More than ten years after the release of the original Iron Man, the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to grow. In addition to a flood of upcoming movies featuring all-new characters such as Shang-Chi and the Eternals, multiple shows starring key Avengers are in the works, ensuring the billion-dollar franchise will become bigger than ever.
The MCU is getting so ambitious, in fact, that it’s now beginning to branch out into multiple timelines and continuities. While perhaps not as confusing and vast as its near-boundless comic-book origins, there are still enough intricacies and tricky details to trip up even the most hardcore of fans. Consider this your cheat sheet to the franchise and its timelines as the universe continues to expand into the future.
MCU Prime
This is the timeline fans know and love. Starting with Iron Man and continuing on through to the end of Avengers: Endgame, it consists of over 20 movies and multiple television shows that span the main timeline of the MCU. To current knowledge, it’s also the timeline every other newly introduced timeline spins off from, mostly due to history being rewritten at several points following the Avengers’ and Thanos’ use of time travel.
Loki's Space Stone Timeline
The upcoming Loki TV series on Disney+ is a result of the Endgame time heist. Iron Man, Captain America and Ant-Man try to procure the space stone/Tesseract and mind stone in the aftermath of 2012's Battle of New York from the first Avengers film, but the team’s plan goes wrong when the Hulk from the past throws a tantrum, causing Tony to drop the briefcase containing the Tesseract. Seeing an opportunity, an imprisoned Loki snags it amidst the chaos and teleports away
The repercussions of these events are currently unclear save for what’s likely the most important detail: this new timeline’s Loki is still alive and evil -- or at least dangerously mischievous. With the loss of his mother and father still a few years in the future (both of which his prime counterpart is partly responsible for), Loki hasn’t matured or reconciled with his brother, Thor, yet. Needless to say, with a malicious mindset and the power of an Infinity Stone in his hands, the trickster’s path in this timeline probably won’t result in a redemptive death protecting the space stone from Thanos.
The 2014 Endgame Branch
After learning the Avengers were using time travel during the events of Endgame, the 2014 version of Thanos steals their technology and jumps to their future to wage full-on war for the collected Infinity Stones. The Mad Titan ultimately loses and is snapped into dust with the rest of his army after Iron Man acquires the gauntlet.
This timeline diverged as soon as Thanos was alerted to the future Nebula’s presence in 2014. While this was probably the worst possible scenario for the time-traveling Avengers, it may have been the best one for almost everyone in that version of the past. Unless they were returned back to their timeline with Tony’s snap, Thanos and the entirety of his army (the Black Order included) are now gone, leaving this timeline safe from one of the universe’s biggest threats.
On a sadder note, this timeline’s Nebula is dead after traveling forward in time with Thanos. Similarly, its Gamora is now stuck in the future, and as a result, this alternate 2014 will almost certainly never develop the Guardians of the Galaxy. Whatever ensues from these crucial changes to the MCU will probably never be explored, but it’s interesting to think about, nonetheless.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The third to last episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. confirmed that the series now takes place in its own separate timeline. This is most likely due to the team’s own time-traveling adventures, which have sent catastrophic ripples throughout time and altered major historical milestones across the MCU.
However, certain plot-related discrepancies may point to this timeline shift having happened before the team’s use of time travel. While the arrival of Thanos on Earth during Avengers: Infinity War lines up with the end of the show’s fifth season, one year later, Season 6 seems to ignore the effects of his snap at the film’s conclusion. It’s not known if this means Mack, Daisy, May and the rest of the team are now absent from the MCU Prime timeline, but it seems Nick Fury and the Skrulls might have picked up the slack, given the implications of Spider-Man: Far From Home’s post-credits scene.
Unconfirmed
There are several other upcoming and MCU-adjacent properties that could link to Marvel Studios’ bigger franchise. Although little is currently known about it, WandaVision may directly follow the events of Endgame. Seeing how it seems to take place in a suburban sitcom alternate reality, the show could be loosely adapting the “House of M” and 2016's “The Vision” comic-book storylines in a brand new MCU timeline or universe. Alternatively, it could all be taking place inside Wanda/Scarlet Witch’s mind in the Prime timeline.
And with Spider-Man already involved in the MCU, Sony’s other Marvel movies are potentially also part of the franchise. Since Marvel Studios is not directly involved in the making of these films, the jury’s still out on whether Venom and its upcoming sequel, Let There Be Carnage, take place within the MCU Prime, let alone an alternate timeline.
On that note, the trailer for the delayed Morbius movie blatantly features graffiti art of Spider-Man, confirming some incarnation of the character, possibly the MCU version, exists within the world of the film. Additionally, Michael Keaton, who plays Adrian Toomes/Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming, pops up in the trailer’s stinger. It’s not known if Keaton is reprising his Homecoming role in Morbius, but as with Venom, it could be a continuation, branch or completely unrelated part of the MCU.