She-Hulk: Attorney at Law premieres on Thursday on Disney Plus. But you don’t have to wait that long to learn about She-Hulk’s place on the MCU timeline. We know exactly where the action in the new show fits, and it’s somewhat of a spoiler. If you’d like to avoid all spoilers, you can check our She-Hulk: Attorney at Law review instead.
Why the MCU timeline matters
The Marvel timeline is such a big deal because all the MCU shows are interconnected. They’re part of a much larger storyline. That’s why MCU chronology is essential to understand.
Marvel doesn’t release the various pieces of the puzzle in chronological order. For example, the Multiverse Saga’s first movie was a prequel, the standalone Black Widow story.
But most of the action in the MCU happens after the events in Avengers: Endgame, but those events are still crucially important. Many Phase 4 titles reference Endgame events and She-Hulk will be no different. That’s why we must understand where the show fits on the MCU timeline.
The confusing trailer reveals
With all that in mind, we always try to determine a show’s place on the MCU timeline in relation to Endgame. Once that’s done, we can zoom in and find a precise time placement for a new show or movie.
With She-Hulk, the trailers and promo shows deliver a confusing story. Smart Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) appears to have healed after the considerable damage his right arm took in Endgame. That’s a detail that might indicate some of the She-Hulk events might have taken place between Infinity War and Endgame.
After all, that’s when Bruce Banner transitioned into the smart version of Hulk.
However, there’s a spoiler-laden She-Hulk clip that delivers contradicting details. We have Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) and Bruce Banner driving in a car and talking about Captain America (Chris Evans). We already explained the huge reveals in that TV spot. One of them is Banner being in the car, not Hulk. And Banner has his right arm in a sling.
If that sounds familiar, that’s because we last saw Banner in the brilliant Shang-Chi post-credits scene. The events in the movie happen well after Endgame, according to Marvel’s official MCU timeline. Yet Banner is back in human form somehow.
Not to mention that we have both Abomination (Tim Roth) and Wong (Benedict Wong) cameos in the She-Hulk trailer. And it so happens that we saw these two characters fight in Shang-Chi, even though Abomination should have been imprisoned.
She-Hulk’s place on the timeline
We don’t have to wait for She-Hulk to hit Disney Plus to then figure the timeline on our own. Marvel reserves such ordeals only to certain shows.
This time around, She-Hulk head writer and executive producer Jessica Gao explained the timeline to TV Line.
According to her, She-Hulk is set “not too far” after Shang-Chi. “It’s not, like, years later. It’s a relatively short amount of time.”
In turn, Shang-Chi is set after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The action in the TV show happens about six months after Endgame, therefore in the spring of 2024. Also, Shang-Chi happens before Eternals, Far From Home, and No Way Home.
Put differently, the Daredevil (Charlie Cox) cameo in She-Hulk might precede his appearance in No Way Home.
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