When Does Visionquest Take Place In The Marvel Timeline?

Marvel Studios

There was a period not so long ago where the Marvel Cinematic Universe's greatest and most praised asset was its interconnected timeline. After all, the entire Marvel Studios experiment started with the question of whether it's possible to sustain a shared universe of movies and shows that build off one another.

Now? That very interconnectivity has become both a nuisance to viewers and an obstacle for any new MCU project. Indeed, not only has the MCU made many timeline mistakes, but the convoluted nature of the franchise's continuity means new titles often actively have to ignore what's come before. The fact that shows like "Moon Knight" have been outright praised for their lack of direct MCU ties says a lot about how audiences, in general, are feeling when it comes to Marvel's "It's all connected" thing at this juncture.

This brings us to "VisionQuest" and the matter of where, exactly, Marvel's latest Disney+ series takes place in the MCU timeline. The answer is simple — it obviously picks up after "Avengers: Endgame" and "WandaVision" — yet complicated all at once. Thankfully, though, the show's first two episodes offer a little more clarity on the situation. 

Specifically, there's a moment earlier on in "VisionQuest" where Paul Bettany's Vision explains that his lover, Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff (aka. the Scarlet Witch), was "crushed under the weight of a mountain." As you likely recall, this is a reference to the events that transpired at the end of "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." At another point, Vision and his fellow android Ultron (James Spader) also talk about their fight in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" having occurred a little over a decade ago. This implies that "VisionQuest" takes place roughly in the present (or just a tad into the future).

Marvel Studios

Perhaps the bigger question is: Does any of this really matter? Other than knowing that "VisionQuest" occurs after Wanda dies (?) and, presumably, Wanda and Vision's son Billy (Joe Locke) possesses the body of William Kaplan in "Agatha All Along," it's unlikely this show will intersect that much with other MCU titles. By the same token, it's hard to imagine the series nodding directly to what went down in, say, "Thunderbolts*" or the first two seasons of "Daredevil: Born Again," despite both of them having recently taken place in the MCU timeline. As for this year's "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," that movie is mostly set in 2028, which means it takes place after "VisionQuest" even though it came out first in the real world.

Basically, because the MCU's films and TV shows are no longer crossing over as much as they did back in the 2010s (or even just five years ago), there's no real need for Marvel to clarify where, precisely, "VisionQuest" falls on the franchise's timeline beyond what the first two episodes have to say on this subject. For better or worse, the era of having to keep up on every MCU project to understand what's even going on in the property is over. Obviously, upcoming titles like "Avengers: Doomsday" are going to require more homework, but such crossover events may prove to be the exception rather than the norm going forward.

Otherwise, the MCU may become a bit like "The Simpsons" — there's a concrete timeline, yes, but you don't really need to know it through and through to tune in.

"VisionQuest" is now streaming on Disney+.