Timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Part 2. Modern Day

(updated 8/6/14)

Modern Day/Opening Scene of Iron Man

In Afghanistan, Tony Stark is kidnapped by the terrorist group the Ten Rings. He develops the Iron Man armor to escape. (Iron Man)

Three months later: Tony returns to the United States and orders his company to stop making weapons. (Iron Man)

Tony learns his associate, Obadiah Stane, secretly arms the Ten Rings, and in fact arranged Tony’s kidnapping, which actually was suppose to be an assassination. (The Ten Rings demanded ransom when they realized their target was Tony Stark) Stane develops his own Iron Monger suit and fights Iron Man in California. (Iron Man)

That night Stark meets S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and give him his alibi to cover for being Iron Man, which of course he doesn’t follow. The S.H.I.E.L.D. division that covers up superhuman events is called Damage Control. (Iron Man; Fast Friends, exclusive digital comic on Marvel.com)

The next day, Tony Stark holds a press conference. He does not follow script and reveals he is Iron Man. (Iron Man)

That night Nick Fury visits Tony at home and talks about the “Avengers Initiative.” (Post Credit Scene, Iron Man)

Anton Vanko watches Tony’s press conference on Russian TV and tells his son that (Iron Man) should have been you. He dies, but not before passing on his knowledge and documents to his son. (Iron Man 2)

After Iron Man

Agent Coulson single-handedly stops a rouge airman at a Shield Base. (Iron Man 2 Agent Coulsen, exclusive Digiital comic on Marvel.com)

Agent Coulsen helps train a new S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, during which it’s revealed the Ten Rings group never attacked American soil. (Iron Man 2 Agent Coulsen, exclusive Digiital comic on Marvel.com)

S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attack a ship in Yemen that has been commandeered by the Ten Rings group. Iron Man arrives unexpected and helps the S.H.I.E.L.D agents. It is revealed that Tony keeps tabs on Fury, just as Fury keeps tabs on him. (Iron Man 2 Nick Fury, exclusive Digital comic on Marvel.com)

6 months after the Tony reveals he is Iron Man

Ivan Vanko (as Whiplash) and Justin Hammer conspire to kill Iron Man and destroy the Stark legacy. During which James Rhodes dons suit of armor to help his friend Tony, basically becoming War Machine.(Iron Man 2)

Around this time, presumably 2011, the events of Thor occur.

Thor is banished from Asgard as punishment for is arrogance and foolhardiness. He is separated from his hammer until he becomes worthy to hold it again. He then battles dark forces that threaten Asgard, and to some degree, Earth.  (Thor)

At some unknown time Nick Fury encounters Bruce Banner at a bar, and witnesses him transform into the Hulk. Hulk escapes. Fury determines Hulk is not the Super-solider they want, and orders S.H.I.E.L.D. not to pursue him any further. General Ross alone will pursue Banner. (Nick Fury: Director of Shield. Exclusive Digital Comic on Marvel.com)

The Hulk fights the military at Culver University in Virginia, including the soldier Emil Blonsky. (HULK)

(Note, the Hulk movie came out the same summer as the first Iron Man, two years before Iron Man 2. However,  it takes place just after Iron Man 2. News footage from the Hulks Rampage at Culver University is shown at the end of Iron Man 2)

Tony is offered an advisory position on the coming Avengers team. (Iron Man 2)

Bruce Banner encounters Samuel Sterns in New York city. Stern attempts to cure Hulk, but his lab is raided by the military. Banner is captured, only to be released to fight Emil, who has turned to Abomination. Stern’s himself also appears to get infected with Gamma blood and Hulk escapes. (Hulk)

After the Hulk fights Abomination, Ross drinks at an officer’s bar, distraught over losing Hulk again. Tony Stark arrives and tells him about a secret team being formed. (Hulk)

2012, one year after Thor and Iron Man 2:

Thor, and Hulk, Captain America is found in the arctic and revived. (Captain America: The First Avenger).

Just after Captain America is revived, he is recruited by SHIELD along with Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye to join the Avengers. Together they stop Loki from conquering Earth. After this adventure, which concludes in a battle in NYC, Thor takes Loki back to Asgard to face Asgardian justice, and Hulk, Captain America, and Iron Man are allowed to go their separate ways.

During the battle of NYC, War Machine fights terrorist forces in Hong Kong who’ve acquired Stark and Hammer technology. (Iron Man 3 Prelude Comic)

Christmas season 2012:

A terrorist called the Mandarin launches terrorist attacks against the United States. The Mandarin is also involved with a scientific think thank called Advanced Idea Mechanics. They are soon defeated by Iron Man and War Machine/Iron Patriot. (Iron Man 3)

2013:

Sometime after this the Dark Elves return to plunge the world into chaos and are stopped by Thor and the Asgardians. In the midst of this, Thor’s mother and Odin’s wife Frigga dies, and Loki is freed from the Asgardian Dungeon. (Thor: The Dark World)

A documentary is produced about prisoner Trevor Slattery, in which it is hinted that Trevor may be in danger from the Ten Rings terrorist group. (Marvel One Shot, All Hail the King)

2014

Bucky Barnes is revealed to be alive and has the identity of the Winter Solider, and Captain America helps disband a HYDRA infested SHIELD. (Captain America: The Winter Solder)

The newly formed Guardians of the Galaxy fight the Kree alien Ronnan the Accuser in outer space, after which the Nova Corps takes on the task of defending an Infinity Gem. (Guardians of the Galaxy

A note on the time scale: Previously on this timeline I did not specify years for the events for these films. I presumed the MCU operated the same as the Marvel Comic book universe, in that it operates on a sliding time scale, meaning stories are always set in the present day. However, recent movies, specifically indicate that the movies, starting with Thor, take place in real time. The prologue to Iron Man 3 is set in 1999, which are later explicitly stated to be 13 years ago. Also during Avengers, it is stated that the events of Thor took place 1 year prior, and Iron Man 2, and Hulk take place around the same time.

 

Timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Part 1, Beginning to Pre-Modern Day

(updated 3/10/13)

5000 Years Ago: The Dark Elves attempt to plunge the universe into darkness, but are stopped by the Asgardians, led by Odin’s father Bor.

975 AD: The Frost Giants attempt to conquer earth, but are stopped by Odin and the Asgardians. After a long war between the two, during which Odin loses an eye in battle, a fragile peace is declared. (Thor)

1480 Harbin Zemo stood alone against an invading horde armed only with a sword. He was elevated to nobility as a reward. He built Castle Zemo far into the Bavarian mountains of Europe. He attempted to uncover something buried in the mountains, something he heard in half remembered local legends called the Sleeper. He began excavation even as castle was constructed. Later the Third Baron Heller Zemo, found the Sleeper. Little else is known about subsequent Zemo’s except they slowly uncovered secrets from the Sleeper, and the 8th Zemo, Hillard, desired to educate the peasantry. (Captain America: Super Soldier, Video Game)

1930 September A young orphan, Steve Rogers, is attacked by bullies in Hell’s Kitchen New York. However, Rogers resiliency despite his small stature inspires a young Bucky Barnes to come to his aid and fight the bullies. The two become friends.(Captain America: First Vengeance, Digital Comic #1)

1934 February: Physicist Johann Schmidt meets Hitler at a Wagnerian Opera  in Berlin., where he speculates magic may be “the oldest science ever known ” Hitler is intrigued by  Schmidt’s ideas, but aid Ernst Kaufman is less impressed. Kaufman is head of Sturmabteilung’s special weapons division, which Schmidt says could supplant the German army with it’s advanced arsenal. Schmidt offers to conduct research in Kaufman’s unit, but is violently rejected. Himmler, head of the S.S. overhears the conversation, and takes Schmidt under his wing. (Captain America: First Vengeance, Digital Comic #3)

       June 30th: Hanselbauer Hotel Bad Weissee Bavaria, Schmidt kills Kaufman, and takes over the special weapons division. Schmidt says “You would be a “storm” trooper Kaufman. I will bring them thunder.”  (Captain America: First Vengeance, Digital Comic #3)

July 4th: Schmidt meets scientist Arim Zola, as a SA weapons testing grounds in Kummersdorf, 46 KM south of Berlin. Zola was working in Exo-skeleton technology, but Schmidt recruits him for his own projects. (Captain America First Vengeance, Digital Comic #4)

1935

       September 14th, At the German/Swiss border, Dr. Erskine is captured by Schmidt while trying to escape Germany, and is forced to continue his biology research under Schmidt. (Captain America: First Vengeance comic book)

1937  Unbeknownst to Dr. Erskine, his wife and children die of Typhus at a camp near Dachau.

1940

      February: In Los Angeles, after an attempted demonstration of the metal Vibranium, Howard Stark is recruited by Col. Phillips to help the allies in the upcoming war. (Captain America: First Vengeance comic book)

November: 2 days after Schmidt has an accident with Erskine’s formula, which disfigures his face but gives him super-human abilities, Agent 13/Peggy Carter rescues Dr. Erskine and reveals that his family is dead. Together they escape to America.

1941 Howard Stark presents inventions at the Worlds Fair (Stark Expo Website)

1942 March The Red Skull finds the Tesseract, a cube of strange power, said to be the jewel of Odin’s treasure room, in Tonsberg Norway. (Captain America: The First Avenger)

1943 Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes attend the Worlds Fair, before Bucky goes off the the army. Steve, a 90 pound sickly man, enters the Super Soldier Project where he becomes a semi-superhuman physical specimen. Nazi spies destroy the lab before more soldiers can be made. He becomes a propaganda tool known as Captain America, appearing in comics and film. During the next few years, he leads a group of soldiers from the SSR, Strategic Scientific Reserve, to fight Hydra, the Nazi Deep Science Division. (Captain America: The First Avenger)

1944 April Captain America invades a castle in Nazi in the occupied Danish Straits . The castle is controlled by Nazi special weapons unit Hydra. Here Cap fights a Nazi wearing an arc reactor powered battle suit, as well as an arc powered tank. He and the Howling Commandos survive an attempt by Schmidt to destroy them using a mystical Viking rune stone. (Captain America: First Vengeance, Digital Comic)

Also this year Captain America and his allies invade Castle Zemo in the Bavarian mountains. Here HYDRA attempts to unearth a Sleeper, a giant robotic like humanoid of unknown origin that is buried under the castle. Captain America defeats HYDRA and the castle is destroyed.

Near End of WWII Captain America hijacks a Hydra super plane that was going to attack the United States. On board was the Tesseract, which falls to the ocean. Captain America crashes the ship into the arctic, where he is frozen in suspended animation until the next century. While searching for Cap, Howard Stark finds the Tesseract under the sea, which presumably is the basis for Arc reactor technology. (Captain America: The First Avenger)

1946 Agent Carter recovers the Zodiac, after which Howard Stark appoints her head of the new organization known as SHIELD. (Agent Carter One Shot short film, on Iron Man 3 Blue Ray)

1954 Howard Stark makes first Stark Expo at Flushings New York (Stark Expo Website)

1963  Anton Vanko Defects from the Soviet Union (Iron Man 2)

Date Undertermined. Stark and Anton together develop arc reactor technology, but most of it is theoretical. However, they had an ideological disagreement. Anton wanted to use the researc to make money, and Howard wanted to help humanity with it. (Iron Man 2)

1967 Howard Stark took credit for all Arc Reactor research and Anton was deported back to the U.S.S.R. Because Anton couldn’t develop the technology on his own he’s sent to Siberia for 15 years. (Iron Man 2)

1969/1970 Tony Stark born. (It’s stated elsewhere Tony was 21 in 1991)

1973/74 Tony Stark builds his first circuit board at the age of four. (Iron Man)

1974 The last Stark Expo is held (Stark Expo website, Iron Man 2)

1975/76 Tony Stark at age 6 builds his first engine, apparently the first V-8.(Iron Man)

Tony’s engine is reported in a science magazine, which includes the headline “Will Arc Reactor Save All Our Energy Needs. Later it is stated the arc reactor was not cost effective, and no breakthrough is made for 30 years.

1986/87 Tony Stark graduates Summa Cum Laude from M.I.T at age 17. (Iron Man)

1988 A young Peter Quill is abducted by aliens and never returns to Earth. (Guardians of the Galaxy)

Early December 1991 Howard Stark and his wife are killed in a car accident. Tony Stark, at the age of 21, becomes CEO of Stark Industries. (Iron Man: A newspaper runs the story on 12/17)

1999 Tony Stark meets  Maya Henson, a scientist who was developing Extremis, which was a treatment for crippling injuries. Stark also meets and embarrasses Aldrich Killian, a crippled scientist who has a scientific think thank called Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM.

Date unknown: Harvard students Bruce Banner and Betty Ross volunteer for induced hallucination experiments. (Hulk)

About 5 years ago (Possible date March 7th). General Ross, Betty Ross, and Bruce Banner attempt to re-activate the WWII super soldier program. An accident occurs and Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk. He becomes a fugitive from the military and seeks a cure. Various sighting and incidents occur in 2004 and 2006 (Hulk)