Kevin Feige is clearly a fan of ruthless compartmentalization. Even though Marvel Netflix series such as Daredevil, Punisher, and Jessica Jones are of the highest quality, the MCU is not allowing them to play in the Sacred Timeline.
The MCU is huge, both in terms of its cultural impact and in terms of the amount of content enveloped under its umbrella. That doesn’t mean just anyone can join, though, and Feige has been drawing the line as to which Marvel series count as canon and which don’t make the cut.
Even the appearance of Charlie Cox in various MCU projects isn’t enough to secure canon status for his Daredevil Netflix series. In the new book, Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline, Feige wrote: “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.”
Sticking with Cox, that means his cameos in the Spider-Man movie, No Way Home, and the small-screen She-Hulk series, are technically not linked to the Marvel character he portrayed for Netflix. Which is… confusing.
As we move into Phase 5, Cox will again pop up as Matt Murdock for the Echo release date. He also has his own Daredevil reboot lined up, though we are seemingly a way off getting an official Daredevil season 4 release date, as the show is undergoing major screenwriting surgery.
Back in the days of the Infinity Saga, there would be little way back in after Feige’s comments. But the Multiverse Saga is different. “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),” Feige added.
As we look ahead to Phase 6, and with the growing knowledge of variants and different dimensions we’ve gained from the likes of Doctor Strange 2 and Loki, we know that anyone can jump into the MCU at any point. All Feige and co. have to do is write the character as a slightly different version (but with the same actor) from a different timeline, et voilà, we get the familiar face we love, but they come with a fresh slate for the MCU.
Ultimately, it really doesn’t matter either way. Should the MCU choose to entirely forget all about the Marvel Netflix series, would that make them any less great? No. If anything, a part of me would be kind of relieved if, for example, Jon Bernthal’s Punisher show remained exactly what it is — a self-contained story unconcerned with multi-dimensional tyrants and intergalactic superheroes.
There’s nothing stopping anyone from watching the Marvel movies in order over and over again, and also dipping into the Defenders shows, and enjoying the two as very separate entities. However, if you prefer everything to be connected, we can tell you all about various upcoming Marvel movies like Deadpool 3, the Captain America 4 release date, and we’ve also plenty of information on other new movies like Avengers: Secret Wars (which could well end up uniting every section of Marvel after all).