The timeline for Phase 4 of the The Avengers. Phase 2 was more of the same and easy to follow chronologically, but the growth of the MCU has seen the timeline become a bit more confusing.
Avengers: Endgame complicated the timeline by jumping forward five years. If Marvel kept everything simple, this new setting for the MCU is where most of Phase 4 would take place. And after announcing the abundance of movies and shows that will make up Phase 4, there would be ample opportunities to progress the MCU forward.
However, it has quickly become apparent that Phase 4 of the MCU will move freely throughout the MCU timeline. They have multiple movies that will be prequels of some sort - that we know of - and a variety of TV shows that will deal with time travel or alternate realities (or both). Meanwhile, many other projects will be moving the MCU's story and timeline forward. So where do the various movies and TV shows take place in the MCU timeline? Here's what we know.
WandaVision
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
The events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, as Tom Holland's second solo film is set eight months after Endgame. Sam and Bucky Barnes' story takes place in the early summer of 2024 as a result. The series does explore some other points in the MCU timeline, such as Bucky's time in Wakanda before Avengers: Infinity War, and added to the MCU's history by introducing Isaiah Bradley.
Black Widow
The first Phase 4 movie from Marvel Studios, Black Widow's placement in the timeline actually changes how viewers should understand the larger timeline, as it adds at least several days between Captain America and Iron Man's fight and when Steve breaks the other Avengers out of The Raft. The movie even alters the latter event by confirming that Natasha supplied the jet to pick them up and helped Steve rescue their friends. It also begins with Natasha's time as a child in 1995 and includes a brief flashback to her Budapest mission with Hawkeye.
Loki
Marvel's created the MCU's multiverse. Other Phase 4 projects will deal with the fallout of this moment, including Loki season 2 eventually. Since the show does take place outside of the Sacred Timeline's events, its revelations about Loki's past and the MCU timeline are minimal.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Avengers: Endgame. Its exact placement in the MCU timeline is actually right before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The movie mentions that the path to Ta-Lo only opens on Qingming Jie, a Chinese festival that will take place on April 4, 2024. Since Shang-Chi's main story plays out over the course of a few days, it runs from the end of March through the beginning of April. This is shortly before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes place.
What If...?
Peggy Carter takes the super soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers, while the Killmonger-focused episode takes place in 2008 and the Marvel Zombies episode is set in 2018. The crossover potential of the series and the possibility for live-action spinoffs might enable What If...? to play a large role in the MCU's future. As of now, it is a self-contained, loosely connected animated series existing in the vastness of the multiverse.
Eternals
Marvel's for the last 7,000 years in the MCU. This could include some massive revelations about the MCU's past.
Other Marvel Phase 4 Movies & TV Shows Are After Avengers: Endgame
Every other movie and TV show announced for Phase 4 of the MCU not mentioned above will mostly take place in the "present-day" of the timeline. The years that these projects are set in, though, will not match up with the year that they are released. The time jump in Avengers: Endgame moved the timeline up to 2023, but even that is not the present anymore. Spider-Man: Far From Home takes place in the summer and eight months after Thanos' defeat, firmly putting the film and the MCU in 2024 now. Either way, these movies and the remaining Disney+ shows will all advance the MCU timeline forward in some way.
