With over 30 films, 9 official shows, a handful of non-official series, two television specials, and a number of other content like YouTube mini-series and short films, it’s no wonder the timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a bit of a mess. Even Marvel Studios’ official streaming platform Disney Plus is having a hard time making sense of the timeline.
Although at this point, ever since the culmination of the Infinity Saga in Avengers: Endgame, we’re convinced Marvel is purposefully keeping its releases as vague as possible when it comes to time stamps, it’s still possible to find some identifiers in almost all of them.
The Sacred Timeline was massively important in the early days of the MCU, but lately there are cataclysmic events happening almost concurrently in different films, without the players in either acknowledging each other. How exactly the events of Eternals took place without a peep from anyone else (except for that minuscule reference in She-Hulk) is beyond us. Still, this lack of connectivity helps minimize the possible incongruities in the timeline of events — like where exactly Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is placed, and why Groot’s growth is either incredibly sudden or non existent.
One thing we know for sure: the Disney Plus MCU timeline does not have the answers most of us are looking for. Here’s a look at all the ways the platform got it wrong.
Iron Man 3 happens before Thor: The Dark World
In the name of precision, we need to start with Disney Plus’ placement of Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World. For some reason, the streamer places the third Tony Stark solo outing after the Thor sequel. This is incorrect whether you look at it chronologically, by the films’ release dates, and even in comparison to Marvel Studios’ official timeline, released during its 10th anniversary.
Iron Man 3 happens six months after the battle of New York, which takes place in May of 2012. This is made pretty obvious by all the Christmas lights and references in the film. Thor: The Dark World happens in 2013.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings happens way later
According to the Disney Plus timeline, Shang-Chi happens before Eternals, which is about the most glaring mistake in the platform’s official order. The events of Eternals are more or less concurrent with Spider-Man: No Way Home, which isn’t available on the platform due to Sony copyright issues. Bottom line: they both happen in the fall, and Shang-Chi clearly doesn’t.
The closest time stamp we have for the events of the Simu Liu-led film might not be super obvious, but it is very clear. Wenwu mentions the Dark Gate opens “once a year, on Qīngmíng jié,” and we see the characters, particularly Katy’s grandmother, planning for this Chinese holiday more than once. QingMing Festival typically happens in the early days of April.
Hawkeye is set before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
It’s pretty clear Hawkeye happens directly after Spider-Man: No Way Home, and that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness takes place a few months after the third Spidey film. We know that Christmas is directly after the events of No Way Home, because we see Peter sling around a big lit-up tree at the end of it.
Hawkeye takes place in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and in Multiverse of Madness there are no longer any seasonal decorations on the streets. All three of these projects are set in New York, so it would be a bit odd for the city streets to look so different if the Doctor Strange sequel really was set in between No Way Home and Hawkeye. Although it’s hard to tell, we believe Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set in early 2025, nearer to spring.
Thor: Love and Thunder cannot happen that close to The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Okay, we get it. Groot is an alien tree so his growth doesn’t have to be linear, but isn’t it a bit odd that between Avengers: Infinity War and Thor: Love and Thunder he looks pretty much the same, then changes appearance noticeably in The Holiday Special, and retains that look for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?
The answer is in the fact that Thor: Love and Thunder happens much closer to Endgame than the Holiday Special. There should be about 10 months at least between one and the other, placing the fourth Thor film more or less at the same time as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Some fan-made timelines even place it in early 2024 instead of early 2025, just like they do Shang-Chi, but we hate to think Disney Plus would be that far out.
Just in case that was all a bit confusing, check out the WGTC-approved correct timeline here. Whether or not we have it wrong too, hopefully the Marvel Studios The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline book coming in September of this year will finally set the record straight.