MCU Canonicity (sorry)

I'm sure there have been a lot of these posts before but I really cannot find anything anywhere aside from the main titles. So what is considered canon to the MCU? I mean I know random one-off stories probably don't change much, but still. Here is what I can think of.

MCU Main titles: Obvious and self-explanatory

MCU Main Disney+ TV: Same

Third-Party TV: This is where it gets so convoluted. The Defenders saga is because of Daredevil, but what about Agents of SHIELD? Hulu Series? Etc. There are SO many Third-Party TV shows and some are starting to collide with the main MCU.

SONY Spider-Man Universes: There are four of these I can think of: Toby, Andrew, Villains, Spider-Verse. All of which are clearly connected in some way to each other/the MCU

Mutants Universe: This one is yes and no. I know they don't happen in the same timeline but they do exist in this multiverse. Deadpool and Wolverine prove this. But that leads into the most confusing bit...

Solo Movies: Blade? Fantastic Four (both versions)? Daredevil? Ghost Rider? There are a lot of these that are referenced with Deadpool and Wolverine.

Guys I really need help. Could you send me your personal lists/ideas of what is canon? Anything else I'm missing? I'm trying to be prepared for Doomsday which seems like it's going to be pulling from A LOT.

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Commentaires

Romnonaldao2025-12-17 20:57

Yes, Marvel Studio movies are canon

The One-shots are canon except the Team Thor and Team Daryll one-shots.

Not everything Disney+ is canon. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and X-Men 97 are not canon

Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Punisher, and DEFENDERS are canon.

Agents of SHEILD is very contentious. Technically it started out as canon. It and the Defenders shows referenced each other with fun easter eggs. So it's weird. But as of now, it seems to not be "officially" canon. The same goes for Runaways, Agent Carter, Cloak and Dagger, and Inhumans. Agent Carter, though, should be officially declared canon, in my opinion. It contradicts nothing, and Feige is credited as a producer. You have this weird situation where The Defenders shows exist to the other ABC shows, and the Defenders shows exist to the MCU, but the other ABC shows don't exist to the MCU. Its like one person in a family is ignoring another person, and they only communicate through a cousin they both like.

The Toby Macguire and Spectacular Spider-Man movies are not canon to the MCU, but characters from those movies have visited the MCU.

None of the other FOX or Sony Marvel films are canon to the MCU, though (of course) some of those characters have appeared in a MCU movie, specifically "Deadpool and Wolverine". Which, as a side note, only had one scene that took place in the MCU Sacred timeline.

EternalMage3212025-12-17 21:03

I think Inhumans is canon right? Black Bolt was (briefly) in Multiverse of Madness.

CyberKitten052025-12-17 21:12

I think it's in the same state as AoS, it's more of an AoS Spinoff than an MCU one

pje11282025-12-17 22:12

To be honest, Inhumans is the only I could see them officially retconning. I think AoS and Agent Carter, even Runaways and Cloak & Dagger, all have a good chance of being officially confirmed as MCU canon like the Defenders shows, but Inhumans was universally panned. I could definitely see them deciding they want to use the characters without the show's baggage, though maybe they keep some of the actors since Anson Mount did come back for Doctor Strange (albeit in the multiverse).

HomsarWasRight2025-12-17 21:23

Well, we could say the show is canon in the same way all Marvel properties are: they exist in the MCU’s multiverse. But OP is actually asking what events took place in the main MCU timeline. I think it’s safe to say that Feige and co. do *not* feel beholden to not contradict the events of Inhumans. The Black Bolt casting in MoM was more of a nod than anything else, IMHO.

EternalMage3212025-12-17 21:40

Yeah I seem to remember Feige saying something to that effect.

CyberKitten052025-12-17 21:11

Agent Carter is canon, Jarvis from it is in Tony's funeral in Endgame

Romnonaldao2025-12-17 21:12

I agree with you. Its been referenced multiple times. There's just been no official statement like they did with Daredevil and the other defender shows. Nor did it appear in the official timeline book, or is it a part of the Disney+ timeline section, which was updated to include the Defenders shows when they were confirmed canon. I just want it confirmed so there no debate about it

Jarvis was in the Endgame scene where Tony time traveled back to the 70's though. He wasnt at the funeral

eagc72025-12-17 22:26

Yeah closest thing we got to an official word is both Markus and McFeely saying that they added the scene in S1 where Howard feels like having a role in the creation of Captain America is the only thing he feels he made that is worth it to plant the seeds for why Tony really feels jealous of Steve

And in the official history of Marvel Studios book declaring it as the first official canon show due to Marvel Studios involvement.

Dell0c02025-12-17 21:14

Jarvis would be about 130 years old when Tony dies in 2023.

CyberKitten052025-12-17 21:14

Good for him.

Dell0c02025-12-17 21:19

How was he at Tony's funeral?

friends-waffles-work2025-12-17 21:29

He wasn’t at the funeral, he was in the scene when Tony and Steve travel back to get more Pym particles and Tony bumps into his dad. Jarvis is Howard’s driver.

Dell0c02025-12-17 21:33

Everyone knows that. We need this person's reply why they think he was there.

friends-waffles-work2025-12-17 21:34

Oh I was being dumb, but yeah I wanna know their answer too

AsherKohen282025-12-18 09:15

No he wasn't😂pretty sure he was dead long before the funeral, he was in the movie tho when they went back to Camp Lehigh

iwannalynch2025-12-18 14:50

I legitimately think that at least the first couple of Darryl and Thor shorts are canon (probably not the Grandmaster shorts though), since Darryl actually shows up in New Asgard in L&T.

Romnonaldao2025-12-18 15:11

Daryll shows up, yes, but in one of the team Thor's, Thor meets up with Bruce to talk about forming their own hero group. Which is weird since Bruce was on Sakaar in perpetual Hulk form at the time.

iwannalynch2025-12-18 17:49

Oh yeah I forgot that one. But since Darryl didn't show up in that one, I'm still considering the Darryl shorts (sans Grandmaster) canon.

Caciulacdlac2025-12-17 21:01

You can't talk about canon without defining what canon is.

TelenorTheGNP2025-12-17 21:11

It's a big long metal thing that shoots balls.

No, I will not be apologizing.

Stormik2025-12-18 11:18

Hello Frank!

Just_Visiting_Town2025-12-17 21:17

Every Marvel movie and TV show is canon. It just might be a different universe.

Edit: spelling

beardiac2025-12-17 21:40

This is the real answer as the real question should be 'What Marvel properties exist in the 616 universe?'

Matimele2025-12-17 22:06

Canon.

BiscuitsAndMilk02025-12-17 21:18

I guess everything Marvel related is canon in the Marvel Multiverse though some argue that there are MULTIPLE multiverses. Especially when it comes to the comics and that they might not be canon to the movie multiverse.

In terms of main MCU (Earth 616/ 199999) check out the "complete MCU timeline" on Disney Plus. That includes all the Marvel Studios movies, Marvel Studios series, the Netflix/ Defenders Saga and the One Shots.

RihoSucks2025-12-17 21:19

I think its safe to call all of the non mcu stuff canon to the marvel cinematic multiverse. Case closed.

FidgitForgotHisL-P2025-12-17 21:39

Yeah this is how it’s settled now.

We’ve already had at least four instances where the multiverse has explained other Marvel properties as part of the MCU in tentpole MCU releases - twice with Fox’s X-Men, and again with Blackbolt in MOM, and of course all the Spider-verse cross over, including Venom. This is without even considering the implications of Deadpool.

At this point *it is all canon*, just maybe happening in other universes. America even traveled through cartoon universes, so it’s not a stretch to argue that the cartoons are also canon, just, say it with me: “multiverse!”.

Ordinary-Chain-80472025-12-17 21:24

The Netflix shows are canon they’re in the official timeline

CommunityDragon1842025-12-17 21:26

Anything in the sacred timeline book that was published.

Defenders appears to be canon.

All the sony Spiderman titled stuff appears to be canon

Allllllll the rest is just different timelines

Antrikshy2025-12-17 22:42

Some of the Spider-Man titled stuff is also in different timelines.

CommunityDragon1842025-12-17 22:46

True ya idk how would we phrase it?

The Marvel Studios, Sony-produced Tom Holland starring Spiderman-titled movies I guess

HomsarWasRight2025-12-17 21:27

Just to be clear, you’re using the word “canon” a lot, but actually seem to be asking what events take place in the main MCU timeline (referred to as 616 in the films, but of course different from the main Marvel Comics 616 timeline).

Because of the multiverse, ALL Marvel properties, regardless of who they were produced by, are basically canon. We got confirmation that the 90’s Blade movies exist in the MCU’s multiverse for goodness sake.

So, in a broad sense, all the shows are canon. But the question you trying to get at is “What events took place in the same timeline as the events we see in the films?”

ProudTexan18362025-12-20 00:13

Because that's what canon means. Canon refers to "Thing that happened or is true" i.e. it is true that Loki is a Frost Giant and Odin adopted him.

The U in MCU stands for "Universe", 'Uni' of course meaning one.

Multiverse plot lines and characters can crossover (I.E. NWH, MOM, Doomsday, Secret Wars, etc), but the events of the universe(s) that crossover are not canon to the MCU.

Tobey's Spider-Man is not MCU, Andrew Spider-Man is not MCU, they crossover to the MCU and the events of NWH are of course canon to the MCU but the events of the Tobey and Andrew films themselves are not.

Canon to the multiverse is not the same as canon to the MCU

BetaRayPhil6162025-12-17 21:41

I think there are tiers of canon.

> Any marvel studios movie since iron man is fully canon, no dispute.

> The Disney plus series/one shots are all fully canon (for now)

> Agent Carter & the Defenders are canon in that that they reference the movies and movies/D+ shows have referenced them. Inhumans weirdly falls into this category too.

> Agents of Shield *was* 100% canon, especially in the early seasons. Later on the series diverges so significantly thats impossible to square as canon, so now its often discounted.

> Runaways/Cloak & Dagger have some vague references to the Defenders, but are not themselves referenced. They are two or three degres removed from the og movie canon, but I think they technically still fit.

> Helstrom was planned as part of the mcu, but on release was called its own standalone, so the first easy *not canon*

> Legion / The Gifted are *not* mcu canon - they both heavily reference the Fox X-men films.

>Sony Spider-man films, Sony Spiderverse films, Fox-men/fantastic four/00s superhero films: this is where the multiverse breaks things. These were in no way canon, yet characters from these films have made frequent appearances in the multiverse series. Really exposing the truth that maybe we all place too much stock into canon. Rule of cool beats canon.

>Hit Monkey & MODOK - defintely not canon, but i just wanted to mention these two shows because they weren't awful yet its mad they even existed.

Markus28222025-12-18 04:07

Marvel has officially addressed the divergences in the Timelines of later seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Still stating them as canon to the MCU.

FPG_Matthew2025-12-19 17:03

Could you point to where that’s said? I’d love to read more!

Markus28222025-12-22 14:47

[Here’s](http://marvunapp.com/master/earthteaz.htm#numbered) specifically where they say that. Though I recently did a [HUGE](https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/s/MV9WSDZZOo) deep dive on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.s canonicity to the MCU, all only using official sources, which you might find interesting. There’s a lot of great sources there like Nick Fury’s bio on Marvels website still referencing the show that you might like. But it is a long one.

CalmGiraffe13732025-12-17 21:44

Technically, everything is canon, now that the multiverse has been introduced. But in terms of what titles take place in the MCU’s main (Sacred) timeline?

- All the movies produced by Marvel Studios, starting from *Iron Man* in 2008 (with two exceptions: *Deadpool & Wolverine* and *The Fantastic Four: First Steps*)

- All the live-action Disney+ series produced by Marvel Studios, starting from *Wandavision* in 2021 (with one exception: the *Loki* series)

- All the Disney+ Special Presentations produced by Marvel Studios, starting with *Werewolf by Night* in 2022

- All the “Marvel One-Shot” short films produced by Marvel Studios, starting from *The Consultant* in 2011

- All the Netflix series produced by Marvel Television, starting from *Daredevil* Season 1 in 2015

Personally, I also consider the first four seasons of Agents of SHIELD, as well as the second half of season five, all of season six and the series finale, as taking place in the main timeline, even if it’s officially non-canon.

zkandar172025-12-17 22:07

AOS isnt canon. Its not even in mcu official timeline book

eagc72025-12-17 22:28

I mean neither was Defenders, but they changed their minds, but yeah i am not holding out hope for that to be same for SHIELD right now

Antman2692025-12-17 22:21

The Netflix shows are canon now. Agents of Shield and the others are up for debate.

AsherKohen282025-12-17 22:41

I thought the netflix shows were only mostly canon, i was thinking they had adjusted the story slightly for Born Again

Romnonaldao2025-12-17 23:50

its all canon. Born Again was originally not connected to the the Netflix shows, but when they restarted production they reworked the show so that it was a continuation of the netflix series. So they didnt change the netflix story to fit Born Again, they changed Born Again to fit the netflix series

AsherKohen282025-12-18 09:16

Ahhh that makes sense thank you!

eagc72025-12-18 09:09

They were finally confirmed to be 100% hard canon in January 2024 after Echo came out.

They ain't taking the James Gunn route of its "some stuff happened, but others didnt", the netflix shows as they happened are 100% in-continuity with the MCU, no retcons, no tweaks here and there.

AsherKohen282025-12-18 09:19

Ok yeah thats much less confusing

kennyofthegulch2025-12-17 22:50

The Marvel Studios movies, the Marvel Studios shows, Agent Carter, and the legacy Netflix shows. None of the other ABC or Freeform shows are currently considered canon to the 616 universe.

niicofrank2025-12-17 22:56

everything post-iron man is “canon” (especially if we factor multiverse stuff in) but it might just be a matter of whether or not some things get acknowledged by newer works. ex. Cloak and Dagger (tv series) not being brought up in anything since it aired doesn’t mean it’s non-canon unless it’s specifically said to be but that generally won’t something they’re going to do because they’d want to leave room for it in case they DO want to reuse those characters (see: everything daredevil/netflix era slowly being reintegrated and acknowledged)

repalec2025-12-17 23:28

Through the lens of the multiverse, it ALL is, technically speaking; but specific to the MCU-616, you're basically just looking at all the movies and all of the Disney+ shows specifically, with the Daredevil/Defenders exception.

Shows like AOS, Runaways, Cloak & Dagger would now basically be considered offshoot universes like 616-B - using the MCU as a launching pad, basically.

Organic_Ear_71402025-12-17 23:43

I mean technically everything is canon with the multiverse. As far as things happening in the actual MCU 616 it’s just the MCU movies and Disney+ shows not the animated ones.

I would say the 3rd party tv is selective canon.
Agents of shield no

Daredevil so far yes

spidervenom6192025-12-18 00:20

The easiest way to remember is that all of the Marvel Studios Shows and Movies And Most of the Marvel TV Shows that aren't Cartoons or Mutant Based are canon to the storyline of the 616/19999 Timeline. Now, the Mutant shows might be canon to the 100005 timeline but not to the 616 timeline.

The other easy way to remember is that if you see a MCU character (that isn't Phil Coulson) or at the very least they reference a MCU character (similar to what the Defenders, Cloak and Dagger/Runaways/ and begrudgely Inhumans did) then it's canon to the main timeline.

marvelcomics222025-12-18 01:34

Well, Marvel Studios is canon, Netflix shows are embraced canon, and Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Runaways, Inhumans, Cloak & Dagger, and Helstrom are canon, but they haven't been embraced by Marvel Studios. They never said they're not canon.

Markus28222025-12-18 04:05

I am a HUGE expert on the MCU when it comes to Canonicity of Pre-Disney+ content. I don’t say that to be egotistical, I say that because I discuss canon A LOT and I have yet to meet someone who knows of all of the sources I have or more. The long and short of it, is that **it’s all canon**. (And no not some bullshit multiverse canon, it’s all canon to the Main MCU) With numerous examples and official evidence pointing to it being canon.

I just did a huge extremely lengthy and factual deep dive on how *according to Marvel* Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Is canon. (With some Agent Carter mixed in there too). If you have any doubts on my statements check out [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/s/5K3Fe4JvSN), trust me I know what I’m talking about.

If you want me to provide any examples, evidence or reasoning as to why other shows are also canon or have any questions feel free to reach out. And if you want resources to spread why these shows are canon I have some great ones not listed there I can provide too.

Edit: I thought some specificity to what “All” means would be helpful. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Slingshot, Agent Carter, Cloak and Dagger, Marvels Runaways, WHIH Newsfront, Inhumans, and Helstrom.

(yes Helstrom is Canon too, despite some misconceptions that go around. Every quote saying it isn’t canon, is followed by an explanation for how it fits into the MCU. Put simply, the creatives had no idea what they were talking about. And the last word we have on the subject was that it was canon, alongside the likes of WandaVision. Besides one statement by the main actress, but numerous others from other actors saying it’s canon)

Sncrsly2025-12-18 06:10

The movies and shows released directly by Marvel, starting with Ironman are canon to the MCU. Anything released by other companies, ie Fox, are only connected due to the multiverse

CaptHayfever2025-12-18 06:15

The Defenders Saga, Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, Cloak & Dagger, Runaways, and Inhumans were all made to be set in the main timeline of the MCU and publicized as such by Disney (which produced all of those shows) upon release. The canonicity of the Defenders Saga was *reiterated* recently. To date, there are still no irreconcilable contradictions or direct statements that would remove the other 5 shows.

But to your main question: If you've been keeping up with the main MCU films and you have a general awareness of who the X-Men characters are, then you should have little-to-no trouble understanding Doomsday.

ApartmentSad92832025-12-18 07:17

Agents of shield isn’t canon to the main timeline anymore. And I’m glad because it messed up the whole timeline. They need to remake it in the sacred timeline and fix all the messed up errors it had

Stormik2025-12-18 11:18

If The Defenders and their respective shows are canon because Matt had a cameo in Spider-man then AoS is definitely a canon too. What shows has THE Nick Fury appeared in? Agents of SHIELD and... uhmm.. no that's it. No other show. And Fury is not the only movie character to appear in AoS.

I mean AoS is canon for more reasons than just having few characters from the movies.

Own-Way22912025-12-18 14:18

Daredevil also appeared in she hulk i believe, and in his own new show. also the punisher will be in spiderman 4

CootahBrown2025-12-18 13:39

There’s also the old Prelude comics. Most of those are canon.