Official MCU Timeline Retcons Spider-Man Homecoming Time-Jump

Considering how the Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown so vastly in scope within 10 years – delivering adventures on Earth, in the Cosmos, and on an atomic scale – it’s remarkable how Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios lot have kept the continuity as tight as it is. But while the odd light discrepancy here and there is easy to ignore, one clanger has messed it all up: the eight-year time-jump in Spider-Man: Homecoming that supposedly sets Peter Parker’s web-slinging adventure nearly a decade on from the Chitauri invasion of New York in The Avengers.

Now Marvel Studios have released a more official timeline for the MCU that retcons Spider-Man’s unlikely time-hop. According to new book Marvel Studios: The First 10 Years (and reported by ScreenRant), Homecoming is officially set in 2016 – only four years after the 2012-set Avengers. Basically, they’ve admitted that eight years just doesn’t work – so you’re welcome to ignore it every time you re-watch Homecoming. Elsewhere, the new timeline puts Iron Man in 2010 (set two years after its 2008 release) which places it closer in the timeline to the 2011-set Iron Man 2, while Doctor Strange is now said to take place through 2016 and 2017 – a year later than previously thought. Here’s the year-by-year breakdown:

1943-45: Captain America: The First Avenger

2010: Iron Man

2011: Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor

2012: The Avengers, Iron Man 3

2013: Thor: The Dark World

2014: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

2015: Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Ant-Man

2016: Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming

2016 - 2017: Doctor Strange

2017: Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War

There are still a few issues with the new timeline – Civil War reportedly remains in 2016, with Black Panther now in 2017, though T’Challa is still supposed to only be a week or so into his reign as the new King of Wakanda in Ryan Coogler’s film. Hey, maybe Civil War is secretly a Christmas movie (watch out, Die Hard), and Black Panther begins in the new year. Or maybe this continuity stuff is just really, really hard, and fans should just be thankful that the brain-shattering X-Men continuity hasn’t crossed over into the MCU yet.

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