MARVEL TV-Series

Anyway, according to the complete timeline of the MCU, the series that came before the series that came after Spider-Man: Far Away from Home (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Punisher, Iron Fist, The Defenders) are canon for the MCU. The same applies to short films (Marvel Studios One Shot: Agent Carter, Marvel Studios One Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer, Marvel Studios One Shot: The Consultant, Marvel Studios One Shot: Item 47, Marvel Studios One Shot: All Hail the King).

However, I am currently interested in the status of the canonicity of the series that were released BEFORE the series on Disney+ (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Inhumans, Runaways, Cloak & Dagger, Helstrom).

Are these series canon for the MCU? If so, do I need to watch them to understand the rest of the story?

Voir le contenu lié

Commentaires

Extra_Age25052025-11-11 17:09

There’s a character from Agent Carter who shows up in Endgame (Edwin Jarvis) so that show is probably canon again. But everything else made by Marvel Television likely isn’t canon unless it’s specifically reintegrated in like Daredevil (and, by extension, the other Netflix shows) was. Honestly, I feel bad for Agents of SHIELD fans. That show had 7 seasons but it’s not allowed to be part of the club anymore. Sorry, Mockingbird fans, Laura Barton is the MCU’s Agent 19, not Bobbi Morse. Coulson died for real in The Avengers and nothing in that show happened in the MCU

Caciulacdlac2025-11-11 18:59

Bobbi Morse was never referred as Agent 19 in AoS

Mistic-Instinct2025-11-11 19:12

Likewise, Laura Barton was never referred to as Mockingbird. There's no discrepancies there

spidervenom6192025-11-24 10:16

Also the only character who was referred as Mockingbird was in fact Bobbi Morse and that was only once and even then it was like "Shield own personal Mockingbird". or something lol.

chaot72025-11-11 19:01

Javis will be showing up again in VisionQuest as well

Agents of Shield is tricky because there has been a very heavy overlap of big screen actors making appearances early in the series

o-055-o2025-11-13 19:39

Things that happen in AoS are referenced in the Netflix shows, even if they are small (Dogs of Hell in AoS then showing up on Daredevil season 2, Carl Creel, who fought Matt's dad as a boxer, Daisy being friends with Micro who appears in Punisher, etc...). Same with the Netflix shows having some things happening that ripple into AoS.

Also, Runaways and Cloak and Dagger are connected to the Netlfix shows via characters directly mentioned (Detective O'Rilley mentioned by Misty in Defenders, IIRC, and who is a character in Cloak and Dagger) in those shows.

spidervenom6192025-11-24 10:17

...You do know that Agents number can be repeated right?

flippergoalie2025-11-11 17:11

Maybe, all by Helstrom were designed to be canon but Marvel Studios had beef with Marvel Television so they never acknowledged them. Since Studios took over TV they have been in limbo, not officially confirmed one way or the other. Famously the Netflix shows weren't canon until halfway through Born Agains production when they rewrote the show. So the real answer is the movoes are canon to the shows and the shows might be canon to the movies, nothing has been officially confirmed yet.

ihatebrooms2025-11-11 17:13

Officially, there's no statements either way.

You can interpret things however you want. It's fairly clear that AoS was originally intended to be canon. You've got coulson, you've got a few minor crossovers from the movies to the show, and you've got a few plot points from the movies expanded on in the show.

That being said, the movies never directly reference the show. The timelines diverge significantly as the show goes on. Things like the mcu encyclopedia and official timeline make no reference to AoS. Personally, i think the MCU is canon to AoS, but AoS isn't canon to the MCU. An alternate universe if you must, sure. But certainly not the primary timeline. Is there a difference between being canon and never referenced in any way, versus not being canon?

Then you run into things like cloak and dagger, runaways. These are even more tenuous. They have a reference to a reference to the defenders saga, which is retroactively fully embraced as canon (or at least daredevil is). You could call them canon if you want, i don't think there's anything that's going to directly contradict you within the stories themselves except maybe the history and appearance of the darkhold. Dark tome? Whatever the big evil demonic book of black magic is called. But they don't connect to anything in the MCU, it would just be adding in few self contained stories.

Inhumans is a little trickier. First, it's so bad. It's up there with secret invasion. The big issue is the cameo of black bolt in Dr strange 2. But that's inherently multiveral so that doesn't necessitate inhumans bring canon. But again, there's nothing really arguing against it either. Do what you want it with it.

bflaminio2025-11-11 17:23

> Are these series canon for the MCU?

It kind of depends on how one defines "canon". Many feel that if the movies do not reference a series, then that series is not canon. For example, Agents of SHIELD is never explicitly referenced in the movies (although there are a few nebulous connections), but AoS does reference the movies on many occasions, with the events of the movies directly impacting the series, and characters from the movies showing up on AoS. Does that make it canon for you?

Conversely, an "official" Marvel Studios series like Werewolf by Night has yet to be referenced in any movie, but most MCU fans consider it assuredly canon.

> do I need to watch them to understand the rest of the story?

Not really. Most of the TV series add to the entirety of the MCU story, but are not essential to "understand" the story.

The Agent Carter series picks up right after the end of *Captain America: The First Avenger* (and the one-shot) -- do you care about what Peggy Carter was doing after that movie? If so, you'll probably enjoy the series. If you don't, you can skip it and not miss much.

Runaways and Cloak & Dagger are even less connected, but still fun to watch. Inhumans is almost completely unconnected and not at all fun to watch. Helstrom is the only one that is decidedly non-canon.

FPG_Matthew2025-11-11 17:57

You don’t need to watch any show to understand the story. Basically all shows are sprinkles on top.

Avengers Secret Wars would probably be the last “main” chance for any of these early shows to connect, no matter how minimal. If Endgame was “everyone from the MCU Movies shows up”, Secret Wars might be “everyone from any Marvel project ever could show up for the briefest of cameos” (because of multiverse shenanigans)

I like to consider these shows sacred timeline canon because they were made with the intention of being sacred timeline canon. It baffles me to no end that some people think “these shows aren’t canon, were never canon, and will never be canon” and that’s that, no room for any other possibility. Where the heck is the fun in that?

Whether a project is canon or not shouldn’t matter for your enjoyment of the show, or determine if you should watch it. I watched Agent Carter and Agents of Shield for the first time earlier this year, not cuz I had to catch up on canon, just because they were a corner of the marvel world I hadn’t explored yet. And you know what? They were both wonderful times. AoS specifically. That show is leaps and bounds above majority of the MCU D+ shows imo.

People say “it’s NOT canon unless Feige says so”. Why not the other way around? “The shows ARE canon until they’re stated as not being so”

DigificWriter2025-11-11 18:09

"Are these series canon for the MCU?"

No.

People are going to claim otherwise, but said people are wrong.

Bad_Username-19992025-11-11 18:17

![gif](giphy|F3G8ymQkOkbII)

DigificWriter2025-11-11 18:43

Except it's not an opinion, so, to quote Willy Wonka, "You get nothing! You lose! Good Day, Sir!"

BetaRayPhil6162025-11-11 18:13

Pre disney the idea was the shows referenced the movies, but the movies did not require any show knowledge. This changed w/ the D+ series and in a way complicates it by necessitating certain shows.

Caciulacdlac2025-11-11 19:02

Yes, they are canon except for Helstrom. No, you don't need to watch them in order to understand the rest of the story.

Grayx_28872025-11-11 19:25

Just ignore all the inconsistencies and retcons after phase 4 of the MCU. And whatever Disney+ is telling you about the MCU timeline, don't believe it. Watch whatever gets you interested, and don't worry about having to do so much homework just to get to another spin-off movie or TV show.

Turbulent-Spirit-5682025-11-13 19:30

Kevin Fiege and Marvel Studios/Marvel Television hasnt explicitly said that the shows before Disney plus are or aren't canon apart from the defenders saga. So for now, it's a no they aren't canon but there is a chance for Kevin Fiege to implement these shows as canon later on. (Similar to how James Gunn will be canonising old media for his DCU with his projects)

123-repeater-uk2025-11-14 10:28

It's quite easy to think of AOS as cannon if you assume that once they start time travelling then they end up in a different branch to the main MCU. That explains why we never see or hear anything about Thanos's snap in the series (though I think Thanos was still mentioned).

Alternatively you could go with the assumption that Coulson's resurrection itself was a nexus event and everything diverged from there - but the TVA let it play out because "reasons".

In other words, the rules of the MCU, as set up mainly by the Loki series, give viewers options - at least until something is either confirmed or denied by the Marvel higher-ups.

As for Runaways and C&D... Well, Daredevil:BA has made it so the Netflix shows are canon, and C&D references the Luke Cage series (and vice versa) and then C&D make an appearance on Runaways so...

Inhumans you should just ignore. Like completely ignore it.