Today is (probably) a tragic day in the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline. Many MCU fans believe October 16th, 2023, to be the exact date that the surviving Avengers/Guardians of the Galaxy go back in time to collect the Infinity Stones and undo the Snap.
The timeline of the MCU has gotten confusing at times, especially once we got time travel involved. Technically, there are dozens of dates that also align with Avengers: Endgame Day as the movie starts out a few weeks after Infinity War, before moving five years into the future, post-Snap. From there, the Avengers go back in time to 4 different dates: May 4, 2012 (the Invasion of New York), November 12, 2013 (The Sacking of Asgard), August 1, 2014 (the theft of the Power Stone), and April 7, 1970 (Tony and Steve steal Pym Particles and the Tesseract).
However, October 16 is apparently the date when the Avengers set out on the Time Heist after months of planning. That also makes it the day that Natasha Romanoff dies (though her body remains on Vormir in 2014). However, it is not the date of, but the day before the Battle for the Universe and Tony Stark’s death. (If you thought they died on the same day, you’re not the only one, but it has apparently been confirmed to be two different days.)
How do we know it’s October 16, 2023?
The year was easy to pin down, as the film was stated to have a five-year time-skip after 2018 and repeated that it was nine years after 2014, a.k.a. 2023.
The film suggested that it was the fall, due to the dead leaves around the Stark property and the fog over New York. Spider-Man: Far From Home later confirmed this date by setting Peter’s class trip right at the start of his summer break in late June, which was stated to be 8 months after “The Blip.”
From there, Marvel fans have used the lunar cycle (the ending of Endgame shows a full Moon over Wakanda as Queen Ramonda, T’Challa, and Shuri reunite) and timeline extrapolated from WandaVision (which takes place 3 weeks after Endgame in early November) to guess the approximate date of the battle for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It’s incredibly complicated, but it goes to show the incredible dedication of Marvel writers and Marvel fans that they can trace these timelines to specific days.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
