Secret Invasion: Where Does It Fall In The MCU Timeline?

Since its inception, debuting as an exciting, interconnecting epic with Iron Man in 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was ticking along nicely, establishing a clear timeline, peppered by the odd prequel, but then Thanos came along and ruined everything.

RELATED: Secret Invasion: Who Is Raava, Rhodey’s Skrull?

Secret Invasion is the latest Marvel project catering to the spy thriller pastiche, and even four years after Avengers: Endgame, our favorite heroes are still dealing with the Blip’s fallout. We explain where Secret Invasion falls in the MCU timeline.

Where Does Secret Invasion Fall In The MCU Timeline?

During an official press conference for Secret Invasion back in June, Kevin Feige handed one question over to executive producer Jonathan Schwartz to answer where the show fits in the broadening MCU timeline, and he responded:

“It’s present-day MCU, is what we’re calling it. It exists basically along the timeline that the shows come out in. So, post-She-Hulk, post-Blip, right at this exact present day in the MCU. I think that’s all I can say.”

RELATED: Secret Invasion: Is Talos Really Dead?

But what does this statement tell us about the actual year in which Secret Invasion takes place? Well, since the She-Hulk: Attorney At Law series began in 2024 and extended into 2025, it’s fair to say that Secret Invasion takes place in mid-2025 within MCU canon, and it’s the third project to grace Phase 5 after Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

If you’re wondering how the MCU can take place in the future and not run parallel to the real world’s timeline, let us explain. Thanks to Thanos’ attempt to wipe out half of humanity, the five-year Blip that began in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War ended in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, but the titular team also traveled back in time during that feature, which sent the fandom into a spiral. We then had a jam-packed Phase 4 that churned out seven films and eight Disney Plus shows in two years, all of which included several time skips. The studio’s rate of production and the natural narrative time jump forced the MCU timeline a few years ahead of our own, which pins Secret Invasion’s “present day” in the middle of 2025.

Secret Invasion Will Set Up The Marvels In The MCU Timeline

Thanks to the post-credits scene for last year’s Ms. Marvel series and the first trailer released for The Marvels earlier this year, we know that the upcoming film will be set directly after the end credits tease–literally a few seconds after, to be precise, where we see Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) swapping bodies with Carol Danvers (Brie Larson).

Since the Ms. Marvel show is set directly after She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, taking place between 2024 and 2025, this corroborates Secret Invasion’s mid-2025 setting. However, the show’s director, Ali Selim, previously confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the events of Secret Invasion would tee up Nick Fury’s narrative in The Marvels. Rhodey actor Don Cheadle also confirmed to Total Film that Secret Invasion will ignite the events of the upcoming Armor Wars movie that will serve as a sequel to the series.

Recent reports have suggested that The Marvels will be set before and after Secret Invasion, implying that the scene we see involving Fury on the space station S.A.B.E.R. in the movie’s trailer takes place before Fury touched back down on Earth in the ongoing series. These reports also suggest that The Marvels will show the aftermath of the Secret Invasion or overlapping events during the finale from a different perspective.

RELATED: Secret Invasion: Are Dr. Rosa And Victor Dalton In Marvel Comics?

On November 10, 2023, the fandom will indulge in The Marvels, returning Kamala Khan to meet her muse, Captain Marvel, who both unite in a cosmic trinity with WandaVision’s Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). Going by the trailer, the triad will strangely swap powers while facing off against Zawe Ashton’s villain, Dar-Benn. Samuel L. Jackson will be returning behind the eye patch, but since this feature runs parallel with Secret Invasion in the MCU timeline, the jury’s out on whether the former S.H.I.E.L.D. head survives the events of the Disney Plus series.

Joining Secret Invasion and The Marvels on the studio’s 2023 slate are Disney Plus shows Loki Season 2 on October 6, 2023, and the Echo series on November 29, 2023. The X-Men ’97 animated revival has also been given a Fall 2023 release window, but that is subject to change.

Marvel Studios pulled the reigns last year and delivered three movies and three shows in 2022 as opposed to the four movies and five shows in 2021, and 2023 will only see three movies and two shows. It’s a drastic change of pace in production but a necessary one due to the backlash the studio received concerning quantity over quality, crunch times for VFX artists, and a general lack of continuity between Phase 4 projects.

NEXT: Secret Invasion: Who Is Spymaster, Sonya Falsworth’s Touted Alias?