The fictional timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise and shared universe is the continuity of events for several feature films, television series, television specials, short films, and the I Am Groot shorts, which are produced by Marvel Studios, as well as a group of Netflix series produced by Marvel Television. Within the multiverse of the MCU, the main setting for most media is the Earth-616 universe which is also known as the "Sacred Timeline". Media set outside of the multiverse or in alternate universes are noted.
Most of the films in the franchise's Phase One and Phase Two follow a similar timeline order to their releases, but Phase Three saw many of the films overlapping with each other. The Phase Three film Avengers: Endgame (2019) includes a five-year time jump, with many subsequent releases in Phase Four and Phase Five taking place after Endgame. The television series Loki (2021–2023) and What If...? (2021–2024) were the first properties to occur outside of the main timeline and explore alternative timelines and universes.
Marvel Studios has made several attempts to codify the MCU's events and address perceived continuity errors. An official timeline book, covering projects from the first four phases, was released in 2023. The book does not feature projects produced by other companies, such as Marvel Television's series which are loosely connected to the films, but it notes that these projects are part of the larger Marvel canon. In early 2024, Marvel Studios integrated Marvel Television's Netflix series into their Disney+ timeline. As of the Phase Six film Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), the "present day" in the MCU is 2028.
Overview During Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Marvel Studios lined up some of their films' stories with references to one another, though they had no long-term plan for the shared universe's timeline at that point. In October 2008, Marvel Studios hired executive Brad Winderbaum, who had previously served as Louis D'Esposito's assistant on Iron Man (2008). One of his initial jobs was to create an official timeline for the MCU, which resulted in him creating the universe's zero point to be Tony Stark revealing he is Iron Man and realizing some events in Phase One overlapped, which he called "Fury's Big Week". This would be further expanded upon by writers Christopher Yost and Eric Pearson with the official canon tie-in comic titled Fury's Big Week. After being presented with the timeline, Yost and Pearson tried to follow the logic of each films' timeline when plotting the comic and received "the seal of approval" from producer Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios on the final timeline. Marvel released an official infographic detailing this timeline in May 2012 in its The Art of Marvel's The Avengers book. Wanting to simplify the in-universe timeline, the Phase Two films were set roughly in real time relating to The Avengers (2012). For Phase Three, directors the Russo brothers continued the use of real-time between films' releases. Winderbaum said the Phase Three films would actually "happen on top of each other" while being less "interlocked" as the Phase One films were.
When Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) was being developed, director and co-writer Jon Watts was shown a scroll detailing the MCU timeline that was created by co-producer Eric Carroll when he first began working for Marvel Studios. Watts said the scroll included both where the continuity of the films lined up and did not line up, and when fully unfurled it extended beyond the length of a long conference table. This scroll was used as the basis to weave the continuity of Homecoming into the previous films, such as The Avengers. A title card in the film states that eight years pass between the end of The Avengers and the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016), which was widely criticized as a continuity error that broke the established MCU timeline, in which only four years should have passed. Additionally, dialogue in Civil War indicates that eight years pass between the end of Iron Man (2008) and the events of that film, despite the established continuity being closer to five or six years. Avengers: Infinity War (2018) co-director Joe Russo described the Homecoming eight years time jump as "very incorrect", and the mistake was ignored in Infinity War, which specified that its events were taking place only six years after The Avengers. The public response to the Homecoming mistake inspired Marvel Studios to release a new timeline for all three phases, and in November 2018 a timeline, specifying dates for the events in each film released to that point, was included as part of the sourcebook Marvel Studios: The First 10 Years, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the MCU. Following Infinity War, the Russo brothers said future films would not necessarily be set according to real time as there are "a lot of very inventive ways of where the story can go from here".
With Phase Four, Marvel Studios expanded into television series, which have greater interconnectivity with the MCU feature films than the series from Marvel Television. In October 2020, the Marvel section of Disney+ was restructured to include groupings of the films by phase, as well as a grouping that put the films in timeline order. By August 2022, Marvel Studios had hired an individual to keep track of the placement of the studio's projects in the MCU timeline. DK released a book titled The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline on October 24, 2023. The book, written by journalists Anthony Breznican, Amy Ratcliffe, and ReBecca Theodore-Vachon, was made in collaboration with Marvel Studios to provide an updated timeline of the MCU. Winderbaum said the book was the first time the studio was "officially laying out the timeline". The book covers Marvel Studios' projects in their first four phases as part of their "Sacred Timeline" on Earth-616, and addresses several perceived continuity errors, such as the timeline of Homecoming. In January 2024, during Echos press tour, Winderbaum acknowledged that Marvel Studios had previously been "a little bit cagey" about what was part of their Sacred Timeline, noting how there had been the corporate divide between what Marvel Studios created and what Marvel Television created, despite the two companies being in communication and aware of what each other were doing. He continued that Marvel Studios had begun to see "how well integrated the [Marvel Television] stories are" and personally felt confident in saying Marvel's Netflix television series Daredevil (2015–2018) was part of the Sacred Timeline. Shortly after Winderbaum's comments, Daredevil and the remaining Netflix series were added to the Disney+ timeline, primarily alongside the MCU's Phase Two and Three content. They were added to Disney+ "fairly quickly" after Winderbaum realized during the press tour of Echo that the Netflix series' place in the MCU timeline was "not just assumed" and audiences wanted it to be confirmed. Winderbaum added that Disney+ was Marvel Studios' "medium to define the canon now".
In January 2026, Wonder Man showrunner Andrew Guest said Marvel Studios encourages writers never to have explicit date mentions in their projects, having characters avoid saying dates, and trying to be unspecific about referencing other MCU events.
Depictions Within the MCU The Infinity Saga Iron Man 2 is set six months after the events of Iron Man, and around the same time as Thor according to comments made by Nick Fury. Several of the Marvel One-Shots short films also occur around the events of Phase One films, including The Consultant (set after the events of Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (set before the events of Thor), Item 47 (set after The Avengers), and Agent Carter (set one year after the events of Captain America: The First Avenger). Iron Man 3 takes place about six months after The Avengers, during Christmas; Thor: The Dark World is set one year later; and Captain America: The Winter Soldier is two years after. Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man ended the phase in 2015, with several months passing between those films in-universe as in real life. The One-Shot All Hail the King is set after the events of Iron Man 3.
Captain America: Civil War begins a year after Age of Ultron, with Avengers: Infinity War set two years after that. Black Panther and Spider-Man: Homecoming respectively begin a week and several months after Civil War. Thor: Ragnarok begins four years after The Dark World and two years after Age of Ultron, around the same time as Civil War and Homecoming. Doctor Strange takes place over a whole year, ending in late 2016, bringing the film "up to date with the rest of the MCU". Both Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel Vol. 2 are explicitly set in 2014, which Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige believed would create a four-year gap between Vol. 2 and Infinity War, though the other MCU films up to that point do not specify years onscreen.
Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel are set earlier in the timeline; the former is set two years after Civil War and shortly before Infinity War, while the latter is set in 1995. Avengers: Endgame begins shortly after Infinity War and ends in 2023 after a five-year time jump. It confirms dates for several of the other films, including The Avengers in 2012, Thor: The Dark World in 2013, Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014, Doctor Strange around 2017, and Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2018 before Infinity War. Spider-Man: Far From Home begins eight months after Endgame in 2024.
The Multiverse Saga Many of the properties in Phase Four are set after the events of Avengers: Endgame. WandaVision is set three weeks after the events of that film, and directly sets up Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness; The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is set six months after Endgame. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is also set after Endgame during the days leading to the Qingming Festival in early April, with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law set "a relatively short amount of time" after Shang-Chi. Eternals takes place around the same time as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Spider-Man: Far From Home, six to eight months after Endgame in 2024, while Spider-Man: No Way Home begins immediately after Far From Home, and continues over late 2024. Hawkeye takes place one year after the events of Endgame during the 2024 Christmas season.
Moon Knight is set after Hawkeye in early 2025, while Multiverse of Madness is set after Spider-Man: No Way Home. Ms. Marvel is set after Moon Knight, one to two years after Endgame. Thor: Love and Thunder is set after Endgame, eight and a half years after Thor broke up with Jane Foster, which had occurred by Ragnarok, and "a few weeks" since Thor joined the Guardians of the Galaxy. According to producer Nate Moore, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set after No Way Home and Eternals, "potentially concurrent" with Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, though it was placed earlier in the timeline between Moon Knight and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law with its addition to Disney+. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is set "a fairly long time" after the events of Love and Thunder and before those of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.