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Welcome to the main discussion thread for the Marvel Cinematic Universe! This pinned post is here to establish some basic guidelines. All of the Media Forum rules still apply.

  • This thread is for talking about the live-action films, TV shows, animated works, and related content that use the Marvel brand, currently owned by Disney.
  • While mild digressions are okay, discussion of the comic books should go in this thread. Extended digressions may be thumped as off-topic.
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If you're posting tagged spoilers, make sure that the film or series is clearly identified outside the spoiler tagging. People need to know what will be spoiled before they choose to read the post.

    Original post 
Since Thor and now Captain America came out this year, I wanted to get what Tropers thought of the concept and execution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general. Personally I love the idea and wonder why this idea hasn't been seriously tried before. It sorta seems to me like the DCAU in movie form (And well, ummm, with Marvel), and really 'gets' the comic book feel of a shared universe while not being completely alienating.

Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#45401: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:14:32 AM

[up][up][up]Putting Iron Man 3 in 2013 would mean that Tony didn't sleep for more than a year at this point.

Steve actually mentions that he is 95 in The Winter Soldier...it is the only date in the whole movie and it ballparks it into the period between July 4 2013 and July 4 2014.

Agent of Shield comes into the second season after having evaded Talbot "The whole Winter". The whole Winter is for me the period from December to February.

Thor The Dark World is a little bit confusing because Jane sais that Thor left her two years ago...which can't be right, because while Thor was released two years before The Dark World, the movie itself is set parallel to Iron man 2 which is set in 2010, and it is definitely NOT December 2012 at this point because there are no Christmas decoration anywhere in London or Greenich, plus, the Agent of Shield episode which is connected to the movie goes all over the world, including parts in which there would be snow at this time of the year. Whenever The Dark World is set, it is definitely not Winter.

edited 25th Oct '15 11:14:55 AM by Swanpride

Ekuran Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
#45402: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:20:14 AM

So Captain America was born on Independence Day.

Heh.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#45403: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:30:45 AM

[up]Yep, July 4 1918....it is one of the few dates in the MCU which is unshakeable. It is visible multiple times in multiple movies, and Computer Zola even mentions it in his little monologue. As a general rule I consider dates and time-frames from dialogue, as well as those given in title cards as above everything else.

alliterator Since: Jan, 2001
#45404: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:32:57 AM

There's a simple answer to this: Jane was wrong, and Coulson was exageratting. As for Tony not sleeping? I have no idea what you are talking about.

Or Iron Man 3 takes place in December 2012, and the timeline is STILL intact, because then Thor 2 takes place when it aired and nothing is changed.

BadWolf21 Since: May, 2010
#45405: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:34:16 AM

Ah, here's where you're falling apart.

You're assuming Iron Man 2 takes place in 2010. It doesn't. The bulk of it takes place in spring 2011.

So Thor does take place around the time it was released.

Since the date of The Avengers is solidly 2012, this puts Iron Man 3 at Christmas 2012. Agents of SHIELD then picks up several months later in fall 2013 (because it definitely does not start in the dead of winter). The Dark World then happens probably roughly when it came out, November 2013 (making it approximately two years (and a few months, since Thor and Jane parted).

Season 1 continues roughly in real-time to the end of its season (including the events of The Winter Soldier in April 2014). We can give Coulson and his team longer than the actual gap between seasons to pick up the pieces, and say that we don't catch up with them until early 2015, where the entirety of Season 2 takes place within a few months. Season 3 then picks back up at approximately the time it is now.

edited 25th Oct '15 11:35:56 AM by BadWolf21

Guy01 Since: Mar, 2015
#45406: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:35:49 AM

Interesting note, the writers of Thor: Ragnarok also wrote the animated film "Hulk vs. Thor".

Well we all know how this movie is going to turn out.

Ok, who let Light Yagami in here?
alliterator Since: Jan, 2001
#45407: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:45:23 AM

[up][up]You're forgetting about the midterm elections, which took place on November 4, 2014. So part of Season 2 still takes place in 2014. Coulson was just exaggerating when he said Talbot had been chasing them all winter.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#45408: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:47:22 AM

[up]It is Talbot who saird that "Coulson has evaded him all Winter".

[up][up][up] There is a date on one of the screen in Iron Man 2 which puts it in 2010, plus, the Grand Prix whatever only happens every two years. There was one in 2010, but not one in 2011.

edited 25th Oct '15 11:48:32 AM by Swanpride

BadWolf21 Since: May, 2010
#45409: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:48:04 AM

[up][up] Frankly, I would rather put that down to Writers Cannot Do Math and assume it's a mistake in the chronology. Someone forgot when the episode was actually supposed to take place, and a reference to current events slipped in.

For that matter, what's the actual quote about the midterms?

edited 25th Oct '15 11:51:20 AM by BadWolf21

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#45410: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:49:23 AM

[up]Ao S is very good about continuity, though. The show alone has no time-line contradictions whatsoever...it is kind of impressive to be honest.

BadWolf21 Since: May, 2010
#45411: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:51:28 AM

Alright, you know what?

Star Wars Rule of Canon: Always assume that later works supplant previous ones if the timeline fits better. There's very little doubt that Iron Man was originally set in 2008, but moving it forward to 2010 makes it fit better with the rest of the movies. Glossing over a few dates in Iron Man 2 in order to make the timeline make sense isn't the end of the world.

It's also much easier in hindsight to move the beginning of the universe forward in time once than it is to constantly be letting new instalments fall behind the present.

edited 25th Oct '15 11:53:49 AM by BadWolf21

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#45412: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:57:33 AM

[up]But there are no times in the movies, just the assumption that they are set "current". Which is okay, if you like it that way. I am just saying that if you don't go by the assumption and stick to the dates giving in-universe, the MCU is around half a year behind.

alliterator Since: Jan, 2001
#45413: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:57:59 AM

Then Talbot was exaggerating. That makes it even easier, because Talbot has been shown to exaggerate later.

[up]But Iron Man 3 is obviously not set in the current date, because it takes place in December. Therefore, movies take place currently unless contradicted.

edited 25th Oct '15 11:59:58 AM by alliterator

BadWolf21 Since: May, 2010
#45414: Oct 25th 2015 at 11:59:58 AM

[up][up] And that's where you're running into difficulty. Because you're relying on dates from one of the earliest movies, when it makes more sense to assume that those dates are now...outdated... (dammit, stupid words, being the same, grrr.)

[up] You can't exaggerate "all winter" when it's not even close to the start of winter yet.

edited 25th Oct '15 12:00:45 PM by BadWolf21

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#45415: Oct 25th 2015 at 12:04:37 PM

[up]I don't...my assumption that Iron Man 2 is set in 2010 is based on dates which are shown and given in the movie and there is nothing which contradicts it aside from the one remark in the Dark World...which CAN be interpreted as "Thor vanished and turned up two years later in The Avengers", even if it doesn't really sound that way.

BadWolf21 Since: May, 2010
#45416: Oct 25th 2015 at 12:08:40 PM

Yes. And Iron Man 2 is one of the earliest movies, and the five years of media since then are all telling you that those dates are now wrong.

alliterator Since: Jan, 2001
#45417: Oct 25th 2015 at 12:33:02 PM

Talbot got the season wrong, that was all. When he said "winter," what he really meant was "OH GOD WHY ARE WE STILL HAVING THIS CONVERSATION." An easy mistake to make.

Halberdier17 We Are With You Zack Snyder from Western Pennsylvania Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Dating Catwoman
We Are With You Zack Snyder
#45418: Oct 25th 2015 at 12:51:35 PM

If Talbot said it before Winter even started could they have been chasing SHIELD in the southern hemisphere so he really meant they were chasing SHIELD all Summer?

That is just one possible explanation. I forget what happened in the beginning half of Season 2.

Batman Ninja more like Batman's Bizarre Adventure
Heatth (X-Troper) Relationship Status: In Spades with myself
#45419: Oct 25th 2015 at 1:17:43 PM

[up]The simpler explanation is that Agents of SHIELD season 2 starts around March which is, conveniently, both after winter and before the midterm elections. I honestly don't see why the episodes must happen in current time. I mean, if there is nothing else to go by then sure, but, otherwise, it is not that hard to think they happened a few months in the past.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#45420: Oct 25th 2015 at 1:24:31 PM

I don't expect it will, but I hope Ragnarok doesn't draw too closely from Hulk vs. Thor, because logically speaking what's the point. If audiences wanted to see the events that happened in Hulk vs. Thor then they'd probably just watch Hulk vs. Thor.

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#45421: Oct 25th 2015 at 1:46:57 PM

And because Hulk vs Thor is an utter disgrace in the sense that it shills the living shit out of the Hulk while shafting Thor and the entirety of Asgard at its expense. This is a movie where Hulk easily decimates the entirety of Asgard and pretty much gives Thor a Curb-Stomp Battle, instead of a remotely even match.

Realistically speaking (and in the chronology of the movies), if Hulk attacked Asgard, he'd be screwed, because in his way we'd have A) The entirety of the troops of Asgard with their futuristic weaponry and magic B) Thor, Heimdall, Sif and the Warriors Three.

If Thor was a even match for him, add Heimdall and Hulk's doomed.

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
BadWolf21 Since: May, 2010
#45422: Oct 25th 2015 at 2:11:33 PM

[up][up][up] Midterm elections would've been November of the previous year, no?

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#45423: Oct 25th 2015 at 2:21:45 PM

The last midterm elections were in November 2014. If Ward's trial in season 2 is supposed to happen "right in time for midterm elections", the start of the season has to be set before that point. Considering that it would take a little time for the trial to actually happen, and the time which would be needed for campaigning, I would say either spring or summer.

edited 25th Oct '15 2:22:33 PM by Swanpride

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#45424: Oct 25th 2015 at 2:43:47 PM

Ward's trial was supposed to end for the midterms, not start, so who knows how long such a trial would take. Also as Ward was saying it to take a dig at his brother I really don't think it should be taken at face value, as the phrase "well that's convenient, this painful thing for me that makes you look good will end just in time for it to help you be re-elected" is the intent, but a snappier way is being used.

Ward was being poetic and not factual so as to take a dig at his brother.

As for Talbot, again I'd say he was just being poetic. Especially as he'd been chasing them since the fall of SHEILD, much longer than one winter.

edited 25th Oct '15 2:44:33 PM by Silasw

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Heatth (X-Troper) Relationship Status: In Spades with myself
#45425: Oct 25th 2015 at 2:52:49 PM

Also as Ward was saying it to take a dig at his brother I really don't think it should be taken at face value, as the phrase "well that's convenient, this painful thing for me that makes you look good will end just in time for it to help you be re-elected" is the intent, but a snappier way is being used.

But that doesn't precisely means the trial must happen during the campaign time, not after? If the trial ended after the elections happened, it couldn't be used as marketing potential, so Ward's little dig wouldn't make sense.


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