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It’s time to set the record straight when it comes to ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and the MCU timeline

Published Jan 17th, 2019 12:29PM EST
Avengers: Endgame Spoilers
Image: Marvel Studios

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Now that the first Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer is here, you’ll hear plenty of theories that say Spider-Man 2 may be set before Avengers: Endgame, but that’s definitely not the case. Yes, Sony has tried to make it all look like Far From Home could be set at any point in Marvel’s MCU timeline, and it has largely succeeded at not spoiling Endgame. At the same time, the first trailer does ruin Avengers 4 because it has all these little hints in it that something may have happened in Endgame, something bad, while pretending the new film has nothing to do with previous Avengers episodes. But make no mistake, Far From Home takes place after Endgame, and we know that’s the case because Sony and Marvel execs have said confirmed as much at least twice so far.

Sony’s Amy Pascal had this to say in 2017, while promoting the then-new Spider-Man: Homecoming:

What I think we should focus on is this Spider-Man who started in Civil War and then has this [Homecoming] movie, and then will be in the Avengers movie. And we are starting now the next one which will start a few minutes after Avengers 4 wraps as a story.

Several reports revived that quote last summer. While seemingly innocent at first, Pascal’s remarks had a completely different meaning after Infinity War because Pascal told the world that, one way or another, Peter Parker will be resurrected. We then learned that Nick Fury and Maria Hill, who perished during Infinity War post-credits scenes, will also be brought back to life.

Still not convinced? Here’s one other comment you should be aware of, and this one comes from none other than Marvel boss Kevin Feige. The exec talked to IGN while promoting Infinity War and Avengers 4 back in April 2018 and addressed Peter Parker’s “normalness” specifically:

He is one of us. He is, quote-unquote, a normal person, lives a normal life, with a normal environment, who, you know, got these powers, and who is exposed to these extraordinary things.

And we loved how the events of Civil War, for as dramatic and intense and politically complex as they were, we loved how Peter dealt with it [in Spider-Man: Homecoming]. And how Peter dealt with it is, he then went and tried to go back to a normal life.

Feige also said that Parker will try to get on with his life after the events in Avengers 4:

What is it like to try to go back to a normal life after what happens in this movie [Infinity War]? Not to mention what happens in the next [Avengers] movie.

It’s fun to see that, because he can represent, you know, the world as a whole, as they try to move forward. And you can do it in a way that is tonally unique, and tonally different than, certainly, the two Avengers films that people are about to see.

So whatever you hear online, Far From Home takes place after Avengers: Endgame. Even if Endgame will offer us a perfect happy end where Tony Stark & Co. reset time to prevent everything Thanos did, and even if Spider-Man isn’t involved in those plans and will end up having no recollection them, Far From Home still happens after Endgame.

The chronology would be something like this: Infinity War > Endgame > Far From Home, even if some time-traveling shenanigans unwind time up until the moment Parker was on the bus in Infinity War. For Parker, nothing would happen if the Avengers are successful. But everyone else who traveled through time and witnessed the events of Infinity War and Endgame will remember them. Of course, I’m just speculating here, but the point is the same: Far From Home isn’t an Infinity War prequel, it’s an Endgame successor.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.