With Marvel Studios creating new series for Disney+, the previous Marvel Television shows on ABC, Netflix, Hulu and Freeform were left without a home, or more accurately, without a canon. Since then, each series has been in a limbo when it comes to being considered a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or left behind as the multibillion-dollar franchise continues to expand. But while all hope may seem lost for shows like Daredevil, The Punisher and Runaways, one theorist may have found a way for it all to connect again, thanks to Avengers: Endgame.
In Endgame, the Avengers are sent to various points in time to retrieve Infinity Stones in a last-ditch effort to reverse Thanos' snap. Building off of that plot point, a theory on Reddit posits that because 2014 Thanos travels to the future and is destroyed by Iron Man's snap, that 2014 timeline continued without the Mad Titan. The Marvel Television shows could take place in that timeline and flourish without the threat of Thanos, bringing in a host of new heroes and villains.
Giving more credence to the theory is that over time, the Marvel Television shows began to connect less and less to the larger MCU. This is why Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. mentioned the Battle of New York as "The Incident" but failed to mention more current events as they became more of their own entities. Furthermore, the shows' creators later explained that the events of the series occurred before Thanos' snap. This means other threats could've arisen in Thanos' absence, making room for some of the shows' larger-scale events like alien invasions and time travel.
Other fans also brought forth the idea that the theory isn't sound because if there was a separate timeline without Thanos, then the Time Variance Authority from Loki should have pruned the branch. However, the TVA has been known to lie about how powerful they really are, and it's possible that not every branch is pruned like the organization has led many to believe. It's also brought up that pruning that particular timeline doesn't make sense because Steve Rogers still has to return the stones to their proper places, and if what the TVA says is true, it'd mean that everything happening in that 2014 must occur as part of the Sacred Timeline.
The only fallacy that isn't mentioned in the theory is a line from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5, Episode 20, "The One Who Will Save Us All," where Thanos' invasion is mentioned. This means that the shows released before then were, at that time, still considered canon and took place concurrently with the MCU, or at least Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. did. While it does poke a hole in this theory, it could still be plausible due to the MCU's flexibility with the timelines.
Ultimately, the theory presented regarding the Marvel Television shows may not be as possible as it sounds. By mentioning Thanos, this makes the shows align more so with the canon MCU timeline as opposed to the alternate timeline proposed in the theory. Conversely, perhaps only certain shows take place within the theory's alternate timeline while others are still canon. So while it doesn't fully work out for all of the Marvel shows, Rhodey and Nebula accidentally creating a timeline without Thanos is still possible. The only catch is that whatever events transpire there will be things fans probably won't get to see.