'Avengers: Infinity War' Clarifies Spider-Man Homecoming Timeline Error

When a title card at the beginning of Spider-Man: Homecoming flashed "8 Years Later," Marvel Cinematic Universe fans everywhere started scratching their heads. Taking other movies and events into consideration, it just wasn't possible for the events of Homecoming to take place after The Avengers.

Now, thanks for Avengers: Infinity War, we seemingly have confirmation that the eight years title card was, in fact, an error.

Minor spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War following. If you haven't seen the movie yet and want to go into it spoiler-free, don't continue reading. You've been warned.

After Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) rescue Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) from Ebony Maw's (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) Q-Ship, Iron Man mentions to his fellow Avengers that the events that are currently happening take place six years after the last alien invasion in New York City.

In other words, Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian (Terry Notary) invade New York to get Doctor Strange's time stone at least six years after Loki (Tom Hiddelston) used the Space Stone to launch the Chitauri Invasion in New York City.

Beings as Stark revealed the Iron Spider suit at the end of Homecoming and it wasn't until Infinity War when Parker first donned the upgraded suit, Homecoming simply must come before Infinity War.

Now that the movie has premiered, it confirms director Joe Russo's thoughts on the matter.

While playing a Marvel Cinematic Universe trivia game with interviewer Ashish Chanchlani on the Infinity War press tour, Russo was asked: "What was the time gap between the events of Avengers and Spider-Man: Homecoming?"

"Oh, it was eight years, I believe," Russo answered.

"And it was quite controversial," Chanchlani said.

"Yes," Russo said, "it was a very incorrect eight years."

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige had previously announced that the movie studio would be releasing an official timeline sometime to quell any and all timeline issues.

Addressing the messy timeline, Feige told CinemaBlend:

"All of that debate has made us go, 'Okay, at some point, I'm not sure exactly when, we're going to publish a timeline and see what it all is,'" Feige said.

"It wasn't meant to flummox anybody exactly, and I'm not sure I'd do it again the same way, but it does all connect to where we placed it. Other than very particular instances where there's a newspaper, or verbal reference to years, we never date the films. And I think there's a presumption, 'Well if the movie came out in November 2017, it must take place in November 2017' — which is not the case."

Marvel Studios' Black Panther is now playing in theaters as is Avengers: Infinity War. It will be followed by Ant-Man and The Wasp on July 6, 2018, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.