Marvel Studios Finally Shares Official Explanation For SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING's Continuity Error

Marvel Studios Finally Shares Official Explanation For SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING's Continuity Error

It's taken them six years, but Marvel Studios has finally shared an official explanation - of sorts - for Spider-Man: Homecoming's perplexing "8 Years Later" scene. Find more details after the jump...

By JoshWilding - Oct 25, 2023 08:10 AM EST
Filed Under: Homecoming

Marvel Studios doesn't often make mistakes, but Spider-Man: Homecoming featured a major timeline blunder. Taking us back to the events of The Avengers in order to reveal why Adrian Toomes became The Vulture, the movie then jumped eight years into the present day...which simply didn't add up. 

Prior to Avengers: Endgame, the MCU largely played out in real-time. The Avengers was set in 2012, with Captain America: Civil War - which introduced the MCU's Spidey - and Spider-Man: Homecoming taking place in 2016 and 2017, respectively. 

Eight years later would place the latter in 2020 and Marvel Studios has since acknowledged the error. 

It's also an issue they don't gloss over in the newly released The Marvel Cinematic Universe - An Official Timeline book. In that, the flashback is established to have taken place in the Spring of 2012 before the events of Homecoming played out four years later in the Fall of 2016. 

Of course, while it's easy to write a title card off as a post-production error, it becomes trickier to justify when The Vulture at one point says, "Eight years, not a word from the Feds." 

The book actually attempts to address this by enlisting Miss Minutes to explain the error. 

"Redline alert! Hi again! Adrian Toomes says the Battle of New York was eight years ago, but that event was only four years prior," the TVA's twisted mascot reveals. "This one's a real head-scratcher for us - I reckon an analyst misplaced the case file."

That will do, surely? 

It's as good an explanation as any, and we're going to put it down to a glitch on the Sacred Timeline...

Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, young Peter Parker returns home to live with his Aunt May. Under the watchful eye of mentor Tony Stark, Parker starts to embrace his newfound identity as Spider-Man. He also tries to return to his normal daily routine -- distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just a friendly neighborhood superhero. Peter must soon put his powers to the test when the evil Vulture emerges to threaten everything that he holds dear.

Directed by Jon Watts, Spider-Man: Homecoming stars Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Tyne Daly, Marisa Tomei, and Robert Downey Jr. 

The movie grossed $880 million at the worldwide box office in 2016 and was followed by Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

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bobevanz
bobevanz - 10/25/2023, 8:38 AM
But what does MyTimeToShineHello have to say?!
thedrudo
thedrudo - 10/25/2023, 9:27 AM
@bobevanz - He says they are going re-release Homecoming in theaters and it’s going to fix the number of years and include a video apology from Fiege.
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 10/25/2023, 3:10 PM
@bobevanz - hahaha lmao
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 10/25/2023, 8:46 AM
Disney Marvel doesn't make mistakes. #It's all connected #Eternals saved lives
DudeGuy
DudeGuy - 10/25/2023, 8:46 AM
It never even crossed my mind, and I’m sure it won’t the next time I watch it either.
Origame
Origame - 10/25/2023, 8:49 AM
Ok, what? If that's not how it's supposed to be and the tva noticed this, why didn't they do anything to fix it? Keep in mind, their standards for preventing timeline changes include someone being a few minutes late for work.
ElvenKingSlayer
ElvenKingSlayer - 10/25/2023, 9:09 AM
@Origame - Isn't it about the consequences? Like in Sliding doors. Wings of a butterfly an all that
Origame
Origame - 10/25/2023, 9:24 AM
@ElvenKingSlayer - no, it's all about the creation of the multiverse.

Loki season one explains the multiverse operates like the many world's interpretation, which states that any choice or possibility exists in its own reality. Any alteration to the timeline can lead to a new timeline, which in turn can lead to a multiversal war as there are more Kang variants.

The example episode 1 gives for the kind of sh!t that would warrant the tva getting involved is being late for work when you were supposed to be on time. The only consequence that matters to them is it being another timeline meaning another Kang variant.

Per the rules the mcu established, him getting the year wrong should constitute a branch in the timeline and should be stopped by the tva.
DTor91
DTor91 - 10/25/2023, 11:26 AM
@Origame - …….it’s a simple mistake lmao. Talking about the TVA like it’s a real thing here. Don’t work your brain too hard.
Origame
Origame - 10/25/2023, 11:33 AM
@DTor91 - ...you're saying this as if I'm making this correction. Marvel could've just left it as a mistake in the movie and left it at that. But they had to explain it as a variant issue the tva decided to do nothing with. Which is kinda like dealing with spilt milk by burning your table.
ElvenKingSlayer
ElvenKingSlayer - 10/26/2023, 12:10 AM
@Origame - yeah the wings of a butterfly. Like you say, the creation of a new Kang. Consequences.
Origame
Origame - 10/26/2023, 5:09 AM
@ElvenKingSlayer - ...that happens just from creating a new timeline, which by the rules set up in loki this does.

In other words, this doesn't fix the problem. It creates a bigger problem as now its a variant timeline that should've been pruned but the tva just decided not to.
ElvenKingSlayer
ElvenKingSlayer - 10/27/2023, 12:57 AM
@Origame - Yeah I agree, they should've pruned.
I commented on the second part of your comment "Keep in mind, their standards for preventing timeline changes include someone being a few minutes late for work."
Origame
Origame - 10/27/2023, 8:46 AM
@ElvenKingSlayer - ...yeah. that's what it takes for them to prune a timeline.
SirDuckAlot
SirDuckAlot - 10/25/2023, 8:59 AM
Could care less about this shitty convoluted continuity at this point.
Nightwing1015
Nightwing1015 - 10/25/2023, 1:44 PM
@SirDuckAlot - It's a lot less convoluted than most comic continuities tbf
Iports
Iports - 10/25/2023, 9:00 AM
It don’t really matter .. does it really
Matador
Matador - 10/25/2023, 9:01 AM
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 10/25/2023, 9:13 AM
Razorface1
Razorface1 - 10/25/2023, 9:46 AM
The official explanation: "we dont know what happened"
AscendedExtra
AscendedExtra - 10/25/2023, 9:46 AM
I've always written it off as a simple continuity error.

The bigger sin they need to correct is sending Vulture to another reality. Ignore that shit, bring him back and pair him up w/ Mac Gargan and rest of the Sinister Six like he's supposed to.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 10/25/2023, 1:53 PM
@AscendedExtra - agreed. With Shocker, Vulture, Scorpion, Mysterio and whoever shows up next, they have a good team to assemble when Ock shows up (who is the only one I want as it's leader)
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 10/25/2023, 9:59 AM
Yeah...

Now fix the Ant-Man/Ant-Man as Giant-Man SNAFU in Avengers: Endgame.
BlackStar25
BlackStar25 - 10/25/2023, 10:14 AM
Uhhh....Who [frick]ing cares....
MosquitoFarmer
MosquitoFarmer - 10/25/2023, 10:22 AM
They took it on the chin, and circumnstantially get to make a cutesy joke. I'm retty sure it's been said outloud from at least Feige or someone or another, but just adding a "sorry" in there is really all you gotta include.
WeaponXCII
WeaponXCII - 10/25/2023, 11:03 AM
I thought that “Because Sony’s a bunch of idiots.” was the official explanation.
SpiderParker
SpiderParker - 10/25/2023, 11:29 AM
Pretty sure Adrian Toomes was reality hopping before homecoming.
JonC
JonC - 10/25/2023, 12:38 PM
So Adrian made a mistake... i can buy that... its not like people in the real world don't make mistakes... and it would good to add that exposure the Chitauri power cells messed with his mind/memory.
punyparker
punyparker - 10/25/2023, 10:27 PM
the crayon drawing of the Avengers made by Toomes daughter Liz (a nice touch in the SMH intro) was clearly meant to be by a kid around 9 years old (8 years ago) - NOT a 13-14 year old. So yeah, by addressing this small mistake, Marvel Studios is probably opening a multiverse of other issues. And so is this site by opening this post with "Marvel Studios doesn't often make mistakes..." :)
NoAssemblyReqd
NoAssemblyReqd - 10/26/2023, 6:57 PM
Let’s just post these two Marvel-related books in their entirety here and call it a day.

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