Disneyland and Walt Disney World did something monumental when they created Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, a new theme park land that didn't only look and feel like part of the Star Wars universe, but actually has a story that sets it firmly within Star Wars canon. If there's a film franchise that's actually bigger than Star Wars right now it's the Marvel Cinematic Universe but it turns out Disneyland's new Avengers Campus won't put guests in the middle of the MCU, as the universe it inhabits is something separate from what we see on the big screen. It's a world where the Thanos Snap never happened and it never will. The end of half of all life isn't exactly what Disneyland wants you thinking about.
Disneyland's first Marvel attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout uses all the actors from the MCU, and the upcoming Spider-Man attraction will include Tom Holland as Peter Parker, so one might assume that the world we're walking into is the big screen Marvel universe. Except that Iron Man will be there, which would mean that maybe it takes place prior to the events of Avengers: Infinity War. Instead, as Disney Live Entertainment director Dan Fields told ComicBook.com, it takes place in a world where the snap isn't going to happen.
As I mentioned, there's no snap. What I mean by that is we want there to be some conflict, but we don't want anyone to feel that there's an apocalyptic threat to the end of humanity. Our friends in the studio do a great job with that. So we want the conflict to be a little more accessible to the daily guests here.
The idea of walking into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is certainly exciting, but the idea that everything you're looking at could be destroyed any minute by Thanos would certainly put a damper on the fun, and theme parks are, if nothing else supposed to be fun. It seems that's one of the key reasons that Avengers Campus exists in its own universe.
Having said that, even when the Guardians of the Galaxy attraction was opened, it was said back then that the ride didn't take place within MCU canon, so everything still fits.
The idea that Avengers Campus isn't the MCU in the same way that Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is a galaxy far, far away, might be a disappointment, but the fact is that alternative universes are a major part of Marvel as a whole, so the idea that the theme park universe is yet another isn't really that big a deal. And while the theme park attractions might not be in the same universe as the films, all of Disney's theme park attractions at all of the parks around the world are confirmed to exist within the same universe. So there is still a universe, it's just a different one.
The fact that Avengers Campus exists in a world without a snap also opens it up to tell new and different stories of its own, which is certainly an upside that Galaxy's Edge is locked out of doing.
Avengers Campus is scheduled to open July 16 at Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland resort.
