Does Endgame take place in 2024?

Walt Disney Studios has updated its upcoming release schedule, which now includes four untitled Marvel films dated for 2024. These include newly announced films scheduled for February 16th, May 3rd, July 26th, and November 8th.

Marvel has previously announced all of its movies on the way through Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, scheduled for May 5, 2023. After Guardians, there are still three other untitled Marvel films planned for the year, however, the addition of four more unknown Marvel films in 2024 and their release dates is entirely new.

Image via Disney+

So what could these untitled Marvel films be? We already know that Jon Watts’ Fantastic Four is on the way in Phase Four, but considering it’s already been announced, it seems likely we could see that in 2023. We also know that Deadpool 3 is possible for 2023 or 2024, since Ryan Reynolds’ introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is likely to start filming next year.

It's also entirely possible that Mahershala Ali’s Blade could be part of the 2023 releases, but Kevin Feige has previously stated that Blade will be part of Phase 5. Yet with every phase of the MCU having a major team-up film near the end of the phase, it’s possible as one phase ends and another begins, we could see another Avengers-level collision of heroes before Phase Four ends and Phase Five begins.

Other MCU films we know are on the way is a Captain America sequel with Anthony Mackie taking on the role, and a film for mutants that would include the X-Men. But since pretty much every major player still active in the MCU has a planned project on the way, it’s entirely possible many of these 2023 and 2024 titles could be starring characters that haven’t even been introduced in this universe yet.

Marvel’s next upcoming films are Eternals from Chloé Zhao coming to theaters on November 5, and Spider-Man: No Way Home on December 17.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home is finally in theaters, shattering the Multiverse and making previous iterations of the Web Crawler canon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, Multiverse shenanigans apart, the last chapter of Tom Holland’s first Spider-Man trilogy offers fans another piece of the big timeline puzzle that’s Phase 4 so far. With four movies and five TV shows that mostly tell their self-contained story, it’s getting harder to figure out when each MCU event actually happens in relation to each other. Don’t worry, though. We are here to untangle the Spider-Man: No Way Home timeline web and help you understand how MCU’s latest film fits with all other Phase 4 productions.

When Does ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Take Place?

Image via Sony

Short answer: the main events of Spider-Man: No Way Home take place in November 2024. How can we be so confident? Well, we’ve known for a couple of years that Spider-Man: Far From Home, the last chapter of Marvel’s Infinity Saga, takes place in Summer 2024. In 2018, Thanos snapped his finger while wearing the Infinity Gauntlet and vaporized half the life in the universe. It took the Avengers five years to revert Thanos’ destructive wish, putting the Avengers: Endgame events in 2023. Far From Home takes place after a whole school year when Peter Parker (Tom Holland) goes on a summer trip to Europe with his high school class. So, we can say for sure that everything that happens in Far From Home takes place between June and September 2024.

The first scene of No Way Home starts exactly as Far From Home’s events come to a shocking conclusion. In the mid-credits of Far From Home, J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons) reveals Spider-Man’s identity for the whole world after being convinced by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) that the Web-Crawler is a villain. This reveal takes place one week after Peter’s final battle against Mysterio in London, so we can place it in Summer 2024 at the earliest and early-October 2024 at the latest. No Way Home’s first act, then, deals with Peter’s secret identity being exposed and the legal prosecution the hero has to face after being accused of murder.

Although Peter’s secret identity plays a big part in No Way Home’s story, the movie doesn’t lose much time with Peter’s legal problems. With the help of a very special cameo, Peter is cleared of any crimes and can move on with his life. Well, not quite, since many people still believe Spider-Man is a criminal. To make matters worse, people all around Peter are suffering from the consequences of his hero life, which ultimately prevents his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) from going to college.

The trio found out together that MIT is refusing their applications in a scene that takes place in the coffee shop where MJ works. While they are digesting the saddest news of their lives, the shop owner tells MJ she should take the Halloween decorations down, which means Peter’s legal trouble was solved around October 2024. The negative response from MIT arrived in November, after Halloween. At this moment, Peter decides to enlist Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to erase Spider-Man’s real identity from everyone’s memory. Unfortunately, the spell doesn’t work and instead brings visitors from other realities into the MCU. Peter’s fight against the Multiverse villains only takes a couple of days to end, which means No Way Home’s main events happen in November 2024.

There’s also an ending scene in December 2024, in the same coffee shop where Peter has read his MIT rejection letter. The Christmas decoration on the shop indicates we are close to the Holidays, something that’s ratified by the snow that falls from the skies and covers New York City. So, contrary to other MCU entries, No Way Home gives us enough clues to figure out when its main events take place. But how does No Way Home relate to different Phase 4 productions?

Where Does ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Take Place in the Phase 4 Timeline?

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

From the other eight productions already released on MCU’s Phase 4, besides No Way Home, we only need to care about five. That’s because Black Widow is a prequel set between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, What If…? takes place in different corners of the Multiverse, and Loki’s time-travel adventures is not yet connected to Phase 4’s timeline. Even so, it’s worth noting that Loki’s first scene happens in the middle of Endgame’s time heist, making it the earliest entry of Phase 4.

Regarding the theatrical releases of the MCU, we know that Eternals takes place at the same time Peter Parker is battling Mysterio in Europe. As for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, we don’t know precisely when the film’s main events occur, but we know it is a world where Thanos has already been defeated for so long that life has returned to some kind of normalcy. So it’s safe to say Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) went through his super-hero journey somewhere around 2024.

As for Disney+’s TV shows, WandaVision takes place a few weeks after Thanos’ defeat, still in 2023. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, on the other hand, takes place a few months after Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) gave his shield to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), before Far From Home. Finally, with Hawkeye taking place right before Christmas, likely in 2024 but possibly in 2025, No Way Home is the second latest adventure of Phase 4.

Marvel still has some loose ends to explain for everything to make sense in the timeline. For instance, No Way Home doesn’t seem to consider the events of Eternals, which pretty much changed Earth’s landscape. Also, so far, Hawkeye didn’t acknowledge either Eternals consequences of Spider-Man’s latest fistfights beneath New York’s skyscrapers. The events of WandaVision and Shang-Chi could very well happen out of public scrutiny. And The Falcon and Winter Soldier conclusion is not that world-changing to need a nod from No Way Home or Hawkeye. However, some significant events are happening worldwide, and if Marvel ignores how every production is connected, we might keep having trouble figuring out the MCU’s timeline. For the moment, though, we can only do our best while navigating the intricate web of the Multiverse.