Spider-Man: Homecoming Director Reveals How Marvel Plots The MCU Timeline

Now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe consists of 16 films with even more on the way, it might be a little difficult to keep track of the timelines. After all, it took the X-Men franchise less than five movies to screw up theirs (thank you very much, Emma Frost).

With more and more movies being released under the Marvel Studios banner, and each of them bouncing around in different eras in time (like Captain America: The First Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, among others), how do the filmmakers keep the timeline straight?

Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts revealed that Marvel Studios has something to keep track of it all: a scroll.

“It’s an actual scroll they unrolled for me,” Watts revealed. “One of my producers, Eric Carroll, it was his first job at Marvel to work on this timeline and to see where things line up and where they didn’t quite. It’s the most amazing thing because it starts, no joke, at the beginning of time. So you can see where all the events line up! Like, oh that’s when Captain America was born.”

Watts revealed this information in an interview with EW. They asked if it began at the Big Bang of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.


”I can’t remember specifically but I think it has something to do with a Thor storyline,” Watts responded. “Or maybe Guardians. It’s the MCU version of the history of time. It’s a very long scroll. Longer than conference table. It’s a pretty amazing document.”

It sounds like Marvel Studios has a huge plan in place for the future—and past—of their shared movie universe. Maybe we’ll get a glimpse into the history when Thanos lands on Earth to obtain some of those Infinity Stones he’s so desperate for.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is in theaters now.

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A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.

The cast includes Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Donald Glover, JacobBatalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Tyne Daly, Bokeem Woodbine, with Marisa Tomei, and Robert Downey Jr. It also includes Jon Favreau, Martin Starr, Kenneth Choi, Michael Mando, Selenis Leyva, Isabella Amara, Jorge Lendeborg, Jr., JJ Totah, and Hannibal Buress.