The Marvel universe is as complex as the comics it was birthed from. Now, in Phase Five, we’ve reached a new level in the multiverse. While the action is still playing out in the blockbuster movies, there’s now an entirely different medium at play: Disney+ streaming originals like WandaVision and Loki, which exist totally separately from the other television series like the Defenders group of Netflix originals and the ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Now, finally, we have an answer to one of the biggest question in all of the MCU — how do these other series fit into the greater scheme?
In the preface for the new book, Marvel Studios: The Marvel Cinematic Universe - An Official Timeline, Kevin Feige takes note of the stories on the outskirts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and teases something huge:
“On the Multiverse note, we recognize that there are stories — movies and series — that are canonical to Marvel but were created by different storytellers during different periods of Marvel’s history. The timeline presented in this book is specific to the MCU’s Sacred Timeline through Phase 4. But, as we move forward and dive deeper into the Multiverse Saga, you never know when timelines may just crash or converge (hint, hint/spoiler alert).”
But just what could all these hints be alluding to? Ever since the Loki Season 1 finale, the concept of multiverses has been all over the MCU, from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to Spider-Man: No Way Home. But, per Feige, these multiverses seem to apply to Marvel TV as well. It looks like this is the answer to the question of where the other TV shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. slot into the bigger universe. Feige seems to confirm they exist, just not on the “sacred timeline” of the MCU.
While it’s great to have an official word on the matter, it doesn’t answer how Daredevil can crossover with the MCU, or how Wolverine will appear in Deadpool 3. Are these the same characters we’ve seen before, or are they the version that exists in the world of the MCU while another version exists in the world of their previous appearance?
Maybe this is how it’s meant to be, but the last sentence in Feige’s quote seems to suggest that even though all these shows from the pre-WandaVision era may exist in different universes, they may still intersect. Who knows, we may still see the Jessica Jones or Daisy Johnson we know pop up in a future MCU project through some multiversal trickery.
