The Marvel Cinematic Universe has gone from a film franchise to an absolute behemoth in recent years. With a never ending stream of new releases happening every few moths, the MCU has formed a fantastic business model that keeps the fandom consistently enthralled. But it also likes to keep its secrets, deliberately deciding when to cue fans into the future of the franchise. And now it appears that the overall timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a physical scroll that hides the secrets and timeline of the shared universe. Seriously.
News of the MCU's timeline scroll comes to us from Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts. He's been doing rounds of press ahead of the film's release, and in a recent conversation with EW he revealed how he was shown the holy grail of MCU secrets: the scroll.
There's an actual scroll that they unrolled for me. One of my producers, Eric Carroll, it was his first job at Marvel to work on a timeline and see where things line up and see where things didn't quite line up. Like, 'Oh, that's when Captain America is born.'
I'm sorry, but the fact that there is a physical scroll of spoilers is so over the top and perfect for a comic book franchise. I'm just not going to get over it.
Much like the Star Wars franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a ton of secrets and spoilers that they're trying to keep under wraps. Each crossover moment must be heavily guarded, such as the bombshell that Spider-Man would be showing up in Captain America: Civil War. As such, Marvel Studios has to go to great length to keep its cards close to the chest. This includes not giving cast members scripts, at fear of possible leaks or press junket flubs.
And while the MCU has always guarded some secrets, things are getting especially precarious as Phase 3 inches to its conclusion. While normally Marvel Studios releases its full Phase schedules years in advance, nothing besides Spider-Man: Homecoming's sequel has been officially announced for Phase 4. This is likely due to whatever character deaths and craziness occurs in the next two Avengers movies. With many of the original Avengers' contracts up after Avengers 4, it seems that the likes of Iron Man, Black Widow, and Captain America are in danger of being killed off in the battle against Thanos. If only Jon Watts could tell us what he saw on the scroll after Phase Three ends!
Alas, we'll just have to wait and get more information as future installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are released. The next trip into the MCU is Jon Watts' Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 7th. In the meantime, check out our 2017 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
