Spider-Man: Homecoming continuity finally gets explained by Marvel

Marvel has released an official book that finally resolves a glaring continuity error in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Whether it satisfies is, of course, subjective.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is a fan favorite for many and one of the better representations of the hero in the modern era. However, with a Staggering 32 films and 9 TV series currently comprising the MCU, some slip-ups are inevitable.

A grating error in Spider-Man: Homecoming has been nagging at fans for years now, particularly since there was no definitive acknowledgment that it was in fact a mistake. It’s been at the center of a lot of debates and warped people’s understanding of the MCU timeline.

Now, thanks to a brand new book titled The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline, we have an answer that can put the issue to rest. It comes from Loki’s artificially intelligent cartoon clock, Miss Minutes.

Actually, Miss Minutes is the guardian of the Sacred Timeline so she’s probably the best person, clock… thing to have on the job. She’s straightened the whole thing out.

See, in Spider-Man: Homecoming, an on-screen time card cuts from a scene immediately following the end of the first Avengers movie to “eight years later”. Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) confirms this in some dialogue that also kicks off the plot of Spider-Man: Homecoming.

This places the film in the year 2020 but the problem is, it’s supposed to take place a few months prior to the in-universe Civil War which occurred in 2016 according to that film. You would not believe some of the fan theories that have spawned from this small tidbit. Thankfully, Miss Minutes is here to clear this up.

“Redline alert! Hi again! Adrian Toomes says the Battle of New York was eight years ago, but that event was only four years prior,” she says on page 173 of Marvel’s new book. “This one’s a real head-scratcher for us – I reckon an analyst misplaced the case file.”

Finally, order has been restored, and the events of Spider-Man: Homecoming have been placed squarely between the first Black Panther and Doctor Strange movies. No more speculation about the confirmation of C-list villains and wormholes thank you very much.

Now that this is all corrected and we can rest easy, maybe you’d like to fill your brain with more Spider-Man tidbits. Check out all our coverage of the wallcrawler’s latest adventures in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on PlayStation 5.