Redefining the MCU Canon- What is canon?
If there is one thing that the MCU is known for it is continuity- a strict timeline of events that everything must adhere to. It’s so ingrained in the franchise that even minor errors like Spider-Man Homecoming saying 8 years later can cause an upstir among the fanbase. As the MCU grew, it developed a bit more complicated a chain of continuity with the development of TV shows such as Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, the Netflix commissions, and more.
What is the problem? All the shows are part of the MCU right?
Well….yes….and no. Some shows certainly are more canon than others while other go completely ignored by the wider universe. Much of this is due to the later divide between Kevin Fiege’s Marvel Studios and Jeff Loeb’s Marvel Entertainment; a gap that only grew over time. Star Wars also had this issue before the Disney acquisition with various forms of canon designation ranging from G- Canon (George Lucas approved), to S- Canon, to all the way down to N-Canon (Non-Canon). It got so complicated for the casual fan that Lucasfilm wiped out their entire expanded universe to start from scratch. Hopefully Marvel isn’t heading in a similar direction.
So, let’s clarify the canon a little bit. I believe MCU canon can be designated into three easy categories.
HARD CANON
RULES: Anything in this category must be easily placed within the MCU timeline, there must be tangible connections to the wider universe and there must be impacts felt to and from the interconnected mediums
Marvel Studio Produced Films- This is pretty self-explanatory. The films began the universe and form the core backbone of the entire series- and will continue to do so for as long as this series exists.
Marvel Studios Disney+ Shows- also self-explanatory. These shows made by the studio specifically for the platform and featuring major characters and events. According to Kevin Fiege, these shows will heavily impact the events in the movies and vice versa. They are producing some animated content and it will be interesting to see how much they regard those as canon compared to their live-action efforts. Time will tell.
Marvel One-Shots- official short films produced by Marvel Studios for home releases. Although they have stopped producing these (which is a shame because they were fun little spin offs and made for a great home media bonus) the ones that do exist are canon and hopefully we have not seen the last of them.
WHiH World News Webseries- A series of videos featuring Christine Everhart interviewing various significant characters from the MCU on various events. It was used as a promotional campaign for films during phase 2, and although it has been phased out (no pun intended) the series has been declared canonical with characters from the films appearing and WHiH being seen throughout the wider MCU as the main source of news.
Sony-Marvel Collaborations- currently only consisting of the Spider-Man films Homecoming, Far From Home, and the upcoming No Way Home. These collaborations are funded by Sony as they own the rights but produced by Marvel Studios to fit neatly into their chronology…well maybe not always so neatly given that whole 8 years later debocle.
Peter’s To-Do List- A short film created from deleted scenes from Far From Home and featuring Tom Holland and other main characters. Though technically made from deleted scenes and not designated as a One-Shot, it’s a fun short lead up to the main events of the movie and adds just a little more texture to Peter’s world.
Agent Carter Season 1- This is the only show from the Marvel Television division which makes it into the hard canon list for me and for some good reasons. This series features Haley Atwell as Peggy Carter as well as other MCU characters such as Howard Stark, the Howling Commandos, and Arnim Zola. It covers Cap’s disappearance, attempts to replicate the super soldier serum, the Red Room, and development towards the Winter Soldier program. The first season is created and written by mainstay MCU writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (First Avenger, Winter Soldier, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame) with one episode guest directed by Joe Russo. It features the first (so far the ONLY) character to jump from TV to movies with Edwin Jarvis appearing in Endgame, which makes it the only show so far that has influenced the films. So why isn’t the second season up here if the first is? We will get to that. The entire series was recently moved to a category called Marvel Legacy, where such properties as Fox's X-Men reside. However, I'm chalking this up to a bad movie by Disney+ employees and doing this original miniseries (first season) dirty as it fits all the criteria to fit neatly into the Hard Canon rules.
LOOSE CANON
RULES: This material claims to be in the MCU, but only really references events within the Hard Canon without being acknowledged by the wider universe. They are difficult to fit in the timeline and often fail to cross over in any meaningful way.
Agents of SHIELD- I originally had this in hard cannon and it broke my heart to move it out, because this is a show I really came to love. It features the most interconnective tissue of all the early shows. Many characters from the films appear including Phil Colson, Peggy Carter, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Sif and more. There are many direct tie-ins from the films but the movies largely ignore the show with no cross pollination. Following season 5 and the fall out of Marvel Television and Marvel Studios, it doesn’t follow up with the invasion of Thanos and the events of Infinity War. It claims to take place a year after the snap, but doesn’t reference half the population vanishing or any other major ramifications. That’s a big elephant in the room. One explanation is that they slid out of the main MCU continuity at the beginning of season 5 with time travel but Marvel Studios has continued to ignore the events of SHIELD by changing the look and nature of the Darkhold (which appears in both Season 4 of SHIELD and WandaVision), which to me shows Fiege’s continued desire to ignore this branch of Marvel Television. SHIELD was also recently moved into Marvel Legacy category on Disney+ showing the futher decline in the ranks of canon.
Slingshot Mini-Webseries- A short-run webseries featuring the Agents of SHIELD character, Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez. If Agents of Shield is loose-canon then this side-story belongs in the same place.
Agent Carter Season 2- Featuring new showrunners and writers, the second season has gone largely ignored by the larger series and even ends on a cliffhanger that is never resolved and looks to never be as Marvel Television is no longer handling the TV side of the MCU. Agent Carter had originally been intended as a standalone miniseries and this attempt to expand it into a full show has been neatly and quietly forgotten. When they tried to make it a long-running series, they recruited a new writing team and showrunner, losing the MCU writing team that gave it such close ties to the larger world. The attempt failed leaving fans disappointed and plotlines hanging.
Marvel Netflix- consisting of the shows Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Defenders, and Punisher, it references the MCU primarily with the battle of New York serving as an inciting incident, and name drops some main characters, but doesn’t acknowledge most later events (with exception to Jessica Jones, which has some references to Civil War). These shows don’t feature any major or minor MCU character crossovers. For most seasons, it is hard to know where they fit into the timeline. Unfortunately, as beloved as some of these portrayals are, none of them have crossed into any other shows or movies. There are even signs of licensing issues as sometimes they can’t even say character names (“the flag-waver, the big green guy”). Some major actors are recast into the films, most notably Merhershalla Ali as Blade or Alfre Woodard into Civil War. There is still a major push to get these versions of the characters into the hard canon of the MCU- most notably with the very well received Daredevil show and Jon Bernthal’s spot on take of Frank Castle/The Punisher- but until Fiege pulls the trigger and listens to fan demands, they will stay right here in loose canon.
Inhumans- This show mostly was a spin-off of Agents of SHIELD, which introduced the Inhumans in season 3. Most of its connection to the wider MCU comes from references to events in its sister show. There are few (to no) other references to wider events within the MCU and it certainly isn’t given attention by anything else in the universe…. not even Agents of SHIELD will admit its existence. Marvel seems content to sweep this abomination under the rug, and for good reason, as it is the worst received property to ever be affilliated with the series.
TheDailyBugle.net Webseries- featuring MCU J Jonah Jameson and other characters from the Spider-Man films in a youtube series parodying Alex Jones. Although it does have character from the MCU Spider-Man films appearing (such as JK Simmons brilliantly back as Jameson) we have yet to see how this webseries will be acknowledged by the wider MCU. With COVID postponing a lot of the Marvel Studio plans, we will have to wait and see if this little webseries gets more love and gets to join the big boys.
NON-CANON/CANON-IN-NAME-ONLY
RULES: These are media with no connection whatsoever to the MCU. No references of anything larger, no characters, and no crossovers. The creators may insist they are part of the MCU, but there is nothing tangible to put them in that category. This designation also features material that directly contradicts continuity of the MCU.
Runaways- This show features virtually no mention of the wider universe. No characters from any other media appear and our main characters and supporting characters appear nowhere else in this wider universe. The biggest connection they have is WHiH News appearing occasionally and the Darkhold with a similar design in Agents of SHIELD. It is paper thin. And when one of your biggest connections, the Darkhold, has already been distanced thanks to WandaVision, it isn’t a great claim to fame.
Cloak and Dagger- This show features no mentions of the wider universe in the first season. No characters from any other media appear and they appear nowhere else in the wider universe. The biggest connection it has are extremely brief references to Luke Cage and Daredevil from the Netflix side of Marvel. Thin connective tissue indeed.
Team Thor Trilogy- a series of comedic short films by Ragnarok director Taika Waititi featuring major characters of the MCU such as Thor, Bruce Banner, and the Grandmaster living casually in our world. Unfortunately, they don’t match with the actual events or chronology of the series making them definitively non-canon, but are still entertaining and worth a watch.
Avengers: Damage Control- a VR game “set in the MCU” with many actors returning to lend their voices in returning roles for the series. However, the events seem to be heading in the direction of not being canon to the actual series and it would be a shock if Kevin Fiege ever gives it a second glance.
Sony Universe of Marvel Characters (SUMC)- A branch of films such as Venom and Morbius with ties to characters from the MCU (such as Vulture possibly appearing in Morbius), but not acknowledged as MCU canon. The upcoming No Way Home is rumored to explore the Spider-Verse, which means although these movies may get a connection to the series as alternate timelines, they will not be part of this universes chronology.
Helstrom- I forgot this even existed as it aired well after the Marvel Television and Studios split. It went pretty under the radar, got poor reviews, was badly advertised, and then was promptly forgotten. I’d say if it had any tangible ties to the wider universe, but like everyone else, I forgot it existed.
So here is my designations for canon in a new streamlined format. Can stuff move? Sure, but it would depend on Fiege acknowledging a lot outside of Marvel Studios control and I find it difficult to believe he will do that. I suspect he will more continue to shrug his shoulders at the loose and non-canon and chip away at their credibility in small ways.
I write this hopefully for people to be on the same page when talking about MCU canon, especially in regards to my articles that make reference to Hard, Loose, and Non-canon. Hopefully more casual fans can also use it as a guideline for what to watch and why some things are more connected than others.