The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
This article contains spoilers for the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special . TheGuardians of the Galaxy Holiday SpecialfixesThor : Love & Thunder ’s lieu in the MCU timeline . The first two form of the MCU were told in timeline lodge , making it quite easy to figure out how events flow into one another . All that changed with Phase 3 , however , which start to evidence the stories out of sequence . MCU ’s Phase 4 timelinehas been even more confusing , not helped by a act of stories that explore the multiverse .
The Disney+ MCU timeline places theGuardians of the Galaxy Holiday Specialat the very end , have in mind it ’s the latest event in the timeline to date . While it ’s lawful this Disney+ timeline is far from utter , in this case it construct sentiency ; it ’s possible to dateMs . Marvelin strike 2025 , and this special then comes at Christmas . It has to be noted that there is nothing to formally corroborate whether theGuardians of the Galaxy Holiday Specialis set in Christmas 2025 or 2026 , but the MCU is unbelievable to parachute forward a whole year for no reason . That ’s especially reliable given the Holiday Special serves as frame-up forGuardians of the Galaxy Vol . 3 , which release next year , and Marvel certainly wo n’t want to mess up the timeline even more .
Related : Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special Easter Eggs & MCU References
Groot’s Growth Fixes Thor: Love & Thunder’s Place In The MCU Timeline
This actually helps with decidingThor : Love & Thunder ’s place in the MCU timeline . This has been a issue of substantial debate in the fanbase , because the cinema itself could easily be set up in either 2024 or 2025 . Thor take he ’d broken up with Jane Foster " eight years , seven months , and six day " ago , but that breakup could theoretically bump anytime afterAvengers : eld of Ultronin 2015 . Thor is mentioned as having for the most part disappeared by the time ofCaptain America : Civil Warin 2016 , so some argue the separation must have happened shortly afterAvengers : Age of Ultron . Others point to the fact the breakup still seems like news inThor : Ragnarok , which kick off in 2017 , and so fence for a later date .
There must be a fairly substantial time - break betweenThor : Love & Thunderand theGuardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special , however . Groot does grow inconsistently throughout the timeline ; he mature from sister form to teenager in just a couple of years . But he is still in teenage form inThor : Love & Thunder , while he ’s changed substantially in theGuardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special . It ’s difficult to imagine such a ultra variety pass in just a pair of month , thus suggestingThor : Love & Thundershould be determine in late 2024 , and the Holiday Special at Christmas 2025 .
Why The MCU Timeline Has Become So Difficult
From an out - of - universe view , there ’s a simple-minded reason the MCU timeline has become so unmanageable ; it ’s because Marvel is producing more capacity than ever before , often in siloed team , and the order of dismission seems to be flexible . Even showrunners have admitted to possess no approximation where their news report will fit into theoverarching MCU timeline . In the case ofMoon Knight , explicit view that would have helped date the show in relation to other events were deliberately trim back , although there are still clues in - of all space - the phase angle of the synodic month .
The Disney+ MCU timeline has n’t really help affair . In general , it be given to rate the latest release at the very ending of the sequence - even when such arrangement ca n’t possibly be right . The problem is most noteworthy in the case ofShang - Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings , where Disney+ altogether discount the date of the Chinese fete of Qingming - a crucial part of the plot . Still , in this case , Disney+ does seem to have gotten theGuardians of the Galaxy Holiday Specialright , even ifThor : Love & Thunderis in the wrong place .
Next : Every Time Disney+ break away The MCU Timeline
