- VisionQuest's creator Terry Matalas has revealed its MCU timeline position
- Paul Bettany had suggested the Marvel TV show took place in 2024
- The series' lead actor previously said it was set around a year after WandaVision
VisionQuest showrunner Terry Matalas has revealed where it sits on the Marvel timeline — and his answer will surprise you.
In an exclusive chat prior to the show's October 13/14 debut, Matalas told me that the Paul Bettany-starring program takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's (MCU) present day.
Furthermore, Matalas stated that the Disney+ show occurs around the same time as Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The latest Marvel movie to hit theaters is also set in the modern day, which some fans believe to be the year 2028.
However, Matalas appeared to throw a spanner in the works of our MCU timeline understanding. Without getting too deep into spoiler territory, there's a moment in VisionQuest that practically states it's set in 2027 — and Matalas essentially reconfirmed that's when the Marvel project takes place.
"It's somewhere around the last Spider-Man movie," Matalas said when I asked him to clarify when VisionQuest is set. When I followed up with "Okay, so around 2027?", Matalas replied: "Yeah, the present day of the MCU."
The MCU timeline has become an increasingly tricky beast to follow ever since Avengers: Endgame premiered in theaters. Originally set in 2018, the most recent Avengers film skipped ahead five years to 2023 once its opening sequence was done and dusted. From that moment on, we've been playing catch up with Marvel's cinematic juggernaut, which has been operating a few years ahead of us. It's only now, then, that we've almost caught up to it.
Even so, ahead of VisionQuest's release, there was further confusion about when it would be set. Indeed, chatting to Rotten Tomatoes last October, Bettany said that the Marvel Phase 6 show picks up Vision's story "around a year or so" after WandaVision's finale.
The latter took place in 2023 and, given Bettany's involvement in both productions, it seemed that he'd confirmed VisionQuest would begin in 2024. However, Matalas also told me "it feels like it's been longer than a year [between WandaVision and VisionQuest]", so it appears Bettany misspoke, or was talking about potential flashbacks that are shown as part of the latter's story.
For more before it's released, read my VisionQuest review to see what I made of all eight episodes (don't worry, it doesn't contain any major spoilers). Once you're done, find out when each chapter will air via my VisionQuest release schedule guide.