have been said to take place very shortly before Infinity War, with Scott having been in house arrest for 2 years (so presumably 24 months). Considering how much Cassie means to him, I don't imagine that he would have been on the run for very long after being broken out of the Raft (which seems to be supported by Infinity War Prelude #1), so Ant-Man and the Wasp and Infinity War are likely 24 months after Civil War.

Scott's house arrest by itself isn't necessarily timeline evidence (since it's possible that his sentence could have been shortened by a few months), but Feige said that Spider-Man: Far From Home takes place on summer vacation. If this is true, and Far From Home indeed begins "minutes" after Avengers 4 (as Amy Pascal said), then Infinity War and Avengers 4 would have to be at least relatively close to summer as well, which would support Ant-Man and the Wasp being 24 months after Civil War, so April 2018 in this timeline (and June 2018 in the MCU Wiki's timeline).

In this case, then you'd probably have to have a timeskip in between the December 2017 episodes of Agents of SHIELD season 5, and the episodes that tie in with Infinity War.

 

[DIrishB]

Since Jeph Loeb said the upcoming shows would take place before the snap, I'd personally be inclined to place Luke Cage season 2 in August-September 2017. Punisher season 1 was placed on November 2016 even though props indicated a 2017 placement, so it's possible that the prop department in both instances wasn't paying attention to its placement relative to the other shows' seasons and wrote the release year on the props.

That's certainly possible. I'm kind of surprised no one has directly asked Loeb or the showrunners of the different shows about that.

But yeah, with the definitive Sept 3 date for the parade moving it to 2017 may be the best option. Then again, it very well may be an adjusted timeline situation too. I dunno. The thing is, as the other Netflix shows come out (Daredevil season 3, Iron Fist Season 2, Punisher Season 2, Jessica Jones Season 3, etc), if they reference events of Luke Cage Season 2 and reflect progression of time beyond the span of August-September 2017 to May, 2018 (an 8 month span max), the same problem occurs either way. We'll see.

Dates shown in those other seasons along with references made to events of LC Season 2's events may retcon the 2018 date to 2017. We'll see.

In regards to the placement of Infinity War: if they're still planning on having a Spider-Man movie for each of his high school years, then Infinity War is indeed between January and June 2018.

Yup.

Most likely IW is May, or Spring to get less specific, with Avengers 4 reportedly picking up years later (5 years in most reports) with

Spoiler

the Avengers traveling back in time, which recreations of scenes from first Avengers film supports. IF the TV shows being on a "corrected" timeline where Thanos' snap was prevented from ever happening due to timeline shenanigans is true, and more importantly to retain the parallel with release date/year timeline, presumably they'll rewrite the timeline completely and end up 2018/2019 in that rewritten timeline instead of 2023/2024 in the post snap timeline.

The main events of Ant-Man and the Wasp have been said to take place very shortly before Infinity War, with Scott having been in house arrest for 2 years (so presumably 24 months). Considering how much Cassie means to him, I don't imagine that he would have been on the run for very long after being broken out of the Raft (which seems to be supported by Infinity War Prelude #1), so Ant-Man and the Wasp and Infinity War are likely 24 months after Civil War.

Yeah, I'd mentioned that a page or two back in response to the trailer that was posted mentioning Scott's 2-year house arrest, regarding report that

Spoiler

Ant-Man & the Wasp's mid credit scene is most of them disappearing due to Thanos' snap. Whether that mid credit scene occurs immediately after A&tW isn't know but it can't be too long afterward, probably not more than weeks, maybe even only days, that the main portion of A&tW takes place on.

Scott's house arrest by itself isn't necessarily timeline evidence (since it's possible that his sentence could have been shortened by a few months), but Feige said that Spider-Man: Far From Home takes place on summer vacation. If this is true, and Far From Home indeed begins "minutes" after Avengers 4 (as Amy Pascal said), then Infinity War and Avengers 4 would have to be at least relatively close to summer as well, which would support Ant-Man and the Wasp being 24 months after Civil War, so April 2018 in this timeline (and June 2018 in the MCU Wiki's timeline).

In this case, then you'd probably have to have a timeskip in between the December 2017 episodes of Agents of SHIELD season 5, and the episodes that tie in with Infinity War.

Yeah all the mounting evidence is kind of forcing my hand on that one.

Unfortunately there's not really a viable place to put a huge break to bump those AoS episodes up except for between AoS 5x13 to 5x14, which would account for Yoyo's recuperation and them calibrating her new arm, which would take weeks or months, and it was kind of portrayed that way. Maybe we underestimated before? Were there any timeline mentions on the latter portion of the season that indicated there COULDN'T be a larger gap there?

 

[DIrishB]

So, I have the first one on the timeline, and now we're getting one for Ant-Man & the Wasp... are these definitively canon? Should I be wasting my time with these?

Ant-Man and the Wasp: The Heroes' Journey

 

[eloesch289]

As far as I can tell, Luke Cage season 2 should be placed in August/September 2017 due to the aforementioned evidence of wrong dates in the Punisher and Loeb's comments about all of the shows taking place before Infinity War.

Regarding Cloak and Dagger: IF the 2007 date is incorrect, and IF the 2009 date from the wiki page is correct, than that places the current-day stuff in 2017. And if that's the case, I think it's happening pretty close to, if not at the same time as, Luke Cage season 2 because of the whole O'Reilly thing.

As far as Ant-Man and the Wasp goes, I haven't seen the movie yet (obviously) but some of what I've read places it "about 2 years" after Civil War, which, to me, could mean give-or-take a few months. So if we place Infinity War in March/April of 2018, this reduces the amount of time that's passed in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5, leaves some wiggle room for Ant-Man and the Wasp (the whole "about 2 years" thing could be completely wrong; we'll see on Thursday), and gives the upcoming seasons of Iron Fist, Daredevil, and the Punisher room to fit between the August/September 2017 date of Luke Cage season 2 and the March/April 2018 date of Infinity War, if they take a similar approach as Jessica Jones season 2 and Luke Cage season 2 of taking place close to a year before the date they're released, as well as Runaways season 2 (if it is released before Avengers 4).

I do think that you're right in assuming that Avengers 4 will have a timeskip and then reset the timeline back to 2018 and the future movies and TV shows will be in this "altered future timeline" but I don't think that will affect anything until it is actually released.

Regarding Spider-Man: Far From Home starting "minutes after Avengers 4": Spider-Man: Homecoming started just after Avengers and skipped ahead 4 years, so that doesn't really mean much for the overall timeline, but now that we know that Spider-Man: Far From Home is about Peter's summer vacation, it would make a little more sense in terms of Infinity War's March/April 2018 date.

 

[YuMoHo]

Regarding Spider-Man: Far From Home starting "minutes after Avengers 4": Spider-Man: Homecoming started just after Avengers and skipped ahead 4 years, so that doesn't really mean much for the overall timeline, but now that we know that Spider-Man: Far From Home is about Peter's summer vacation, it would make a little more sense in terms of Infinity War's March/April 2018 date.

I can see it now

*opening scene*
SEVEN YEARS LATER

 

[Craig]

I can see it now

Haaaaaaaaa!

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[selfishmisery]

So, I have the first one on the timeline, and now we're getting one for Ant-Man & the Wasp... are these definitively canon? Should I be wasting my time with these?

Ant-Man and the Wasp: The Heroes' Journey

Ask the writer.

 

[TalonCard]

Since Jeph Loeb said the upcoming shows would take place before the snap, I'd personally be inclined to place Luke Cage season 2 in August-September 2017. Punisher season 1 was placed on November 2016 even though props indicated a 2017 placement, so it's possible that the prop department in both instances wasn't paying attention to its placement relative to the other shows' seasons and wrote the release year on the props.

As far as I can tell, Luke Cage season 2 should be placed in August/September 2017 due to the aforementioned evidence of wrong dates in the Punisher and Loeb's comments about all of the shows taking place before Infinity War.

Jeph Loeb still said

Spoiler

all the shows take place before the snap.

What Loeb actually said was (bolded emphasis mine) "For the most part our stories will take place BEFORE Thanos clicked his fingers." So there's definitely some wiggle room built into that statement. It's certainly true for Agents of SHIELD, Cloak and Dagger, and likely New Warriors, but it leaves open the possibility that some seasons/episodes are taking place

Spoiler

in the restored timeline from Spider-Man 2, etc.

As for the Punisher thing, it might be worth revisiting if the Netflix shows are moving consistently forward into 2018 based on prop dates in the future. Re: Luke Cage S2, the simplest thing to do might be to take the prop dates at face value until Avengers 4 and the next 3 or however many Netflix seasons come out and then adjust as needed.

Regarding the Peter Scarborough faux-Wikipedia entry, it looks like I jumped the gun on assuming that the Roxxon Gulf explosion was in 2009. Here's a screenshot:

It's hard to make out, but what it actually says is something like "In 2009, after supervising the Roxxon cleanup effort in New Orleans following an oil rig explosion, Scarborough transitioned to a consulting position." So it could have occurred in or before 2009, actually.

Here are screenshots for O'Reilly's search for narcotics arrests from February 2010-February 2011, said to be "about 8 years ago" in dialogue:

This is the period of time when Conners began working narcotics (after he shot Tyrone's brother).

TC

 

[YuMoHo]

So, I have the first one on the timeline, and now we're getting one for Ant-Man & the Wasp... are these definitively canon? Should I be wasting my time with these?

Ant-Man and the Wasp: The Heroes' Journey

That is a film adaptation, I am sure you could get away without including it.

 

[vintsukka]

Saw Ant-Man and the Wasp today. Timeline-wise

Spoiler

pretty much as expected. At the start, there's a much longer version of the scene in Ant-Man where Janet was lost, narrated by Pym, then cut to Pym telling the story to Hope. So the narration and the visuals need to be separated there. When we first see him, Scott has three days left of his two year house arrest, then the majority of the movie takes place inside those three days. There's one flashback to when Scott was in the quantum realm, but it's more like a dream sequence, so probably better leave it where it is. There's also a flashback to Hannah John-Kamen's character's childhood, narrated by her, so a bit more separating there.

The mid-credits scene has some of the characters turning to dust, so it's concurrent with the snap. The scene is hard to place in relation to the main movie though, it could take place anywhere from a couple of days to several months later. My best guess would be a couple of weeks later, but both a shorter and a longer amount of time could be easily argued.

 

[Craig]

Couple random timeline observations from Luke Cage:

It's definitely baseball season (April-October). Shades talks about catching a Yankees doubleheader.

Luke and Piranha talk about sports betting being illegal. The Supreme Court made it legal on the federal legal in June 2018. It's still illegal in NY, and cases in the MCU wouldn't necessarily match real life. Just something I noticed.

 

[eloesch289]

Just got out of Ant-Man and the Wasp. Here's some timeline stuff I noticed:

Spoiler

This movie appears to create a lot of problems with Infinity War. The film opens two years after Scott agrees to go on house arrest with him having 3 days left on his sentence. If Civil War happened in April 2016, it would take at least a couple of months for Scott to work out a house arrest deal (let's just estimate 2 months for now), which would be June of 2016. 1 year and 362 days later would be June 2018 (and that's assuming it only took Scott 2 months to work out the house arrest deal - it probably would have taken even longer, probably closer to 6 months, placing Ant-Man and the Wasp in October 2018).

Spoiler

During the course of the film, 4 days pass: the first day when the film starts when Scott has 3 days of house arrest left on his sentence, then 2 days pass of Scott doing his regular routine at his house, the morning of the third day is when Hope takes him to help she and Hank rescue Janet, and the next day is when Hank rescues Janet and the main film ends. The end montage of Scott's sentence ending, Louis' business thriving, and Hope and Janet moving their house to the beach is probably at least a week, maybe more. So estimating with the info about Civil War above, the film could end anyplace from June 2018-Novemer 2018. The gap is even larger when considering any time that may have passed between the end of the film and the post-credits scenes. This contradicts a lot of what Infinity War told us, unless it would be as easy as moving the events of that tied in with S.H.I.E.L.D. forward a few months (haven't watched S.H.I.E.L.D. so not sure how that time gap would work).

Spoiler

The opening scene of the film is obviously an expansion of the 1987 flashback from the first film, and when Hank is telling Hope, it seems to be right around the same time that he shows her her suit, the post-credits scene of the first film. The Ghost backstory (her dad's experiment-gone-wrong) would probably have to be before the 1989 opening of the first film because Starr is still doing experiments with Quantum tech and during the main film, Ghost mentions that Hank discredited him (unless he was able to do that after 1989 after he left S.H.I.E.L.D. somehow). Ghost getting adopted by Foster would probably be in the early 1990's and the S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff with her would just be throughout then until the events of The Winter Soldier in 2014.

 

[DIrishB]

What Loeb actually said was (bolded emphasis mine) "For the most part our stories will take place BEFORE Thanos clicked his fingers." So there's definitely some wiggle room built into that statement. It's certainly true for Agents of SHIELD, Cloak and Dagger, and likely New Warriors, but it leaves open the possibility that some seasons/episodes are taking place

Spoiler

in the restored timeline from Spider-Man 2, etc.

As for the Punisher thing, it might be worth revisiting if the Netflix shows are moving consistently forward into 2018 based on prop dates in the future. Re: Luke Cage S2, the simplest thing to do might be to take the prop dates at face value until Avengers 4 and the next 3 or however many Netflix seasons come out and then adjust as needed.

This is the approach I'm taking for now. I'm treating all visible dates as valid until we know definitively they're not. And given the likelihood of the altered timeline element of A4, it makes little sense to force the shows into periods that conflict with the given dates considering that.

IF A4 goes a different way then I can adjust as needed.

Regarding the Peter Scarborough faux-Wikipedia entry, it looks like I jumped the gun on assuming that the Roxxon Gulf explosion was in 2009. Here's a screenshot:

It's hard to make out, but what it actually says is something like "In 2009, after supervising the Roxxon cleanup effort in New Orleans following an oil rig explosion, Scarborough transitioned to a consulting position." So it could have occurred in or before 2009, actually.

Here are screenshots for O'Reilly's search for narcotics arrests from February 2010-February 2011, said to be "about 8 years ago" in dialogue:

This is the period of time when Conners began working narcotics (after he shot Tyrone's brother).

TC

Yeah I'd noticed the dates in that scene and combined with the mention of 8 years ago it is likely to place C&D in early 2018. Once Season finishes up I'll make a final decision on that.

That is a film adaptation, I am sure you could get away without including it.

Eh, its not about getting away with it. If its meant to be canon it has to be included. If its not its nothing to worry about. Also, if it follows the Infinity War - The Heroes' Journey book's approach, it will be a lot of new scenes, along with some which adapt portions of the film.

Saw Ant-Man and the Wasp today. Timeline-wise

Spoiler

pretty much as expected. At the start, there's a much longer version of the scene in Ant-Man where Janet was lost, narrated by Pym, then cut to Pym telling the story to Hope. So the narration and the visuals need to be separated there. When we first see him, Scott has three days left of his two year house arrest, then the majority of the movie takes place inside those three days. There's one flashback to when Scott was in the quantum realm, but it's more like a dream sequence, so probably better leave it where it is. There's also a flashback to Hannah John-Kamen's character's childhood, narrated by her, so a bit more separating there.

The mid-credits scene has some of the characters turning to dust, so it's concurrent with the snap. The scene is hard to place in relation to the main movie though, it could take place anywhere from a couple of days to several months later. My best guess would be a couple of weeks later, but both a shorter and a longer amount of time could be easily argued.

So, given the film confirms Scott has only 3 days left on his two year house arrest, and given it can't be set after Infinity War, and we know Civil War occurred in April, 2016, it seems likely Ant-Man and the Wasp is set in mid or late April, maybe early May, 2018, depending on how long Scott was on the run for (probably not long, a few weeks or a month max).

This pretty definitively places IW not early in the year to align with AoS, but in at least April or May, 2018, to align with IW's release date and the dialogue and two year house arrest thing in A&tW.

 

[DIrishB]

There's a parking ticket seen in Cloak & Dagger 1x06 at the 0:02:23 mark (including the recap, without recap its at 0:01:46 mark), but no visible date can be seen. There doesn't seem to be any date on it at all.

Given the O'Reilly stuff and the 8 years mention in combo with the 2010 dates on the cases she was looking over, I'm going to move C&D to Feb-March 2018, and treat the 2007 date on the security cam as a case of the date not being accurately programmed. Given its a store video camera thats quite possible (instead of a police dash cam or military time code on government equipment or something where date is unlikely to be incorrect).

At the 23:01 mark in C&D 1x06, a license plate has a registration that expires in 2018, indicating it is indeed likely occurring in early 2018 (Feb-March), indicating the security cam date was incorrect.

 

[Craig]

Just got out of Ant-Man and the Wasp. Here's some timeline stuff I noticed:

Spoiler

This movie appears to create a lot of problems with Infinity War. The film opens two years after Scott agrees to go on house arrest with him having 3 days left on his sentence. If Civil War happened in April 2016, it would take at least a couple of months for Scott to work out a house arrest deal (let's just estimate 2 months for now), which would be June of 2016. 1 year and 362 days later would be June 2018 (and that's assuming it only took Scott 2 months to work out the house arrest deal - it probably would have taken even longer, probably closer to 6 months, placing Ant-Man and the Wasp in October

I'm no legal expert, but it's possible that the 2 year sentence was based retroactively from his first day on The Raft. If he was caught almost immediately, it's not like he would have been free a considerable amount of days. And even though he broke The Accords, you could consider the fact that he was never formally asked to sign and the fact that Cap was shown to be acting righteously when Zemo was outed as the mastermind beind the everything as caveats for leniency.

Seems like the best way to keep IW as early as possible in 2018.

 

[DIrishB]

Just got out of Ant-Man and the Wasp. Here's some timeline stuff I noticed:

Spoiler

This movie appears to create a lot of problems with Infinity War. The film opens two years after Scott agrees to go on house arrest with him having 3 days left on his sentence. If Civil War happened in April 2016, it would take at least a couple of months for Scott to work out a house arrest deal (let's just estimate 2 months for now), which would be June of 2016. 1 year and 362 days later would be June 2018 (and that's assuming it only took Scott 2 months to work out the house arrest deal - it probably would have taken even longer, probably closer to 6 months, placing Ant-Man and the Wasp in October 2018).

Not necessarily. Given the high profile status of the superheroes, I could see his sentencing hearing being given preferential treatment and bumped up so as to occur immediately or soon after his recapture. After all, given his list of crimes and escaping the Raft, on top of him being an ex-con, getting a 2 year house arrest sentence is a pretty sweet deal in itself. So, he escaped from Raft mid-April, 2016, was on run for maybe a few weeks maximum before being recaptured (or turning himself in, as life on the run is difficult and he probably wanted to be able to see his daughter again, and knew a life on the run wouldn't really allow for that). So, late April or early May of 2016 he gets sentenced to the 2 year house arrest. Placing A&tW either in late April or early May 2018, probably not long before Infinity War which is also likely set in 2018 around time of its release.

Honestly it doesn't create any problems at all.

Spoiler

During the course of the film, 4 days pass: the first day when the film starts when Scott has 3 days of house arrest left on his sentence, then 2 days pass of Scott doing his regular routine at his house, the morning of the third day is when Hope takes him to help she and Hank rescue Janet, and the next day is when Hank rescues Janet and the main film ends. The end montage of Scott's sentence ending, Louis' business thriving, and Hope and Janet moving their house to the beach is probably at least a week, maybe more. So estimating with the info about Civil War above, the film could end anyplace from June 2018-Novemer 2018. The gap is even larger when considering any time that may have passed between the end of the film and the post-credits scenes. This contradicts a lot of what Infinity War told us, unless it would be as easy as moving the events of that tied in with S.H.I.E.L.D. forward a few months (haven't watched S.H.I.E.L.D. so not sure how that time gap would work).

Again, you're utilizing a regular sentencing approach for an average Joe. I think an accelerated sentencing process is likely given the two year house arrest sentence (which itself is a very light sentence for what he did, technically). It's probably best to set A&tW in April, 2018, which allows for a bit of wiggle room for those ending montages. It's definitely not late 2018.

Spoiler

The opening scene of the film is obviously an expansion of the 1987 flashback from the first film, and when Hank is telling Hope, it seems to be right around the same time that he shows her her suit, the post-credits scene of the first film. The Ghost backstory (her dad's experiment-gone-wrong) would probably have to be before the 1989 opening of the first film because Starr is still doing experiments with Quantum tech and during the main film, Ghost mentions that Hank discredited him (unless he was able to do that after 1989 after he left S.H.I.E.L.D. somehow). Ghost getting adopted by Foster would probably be in the early 1990's and the S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff with her would just be throughout then until the events of The Winter Soldier in 2014.

I'm going to go check it out this weekend so I'll see if I can pick out any specific dates given, though there probably aren't any. For now April, 2018 seems like the best bet.

I'm no legal expert, but it's possible that the 2 year sentence was based retroactively from his first day on The Raft. If he was caught almost immediately, it's not like he would have been free a considerable amount of days. And even though he broke The Accords, you could consider the fact that he was never formally asked to sign and the fact that Cap was shown to be acting righteously when Zemo was outed as the mastermind beind the everything as caveats for leniency.

Seems like the best way to keep IW as early as possible in 2018.

Fair points. I also think his superhero status and his deeds in first Ant-Man film and Civil War (which as you said in the end were proven to be on the right side) played a role in the light sentence he got (given he's an ex-con), as well as could've accelerated his sentencing.

For all we know he didn't even have a sentencing trial, and just took a deal to avoid trial and got a lenient sentence as a result (and which also would've accelerated the sentencing process significantly so he wouldn't have to await a sentencing hearing date).

 

[Lebnyx]

For all we know he didn't even have a sentencing trial, and just took a deal to avoid trial and got a lenient sentence as a result (and which also would've accelerated the sentencing process significantly so he wouldn't have to await a sentencing hearing date).

This is the case. In Infinity War, Black Widow mentions that Clint and Scott took a deal.

 

[DIrishB]

This is the case. In Infinity War, Black Widow mentions that Clint and Scott took a deal.

Oh that's right! Forgot about that. There we have it then.

A&tW can easily fit into April, 2018, and Infinity War in May, 2018... course how that works in terms of stretching out the latter portion of AoS Season 5 remains to be seen. Currently it requires at least a several month jump between 5x13 and 5x14, which makes some sense in terms of Yo-Yo's recuperation time, but not sure since I know one of those episodes featured winter weather/snow during scene at night (can't remember the specific episode off top of my head though).

The other factor to consider is that those episodes (5x14-5x22) occur one right after the other, with no real way to stretch them out across several months (from December to April/May), since it covers a matter of days.

 

[vintsukka]

I'm no legal expert, but it's possible that the 2 year sentence was based retroactively from his first day on The Raft. If he was caught almost immediately, it's not like he would have been free a considerable amount of days. And even though he broke The Accords, you could consider the fact that he was never formally asked to sign and the fact that Cap was shown to be acting righteously when Zemo was outed as the mastermind beind the everything as caveats for leniency.

Given the high profile status of the superheroes, I could see his sentencing hearing being given preferential treatment and bumped up so as to occur immediately or soon after his recapture.

Are we even sure he was on the run after Civil War. Doesn't CW end with Cap breaking into the Raft and that's all we see? Maybe Scott chose to stay behind and work out a deal instead of going with Cap. That might also be one reason he was shown leniency.