Marvel Finally Fesses Up To One Of Its Biggest Errors In Spider-Man: Homecoming
With 32 films and over 20 TV shows so far, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the most expansive (and successful) franchises ever conceived. But when you have so many stories and characters crossing paths throughout an interconnected series of movies and shows, there are bound to be some timeline mistakes, especially when some of these productions involve time traveling and parallel universes. However, several years before Marvel Studios even introduced the concept of the multiverse to the MCU, they made quite the timeline blunder in “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” the first solo feature outing for Tom Holland as the new webslinger after his debut in “Captain America: Civil War.”
The opening of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” takes place in the aftermath of the Battle of New York from “The Avengers,” which took place in 2012, the same year the movie was released. In this flashback sequence, Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton in a terrific performance) has his salvage operation of the debris and destruction around NYC interrupted and overtaken by the Department of Damage Control, which is being overseen by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) himself. This leads Toomes to turn to a life of crime facilitated by the sale of weapons powered by alien energy taken from salvaged Chitauri technology.
When this sequence flashes forward, the on-screen text says “8 Years Later,” which would bring us to the year 2020. Even Toomes references the events of “Avengers” as something that happened eight years ago. However, that created a bit of a discrepancy with previous events in the MCU. You see, “Captain America: Civil War” takes place in 2016, the same year it was released, and “Spider-Man: Homecoming” includes the sequence from “Civil War” when Peter Parker is recruited to help Iron Man in his fight against Captain America over the Sokovia Accords. That means the events of “Homecoming” would also have to take place in 2016, despite the film being released in 2017. Fans have long wondered just how such a blatant error happened, and Marvel Studios has finally addressed it.