Time passes differently in the MCU. Due to Avengers: Endgame's five-year leap into the future, the MCU timeline has become, well, complicated. To make matters worse, the pandemic reshuffled the release schedule of Marvel's Phase 4 slate, which also included the Black Widow prequel and the Multiversal Loki. Therefore, to learn where the latest film or series, such as Moon Knight, falls on the timeline, fans have had to rely on Disney+.
According to the Marvel Cinematic Universe Timeline Order listed on Disney+, Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight takes place after the events of Hawkeye and about a year after Iron Man's Endgame snap.
However, due to the nature of the show and its protagonist, not to mention the reality of the Multiverse, it's difficult to know what to believe. And, since Moon Knight is more of a standalone series than others that have come before, points of reference have been few and far between.
Now that Moon Knight has reached the halfway point of its six-episode run, the show's writer has revealed what he knows - or doesn't know - about when the Oscar Isaac-led series takes place.
Moon Knight's "Vague" Placement on the MCU Timeline
Interestingly enough, Moon Knight writer and developer Jeremy Slater doesn't know just when and where the show falls on the MCU Timeline... And apparently, that's intentional.
When asked by a confused fan on Twitter about the show's chronological placement within the MCU, Slater admitted that he has "no idea" and that the show's "timeline was intentionally kept vague:"
"A lot of people have asked this, but I have no idea, sorry. We didn’t know when our show would debut in relation to their other shows and films, so the timeline was intentionally left vague."
These Are Confusing Times
It's worth noting that Moon Knight was first announced before the pandemic in 2019 while filming took place in 2021. The question now is whether the timeline was "kept vague" because Marvel Studios wanted a purely standalone series? Or was it vague because of the uncertainty of the pandemic and its effect on Marvel's Phase 4 release schedule?
After all, Disney+'s Ms. Marvel shifted from a late 2021 release to that of June of 2022; and now, She-Hulk appears to have been delayed as well.
Even so, at the moment, it's hard to know for sure. However, the answer may be the former as opposed to the latter if its present lack of MCU connections changes in Episodes 5 and 6 or in the show's potential post-credits scenes.
After all, due to Oscar Isaac's talent and his busy schedule, Marvel Studios surely has his next MCU appearance lined up; and due to the show's QR codes connecting fans to comic books, it could involve Gael Garcia Bernal's Werewolf by Night.
So, even though Moon Knight's place on the MCU Timeline was a mystery then and still is now, it's unlikely to stay one for long.
New episodes of Moon Knight premiere on Wednesdays on Disney+.
