The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opened on May 2nd, and while people will be saying it is a horrible film just because Sony made it (seriously, giving Thor: The Dark World five stars for a completely one-dimensional villain but giving The Amazing Spider-Man 2 two stars because it had two two-dimensional villains is completely stupid), I really loved the film (best Spider-Man film yet, IMO). Now, the big question, for fans like me, is where do I fit it in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Captain America: The First Avenger (Main Story)
It's pretty clearly a movie set before any other
Marvel movie. In 1942, we see the first superhero come to life as a war hero. Obviously, the events of the film are a 70-ish year pre-cursor to the events of
The Avengers. Stated in
The Avengers as the world's first superhero, Captain America is undoubtedly the first in a long timeline of movies.
The Amazing Spider-Man & The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Opening Scenes)
The Amazing Spider-Man states that the disappearance of Peter's parents is ten years prior to the events to the film itself. Thus, this event takes place in 2002. This would make this the second on-screen event of this universe. As we know, the FBI shows up afterwards but it appears like the kind of job the FBI would do in this universe as we know that all the regular agencies still exist along with S.H.I.E.L.D. which is vested in the interest of national secruity and international secruity.
The Incredible Hulk (Opening Scene)
This scene appears to occur in 2003, placing it right after the event of Parker's death. This would make the green goliath the first monster to be created as a direct result of the experiments that were conducted to replicate the Super Soldier serum.
Iron Man
Iron Man is the only movie in the timeline that really falls victim to the sliding timeline. In the fact that
Iron Man 2 takes place only 6 months after the first film and with
Thor being in 2011,
Iron Man would need to be placed in 2010. The beginning of the film can realistically be placed in May, with the captivity spanning three months until August. There, the rest of the movie takes place to culminate in the first superhero in the modern era.
The Incredible Hulk (Beginning)
The timeline gets a little tricky here.
Iron Man 2 has a scene in its final moments that has the Culver University attack on it. However,
The Incredible Hulk starts a number of weeks before the events of
Iron Man 2. It would be reasonable to place
The Incredible Hulk at the end of January with February being the start of
Iron Man 2. The events of
The Incredible Hulk, likely, only unfold from the time in Brazil to the time of the raid before
Iron Man 2 starts.
Iron Man 2 (Most Of It)
Iron Man 2's beginning would consist of Iron Man going through until the Monaco scene. After the Monaco scene, it'd be logical to assume that Bruce would be in Pennsylvania. Iron Man would, then, return to his house go through the drunken fight (which is, unfortunately, canon) and have the conversation with Nick Fury. After Tony discovers the element to help him, Tony begins to synthesize it when Coulson is told to go to New Mexico.
Thor (Beginning)
Thor attacking Yoedinhim places it roughly in the same day as the day before Iron Man synthesizes the new element. After he is banished, Coulson is called to New Mexico the very next day, which would place it right where it should be. After Coulson is called over, however, we turn back to...
Iron Man 2 (End)
The climax of
Iron Man 2 is the night after Coulson leaves. This climax would be placed the night that Thor stays in the hospital. After Iron Man deals with Whiplash and Pepper deals with Hammer, the scene cuts to Nick Fury. Before this scene, Hulk has attacked Culver University. After this scene, Coulson arrives at the hammer and takes control of the situation. This brings the timeline back to...
Thor (Rest)
After Coulson takes control of the site, Thor goes after his hammer. Thor, after failing to retrieve his hammer, is interrogated by Coulson and Loki tells him of the (false) goings-on in Asgard. After Thor's friends arrive, Loki sends the Destroyer after Thor, who takes it down. Thor then joins the Warriors to go up to Asgard to stop Loki, who is tossed through a portal. Thor is unable to return to Earth.
The Incredible Hulk (Rest)
After Hulk destroys the campus, he goes to New York City with Betty. The climax consists of Hulk beating a powered-up Emil Blonsky as Abomination. Hulk, then, manages to get away and find a place to settle in Canada for a while until the events of
The Avengers have him placed in India.
Captain America: The First Avenger (Book-End Scenes)
It just makes sense that
Captain America: The First Avenger's scenes would take place after all the other films so far as it allows Captain America to be fresh to the craziness of the universe until
The Avengers.
The Avengers
This is the first world-altering event in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe and it simply doesn't make any sense that, if Peter Parker was Spider-Man, that he wouldn't have been helping out. Thus,
The Avengers has to take place in the summer before
The Amazing Spider-Man. Given the ridiculous crane scene in
The Amazing Spider-Man, it would make sense that New York was still rebuilding during that time period. I'd place the events of
The Avengers in June, as it takes place six months prior to
Iron Man 3, which takes place during Christmas time which is definitely December. However,
Iron Man 3 is not the next movie in the timeline.
The Amazing Spider-Man
Following the events of
The Avengers, it would explain why New York City is only shocked about the fact that Spider-Man is a vigilante and not so much at the fact that he is superpowered. As we know, there really hasn't been a vigilante or street level hero thus far. The Lizard is plausibly believeable. The Hulk is just largely known as his green alter-ego and not Bruce Banner. So, while the dinosaur thing wasn't entirely hard to believe, the fact that someone TURNED HIMSELF into the Lizard would've been far more difficult to believe. Even with aliens, that just hadn't been seen before. As we see, Spider-Man is pretty well established by this time but S.H.I.E.L.D. was just as able to help Spider-Man in the climax as they were Hulk in
The Incredible Hulk. They probably have a difficult time to respond to these threats so fast especially if they transpire in less than a few hours.
Iron Man 3
It is set pretty soon after the life-changing events of
The Avengers as America tries to deal with another terrorist threat in the week before Christmas. Spider-Man is a local hero in New York, where none of the events of the film transpired; Thor is in Asgard, unable to help if he wanted to; Captain America is with S.H.I.E.L.D., who is unexplicably absent throughout the entire film. Regardless, Iron Man deals with the entirety of the threat himself within this week.
Thor: The Dark World
This film is said to take place a year after the events of
The Avengers. This would place it in June of 2013. Spider-Man is a local hero in New York, thus couldn't be called upon to be in London in a matter of hours; S.H.I.E.L.D. has to be cleared for international affairs (undoubtedly and thus explains the absence of them and Captain America); Tony has given up being Iron Man for the time being; Bruce Banner is explained to be in America following the events of
Iron Man 3.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Beginning)
Spider-Man has been getting his rounds in since last (probably) November. So, he is the only superhero in Manhattan still. We see him graduate but the montage (according to Marc Webb) is a year time skip until Peter and Gwen meet up again which also means a year time skip until Max Dillon's birthday. As graduations take place in June in New York, it would make sense that Peter's adventure would start right after the events of Thor: The Dark World.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
This film is stated to be two years following the events of
The Avengers. This would place it in June. As stated before: Spider-Man is a local hero that is nowhere in the vacinity of the area in which this transpires and, as much of this is kept secret anyway, only becomes an issue in the final act, where Spider-Man wouldn't even be able to arrive fast enough anyway. Iron Man, if he was in New York at the time, would be the first target so it would explain away why Spider-Man wasn't targeted first. Iron Man has retired and we can assume that Thor is back in Asgard.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Rest)
Following the events of
Captain America: The Winter Soldier, S.H.I.E.L.D. has collapsed which means, following the destruction of Times Square, they wouldn't be able to respond. So, this means this entirely self-contained venture would make total sense that no other hero was involved as it is likely Tony Stark had been dealing with something else. Five months later would place the ending in November, further along than the rest of the MCU, making it the latest installment.
So what do you guys think? Like this idea? Disagree? Be sure to comment below and let me know!