Marvel Studios confirmed the first documented event that took place in the MCU, and it ties back to a recent movie.
The key benefit of creating a cinematic universe like Marvel's is that, over time, it becomes a beautiful tapestry made up of dozens of different stories. As these tales are told, an expensive continuity is formed.
At one point in time, the earliest event on the MCU timeline was in 1943 when Chris Evans' Steve Rogers took the Super Soldier Serum and became Captain America. Now, the first point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a millennia earlier.
The First Event in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The new book Marvel Studios’ The Marvel Cinematic Universe - An Official Timeline revealed what is considered to be the first canon event in the MCU's canon.
It is titled "The Handiwork of Celestials." This entry confirmed how the Celestials are the ones who shaped the early universe, and they are "one of the oldest and most powerful forms of life to ever exist."
Their duties included the use of their powers "to manipulate matter and energy to help construct suns."
Interestingly enough, no information is shared about how they themselves came into being. The book then reveals some more of the big events that followed, a handful of which can be found below:
Ego Takes Shape
Ego, who audiences know from Kurt Russell's portrayal in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, is born.
Unlike his other Celestial brethren, he was not born in the core of a planet. Instead, Ego started as "just a spark of consciousness alone in deep space."
The Six Infinity Stones
The Big Bang occurs, creating the infamous Infinity Stones that are each powered with a different aspect of existence: reality, mind, soul, space, power, and time.
Earth is Born & Yggdrasil Takes Shape
Earth, the location of "a significant number of universe-shaping events," is created.
Around the same time, Yggdrasil, "an immense cosmic collection of nine worlds," also known as the Tree of the World, is formed. As this happens, it pushes the Dark Elves into the Dark World.
Not long after, Asgard was formed.
Arishem Creates More Celestials
Arishem, the Prime Celestial, initiated a plan that would see more of his kind born via seeds implanted into planets across the universe.
Arishem chose Earth to host the egg of the Celestial Tiamut.
The Deviant Error
In an attempt to protect the growth of living populations, Celestials create Deviants to cull wild predators who might threaten them. Things don't work out as expected, and this new species ends up turning against the Celestials.
The Eternal Remedy
The Celestials use the World Force to create sophisticated protectors known called Eternals. It will become their purpose to defend creation against the Deviants.
Carving Mount Wundagore
The demon Cthon carved his collection of forbidden incantations inside a temple constructed on top of Mount Wundagore. The structure is constructed as a throne for the Scarlet Witch, who was prophesied to one day bend reality to her will or destroy it altogether.
The Vibranium Meteorite
The important metal known as Vibranium crashes into Earth in the form of a meteorite. A majority of it lands in the continent of what will become Africa, while "at some point, vibranium also makes its way into the Atlantic Ocean."
Ego Sows His Seeds
Ego decides that he's tired of being alone, so he explores the universe in an attempt to find some company.
The Celestial is "underwhelmed by what he finds," causing him to undertake "the Expansion," otherwise known as his evil plan of universe-wide domination as described in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
The Eternals Arrive - 5000 BCE
A freshly mind-wiped group of Eternals are sent to Earth to protect humans from the Deviants. They are forbidden to interfere with the local population outside of the immediate threat posed by the Deviants.
Besides the actual creation of Earth and the crash landing of the vibranium meteorite, this is one of the earliest important moments to occur on the planet.
The likes of Ikaris and Sersi are among the first active MCU characters to step foot on Earth.
[ Eternals 2: Release, Cast, and Everything We Know ]
Exploring the Early MCU Timeline
The MCU timeline has certainly become an insane beast of continuity over the years.
Those early moments at the beginning of everything are some of the most interesting lore in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and fans owe lots of it to Eternals. Could Marvel Studios ever consider exploring that period of time again?
Fans would arguably be interested in seeing what might have been going on in the cosmos before the group of heroes was first deployed to Earth.
If an Eternals 2 ever materializes, it feels likely that it’ll explore what’s happening to the group in the present day. After all, the last time audiences saw them, most had just gotten kidnapped by Arishem.
One hero who has been around for a long time is Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, but the character’s earlier years are something the MCU hasn’t explored all too much. Perhaps a hypothetical Thor 5 could fill in some of those blanks.
[ Eternals Star Reveals Why He Thinks It Got Bad Reviews ]
Marvel Studios’ The Marvel Cinematic Universe - An Official Timeline is now available to buy wherever books are sold.
