Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-31408169-20170715142809

Ok then. Spider-Man Homecoming really shook up the MCU by stating that Homecoming, and therefore Civil War, take place 8 years after The Avengers, despite all evidence pointing to the gap being 4 years. However, I believe there is a way that the timeline can be fixed without contradicting any evidence given in any production in the MCU.

We know for certain that Iron Man takes place in 2010, with Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger's ending taking place in 2011 (though CA could in theory end in 2012). This is followed by The Avengers and Iron Man 3 in 2012, with Thor: The Dark World confirmed to take place in 2013. Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of The Galaxy Vols 1 and 2 definitely happening in 2014, though Dr. Strange is name-dropped in the former. 2015 sees Age of Ultron and Ant-Man take place, followed by the majority (if not all) of Dr. Strange in 2016.

This is where I think a time-gap takes place, from 2016 to 2020, to accomodate Homecoming. We know Civil War and Homecoming are pretty close together, and that Homecoming supposedly takes place in 2020. There is no concrete references to the distance from other films in Civil War, leaving that also open to taking place in 2020. The fact that it took Falcon 5 years to recruit Ant-Man to the Avengers is irrelevant in this situation.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. could be a stumbling block in this situation, but there is a simple way around this too: The end of Season Two. There is no precise time-gap between Seasons 2 and 3, and five years (2015 (S.O.S Part Two) - 2020 (Laws Of Nature)) would give the Inhuman Outbreak sufficient time to spread to as many people as it did. From Season Three onwards, the show distances itself from the MCU, and the only real reason it may take place in 2020 is a Civil War name-drop in 03x20 (Emancipation). Agent Carter takes place in the past, and so does not affect the time-gap.

I am not an expert on the Netflix series, but from I've heard there are no references to the films strong enough for them to have to be moved, except perhaps 'The Incident' (I still haven't quite worked out what that actually is).

Spider-Man is the main catalyst of all this change, mainly due to his 'appearance' in Iron Man 2. However, if he was born in 2005, he woud be 6 by the time we see him at the 2011 Stark Expo (he looks about 6 years old in the film anyway). That would also mean by 2020 (Civil War and Homecoming) he would be 15, which I'm sure was confirmed in Homecoming.

So I think I may have solved the timeline. Phew. If I've missed anything, please feel free to add to the discussion. 