In order to make it easier to keep everything connected, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been pretty careful to avoid tying its movies down to a specific date, though it’s generally assumed that most of them are simply set in the year of their release.
This worked out well for the franchise until 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming threw a spanner in the works. A caption during that film revealed that it was set eight years after The Avengers. Which would mean it takes place in 2020. Given Homecoming‘s ties to Captain America: Civil War, this threatened to tear a hole in the MCU’s timeline. Until Avengers: Infinity War came along, that is.
While talking with Doctor Strange, Tony Stark mentions that the events of The Avengers happened six years ago – which fits into the theory that both movies are set in their year of release. As Infinity War takes place two years after Civil War and Homecoming, that retroactively places them just four years after The Avengers. Seeing as that “eight years later” caption wasn’t actually part of the narrative of the film, then, it seems that it’s been simply waved away as an error.
This fits in with what Infinity War co-director Joe Russo said recently. He half-joked that Homecoming‘s time jump was “very incorrect,” so it’s clear that he, his brother and the screenwriters were well aware that this didn’t really make sense and made sure to slot in a quick line that realigned the MCU timeline.
Of course, Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 could very easily mess things up again. We know that it’ll see Peter back in high school, but by the time it comes out – if it follows Civil War/Infinity War‘s dates – it would mean that Spidey’s in his senior year. If that’s not what happens, well, then the timeline will be very muddled once more.
Eh, maybe we should just enjoy Avengers: Infinity War and try not to worry about complicated continuity issues…
