The MCU certainly isn’t above retcons, and Captain America: Brave New World just doubled down on one of its biggest in Iron Man 2. The MCU timeline can be somewhat confusing, and it isn’t as if the MCU’s movies and shows go out of their way to establish the precise date they take place. Instead, this is often left up to eagle-eyed viewers to pinpoint markers that help to cross-reference narrative developments with others. It isn’t as easy as it used to be, either, with many current installments occurring in the future rather than the present.

Recent jaunts through time and the multiverse itself do, of course, help to make pinpointing certain events even more confusing. Nevertheless, given Captain America: Brave New World deals with neither (the post-credits reference to the multiverse notwithstanding), it is easier to establish exactly when the movie takes place in the MCU’s in-universe timeline. In doing so, it’s plain to see that Marvel is doubling down on a timeline retcon.

Captain America: Brave New World’s MCU Timeline Explained

Captain America: Brave New World Takes Place Two Years After The Falcon And The Winter Soldier

Captain America: Brave New World doesn’t explicitly mention dates, despite featuring date-defining events like Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross’ election – which, incidentally, does not mirror the same election years in the real world. Instead, it is mentioned that Captain America: Brave New World takes place 2 years after the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which is when Isaiah Bradley was memorialized in the Smithsonian. Lead writer Malcolm Spellman also confirmed to the In The Name of Comics podcast that Sam Wilson has been Captain America for two years when Captain America: Brave New World gets underway.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes place around six months after the events of Avengers: Endgame, in the Spring of 2024. This means that Captain America: Brave New World takes place in 2026 at the start of the movie. What remains unclear, however, is if the time jump between President Ross’ election and the majority of the movie’s events means that the bulk of the movie takes place in 2027. This would make sense if President Ross’ election took place in November, though there is no official confirmation of this at the time of writing.

Brave New World Doubles Down On Marvel’s Iron Man 2 Timeline Retcon

Iron Man 2 Takes Place At The Same Time As The Incredible Hulk

What is made clear, however, is that Samuel Sterns, Captain America: Brave New World‘s string-pulling villain, has been imprisoned for 16 years. Given he was captured immediately after aiding in the creation of Abomination in The Incredible Hulk, this confirms that The Incredible Hulk takes place in 2010, despite an email in the movie being dated 2008 (the year it was released). The MCU-canon comic tie-in, “Fury’s Big Week,” additionally confirms that the events of Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk occur concurrently, meaning Iron Man 2 also definitively takes place in 2010.

This flies in the face of an unfortunate line in Iron Man 2, where Tony Stark’s rival, Justin Hammer, ᴀsserts “In the last six months, Anthony Stark has created a sword with untold possibilities, and yet he insists it’s a shield.” Here, Hammer is referring to the events of Iron Man, which takes place in 2008. Given “Fury’s Big Week” first retconned this date to create a far larger gulf between the events of Tony Stark’s first two movies, Captain America: Brave New World has doubled down on the retcon by re-establishing the date that Samuel Sterns was imprisoned.

Why The MCU Timeline Is So Strange

The Five-Year Time Jump Doesn’t Help Matters

It’s safe to say that the five-year time jump in Avengers: Endgame, which took the characters of the MCU from 2018 to 2023, helped to make keeping abreast of timelines in the Multiverse Saga more difficult, as it was typically a good rule of thumb to match the in-universe date to the real world. Several continuity errors additionally litter the MCU, however, with Marvel Studios even owning up to a few of them as throwaway lines in MCU installments put timelines into question. Such continuity errors include:

• Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s тιтle card places it in 2020 when it actually takes place in 2016, straight after the events of Captain America: Civil War.
• Arnim Zola states that Bucky Barnes was captured in 1945, whereas an exhibit in Captain America: The Winter Soldier dates it as 1944.
• Stan Lee’s Watcher cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 references his appearance as a Fed Ex worker in Captain America: Civil War, despite that movie taking place 2 years in the future.

Adding to this confusion is the fact that the MCU has become a miasma of different timelines in the Multiverse Saga. The TVA and the Void, for instance, exist outside of time, making Logan’s cataclysmic death in ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine a confusing plot point. Movies like Captain Marvel and Black Widow, meanwhile, take place in the past. Given movies following Captain America: Brave New World will likely delve more into the multiverse and different timelines, it’s safe to ᴀssume that things are only going to get even more confusing.

Upcoming MCU Movies

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  Thunderbolts*

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  May 2, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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  July 25, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Doomsday (2026)

  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
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  Spider-Man Homecoming 4

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  July 24, 2026
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Secret Wars

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  May 7, 2027
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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Source: In The Name of Comics