The fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are nothing if not eagle-eyed, and there’s one Spider-Man mistake that people have been debating for years. For anyone who has a lot of opinions about the MCU timeline, it’s a big deal.
Spider-Man Homecoming opens with a scene set in the aftermath of the Battle of New York, as depicted in 2012’s The Avengers. When Michael Keaton’s Marvel villain Vulture then vows to step up his tech advances, a title card states that the rest of the movie takes place “eight years later”.
You can see the offending moment on the video below (around 3:20), which would mean that Homecoming would have to be set in 2020. Given the fact that half of the universe was snapped out of existence by one of the best movie villains ever in 2018, that’s a problem.
Kevin Feige and veteran MCU movie directors Russo Brothers have given various answers about the debate over the years, with Joe Russo at one point declaring there was “a very incorrect eight years” between The Avengers and Homecoming.
Now, though, the mistake has been corrected – at least partly. The infuriating title card is still in place, after all, and it’s not going anywhere.
Disney Plus added Spider-Man Homecoming to its catalogue in the USA this week, and Twitter user @geekritique_dak noticed that Homecoming has been positioned between Black Panther and Doctor Strange in the “timeline order” section of the streaming service. That puts it, correctly, prior to the events of Infinity War.
Presumably, what was once a throwaway title card added to a new movie has now spiralled into one of the most persistent debates surrounding the Spider-Man movies. We hope Marvel fans never change.
For more from the world of Spidey, check out our guide to the Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse 2 release date and find out why you shouldn’t expect Spider-Verse 2 to have a happy ending.
Elsewhere, we’ve got information on the best movies and Marvel series coming in the near future, including The Marvels release date, the Loki season 2 release date, and the Captain America 4 release date.