2018/Destroyed Earth

## Timeline

### After

2022

*"That was the last time anyone saw Daisy Johnson alive."*
―Samuel Voss[src]
This is a timeline of events that occurred in **2018** in an alternate reality created by the Destruction of Earth.

## 2018

### May

#### 31st

* Phil Coulson decides not to take the Centipede Serum yet, as it does not feel right to him in case there is still a chance for it to be used to stop Talbot.
* Daisy Johnson admits to the team that she let her emotions get the better of her, and feels she cannot lead the team. Instead, she suggests that Alphonso Mackenzie take charge due to his big heart and cool head, and everyone else agrees. Coulson then enters, seemingly revitalized by the serum, expressing his approval. He hands Johnson her suit and asks Mackenzie what they will be doing next, to which he replies, "We save lives."
* On board the *Sanctuary II*, Thanos hands Gamora food, but she throws it aside. She says she hated his chair, the room, the ship - her entire life with him. Thanos says he knows, having been constantly reminded for the almost 20 years she spent with him. He claims that he saved her, and that Zen-Whoberi was on the brink of collapse until he saved the Zehoberei people, with the murder of half the population having simply been necessary to bring about a peace and prosperity he claims they now live in, calling it "salvation".
* Thanos explains that he believes he is the only being with the will strong enough to act on the fact that life needs culling and correcting, since otherwise finite resources will run dry and cause everyone's extinction. He says that she, too, shared that will for a time, and that this was why he entrusted her with finding the Soul Stone. Gamora pretends to be apologetic, saying she is sorry she did not find it, but Thanos says that he knows she did, and is disappointed that she lied.
* Thanos takes Gamora to see Nebula, whom he has imprisoned, suspended mid-air with her cybernetic parts separated. He explains that she sneaked on board to try to kill him recently, but that he had caught her and cycled through her memory files, finding one particular memory of importance. Playing it to her, Gamora sees that Thanos found a discussion between the sisters in which Gamora had told Nebula she secretly had found a map to the Soul Stone and burned it. Thanos demands that Gamora tell him where the stone is, and uses the Infinity Stones he has acquired to control Nebula's parts, forcing them to separate further and further and causing her agony until Gamora eventually gives in, unable to stand it any longer. She reluctantly informs him that it is on the planet Vormir.
* The Chicago Police Department tell Glenn Talbot to stand down, but worry that there is not much they are able to do. However, at that moment the citizens' phones ring with an announcement from S.H.I.E.L.D., read by Alphonso Mackenzie. He tells them they have an aircraft for civilian evacuation, that they will clear buildings in danger of collapse, and not to engage Talbot as they will handle it.
* Zephyr One lands in Chicago and Yo-Yo Rodriguez, Jemma Simmons, and Piper help people board the plane to get to safety.
* Alphonso Mackenzie, Leo Fitz, and Melinda May run up a damaged building's staircase to find any survivors and get them to safety.
* James Davis flies Johnson and Coulson to engage Talbot.
* Mackenzie, Fitz, and May are helping people at the top of the building, where Talbot's ship crashed, and find Robin Hinton, crying. She tells them about her mother being taken, and Mackenzie goes to find her.
* Mackenzie climbs up into Talbot's ship to search for Polly Hinton.
* Quake and Phil Coulson land, and Johnson tells Coulson to come with her so he can talk Talbot down. However, Coulson reveals that he is unable to, as he can barely stand, having in fact not taken the Centipede Serum. He tells her that she needs to be confident in her own abilities, having been trained by him, and says she needs to talk to Talbot herself - and if it is ineffective, to take him down. She leaves the Quinjet and angrily shouts at him to return to Zephyr One and take the serum, exclaiming that the agents fought to give him it, and he cannot just refuse. An onlooker films her leaving the jet and shouting.
* Mackenzie walks through the ship tunnels and hears Hinton stuck behind a heavy door. He uses the Shotgun-Axe to begin to prise the door open.
* Mackenzie gets Hinton free, but before they can leave they are confronted in the corridor by two Remorath marauders.
* **Destruction of Earth**:
	+ Quake runs at Talbot and thrusts herself at him with her powers, tackling him to the ground. She tells him that whether he realizes or not, he is himself becoming the "enemy" he is so bent on taking down.
	+ Mackenzie and Hinton find themselves cornered by the Remorath. The fight eventually ends in their deaths.
* Agent James Davis docks the Quinjet back on Zephyr One. He realizes Coulson has collapsed again in the back and rushes to help him.
* Quake tells Glenn Talbot that he is already the hero he wants to be, as anyone who signs up to help protect the world despite the potential great loss it can entail already is one. Talbot rejects this, however, saying that this is also what General Hale and Phil Coulson said to him. He grabs hold of her and begins to fly into the air.
* Davis rushes Coulson to Jemma Simmons and Yo-Yo Rodriguez, explaining that Coulson did not take the serum and has stopped breathing.
* After flying high into the air, Talbot then descends fast towards the ground with Quake in his arms, building momentum and crashing her into the ground.
* The impact of Talbot and Quake's crash causes the nearby area to shake.
* Zephyr One is shaken by the impact. Rodriguez begins to desperately administer chest compressions on Coulson to try to revive him.
* In the crater in the ground formed by their impact, Talbot grabs hold of the winded Quake again and begins to use his powers to attempt to absorb her, saying that it will be easier to get through to the gravitonium in the ground once he can use her absorbed powers to quake the ground apart.
* Simmons runs to find the Centipede Serum to administer it to Coulson and save his life, retrieving it from its container.
* Quake tries to escape Talbot's hold, but is incapable.
* Talbot continues to absorb Johnson.
* **Destruction of Earth**: Glenn Talbot uses his gravitonium to absorb Quake, killing her and taking on her powers in the process.
* Talbot prepares to use the combination of his gravitonium and newly acquired quake powers to break through the ground and tap into the gravitonium well deep under the surface of the Earth.
* Glenn Talbot uses his powers to break through the ground, but unintentionally causes a massive seismic event of Richter scale 12.8 that causes Planet Earth to begin to crack into pieces.
* As Chicago cracks, the epicenter of the world's destruction, Leo Fitz and Melinda May rush back to Zephyr One with Robin Hinton. Fire erupts across the city and Zephyr One prepares to take off, but lingers to save the trio. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents reach from the plane to grab their friends, and Yo-Yo Rodriguez reaches for Alphonso Mackenzie through the flames, only to find no one there.
* Thor surprises Rocket Raccoon when he understands Groot's language, having learned it on Asgard. He sits down and Rocket realizes he is mourning his brother, walking to the back of their ship to speak to him. He tries to reassure Thor, but Thor ends up lamenting his numerous recent losses: Loki, Hela, Odin, Frigga, and Heimdall. He tries to steel himself and turn his mourning into motivation for the task at hand, killing Thanos, and insists he is capable, but when Rocket asks what would happen if Thor is wrong, he momentarily chokes on his words, overcome with grief as he asks what more he could possibly lose, before getting up to prepare for their arrival in Nidavellir. Rocket hands Thor a cybernetic eye he stole from a man on Contraxia, wanting to help him for the coming challenges by giving him his full vision back. Thor places it in his empty eye socket and regains full vision as they arrive at Nidavellir. However, Thor is concerned to see that Nidavellir is not lifeless and colorful, but dark and seemingly empty.
* Thor, Rocket, and Groot land on Nidavellir and look around the apparently abandoned forges. They come across a mold for the Infinity Gauntlet and become concerned, but before they can do anything they are ambushed by Eitri, the king of the dwarves. When he sees it is Thor who has come, he exclaims that Asgard was supposed to protect Nidavellir, but never came. Thor explains that Asgard is gone, and Eitri sadly tells Thor that Thanos came to Nidavellir and threatened the lives of all 300 dwarves if they did not forge him the Infinity Gauntlet to harness the power of the Infinity Stones, yet when they did, he still slaughtered all the other dwarves except him, melting metal around his hands so he can never forge something for anyone else. Thor tries to encourage him, saying there are still ways he can help and asking to work with them so he can kill Thanos.
* A Chitauri guard pieces Nebula back together following her torture at Thanos' hands. However, she intentionally pops a piece of her head out to lure him in front of her. The moment he does, she grabs him and snaps his neck. She limps to a transmitter and send a message to Mantis on the *Benatar*, saying to get the Guardians of the Galaxy to come and meet her on Titan.
* On Zephyr One, Jemma Simmons lets the agents know that two more cities have gone dark as the world continues to fall apart. Robin Hinton wanders through the plane as Melinda May flies it back to the Lighthouse, and an agent asks where her mother is, but Simmons sadly explains that Polly did not make it. Robin walks up to May, who asks her to go downstairs, but Robin mutters that it will be okay, they survive "the crash" May is confused, but suddenly Zephyr One hits a gravity storm and crashes to the surface of the planet. While the agents make it to the Lighthouse, the plane remains on the surface of the broken planet for the following decades.
* As many remaining humans as possible are taken to the Lighthouse and Earth finishes falling apart. Rumors eventually spread that the planet's destroyer was the Inhuman Quake.

### June

#### 1st

* The remaining half of Enoch's ship is prevented from losing cabin pressure, and Leo Fitz's chamber keeps him frozen.

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 In *The End*, the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. manage to change the timeline so that instead of the world cracking apart as it did originally, in the new timeline, the world is saved. While there are no obvious changes in the timeline until Melinda May and Leo Fitz save Alphonso Mackenzie and Polly Hinton, the change Robin Hinton senses in the episode is shown to be the fact that the Centipede Serum was slipped into Quake's Gauntlets by Phil Coulson. This means that the timelines in fact diverge just before Coulson hands Quake her suit, and also fits with Robin Hinton's comment in *The Last Day* that Coulson would "bring all the pieces together", being his action that changes the timeline. For a short while after, events play out almost identically, with the only difference being that, without anyone except Coulson knowing, the serum is in fact in Quake's gauntlets. Coulson still does not, at least initially, take the Centipede Serum in the original timeline as Quake was filmed in that timeline shouting at him in an identical manner to how she shouts at him in the new timeline for not taking it. The first sign of the timeline change, however, is Mackenzie and Hinton being saved, and then events begin to significantly diverge, being completely different once Quake finds the serum.
While we are shown very little of 2018 of the original timeline outside of *The Last Day*, we can assume that events are almost identical until Mackenzie and Hinton are saved. This includes the scenes in *Avengers: Infinity War* where Thanos talks to Gamora on the *Sanctuary II* and takes her to see Nebula, which occur concurrently with the events of *The End* between the divergence point and the beginning of actual significant signs of divergence.
The gaps in the original timeline can then be put together - the serum was left on Zephyr One, Mackenzie and Hinton died in the ship, Quake was absorbed by Talbot, Talbot destroyed the world, and finally what Yo-Yo Rodriguez alludes to in *Past Life* - as the world burned, May and Fitz got back to Zephyr One with Robin Hinton, but without Polly Hinton or Alphonso Mackenzie. They reached to grab them from the first of the surface to pull them on-board, but Mackenzie was not there. This is then followed by the "2018" scene of *The Last Day*.
There is also one thing we know from the original timeline that can be assumed for the new timeline, since events are occurring almost identically at the given point - that someone is filming when Quake leaves the Quinjet and shouts at Coulson (explained in *The Last Day*).
It is unclear what happened to Coulson in the original timeline. The serum is left on Zephyr One, but he does not appear to survive past 2018 anyway. Still, wherever events are unclear, they are excluded from the events descriptions.
2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 2.31 2.32 2.33 2.34 The placements for *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.*: Season 5, Episodes 14-22 and *Ant-Man and the Wasp* both connect with the placement of *Avengers: Infinity War*. It should first be established that *Avengers: Infinity War* takes place over a little under 24 hours, from Wednesday (as shown on Tony Stark's flip phone) to Thursday.
As for *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.*, Episode 19 - *Option Two* to Episode 22 - *The End* take place concurrently with *Avengers: Infinity War* over Wednesday-Thursday. Episode 18 - *All Roads Lead...* ends 9 days before *Option Two* (see other references), so the prior Monday. Working backwards, Episode 14 - *The Devil Complex*, takes place earlier the Thursday 4 days before that.
Overall:

	* Thursday Week 1 - Episode 14 - *The Devil Complex*. Beginning of Episode 15 - *Rise and Shine* events.
	* Friday Week 1 - Episode 15 - *Rise and Shine* "24 hours ago" events.
	* Saturday Week 1 - End of Episode 15 - *Rise and Shine* events.
	* Sunday Week 1 - Episode 16 - *Inside Voices* events, Episode 17 - *The Honeymoon* events, beginning of Episode 18 - *All Roads Lead...* events.
	* Monday Week 2 - End of Episode 18 - *All Roads Lead...* events.
	* Wednesday Week 3 - Beginning of *Avengers: Infinity War* events/Episode 19 - *Option Two* events, Episode 20 - *The One Who Will Save Us All* events, beginning of Episode 21 - *The Force of Gravity* events.
	* Thursday Week 3 - End of Episode 21 - *The Force of Gravity* events, Episode 22 - *The End* events/End of *Avengers: Infinity War* events/*Ant-Man and the Wasp* credits scenes.
Now it needs to be established which weeks in the timeline this applies to.
First, there is a latest possible date for the events of *Avengers: Infinity War*. The Wednesday of *Avengers: Infinity War* is still during school time, as Peter Parker is on a school field trip. *Spider-Man: Far From Home* establishes that Parker restarted junior year after returning in the Blip, making him a junior at the time of the Snap. With Parker beginning sophomore year in *Spider-Man: Homecoming* in September 2016, he would finish junior year in June 2018. This means that the Wednesday of *Avengers: Infinity War* should be before Tuesday, June 26, 2018, when New York high schools finished for summer (1, 2, 3). If necessary, it can be assumed that either Parker's school finished 1 day later than most, or the New York high schools in the *MCU* finished 1 day later than those in the real world, making Wednesday, June 27, 2018 the absolute latest that *Avengers: Infinity War* could begin.
The earliest possible date is January 2018, as all these events must take place in 2018. This is evidenced by many things:

	* *Avengers: Infinity War* takes place 2 years after the main events of *Captain America: Civil War*, which are firmly placed in June 2016 (see 2016 references).
		+ In *Avengers: Infinity War*, Vision says, "Wanda, for 2 years, we've stolen these moments, trying to see if this could work."
		+ Later, Rhodes says to Rogers, Romanoff, and Wilson, "You guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple years."
		+ A set visit claimed that the film is set "years" after the mid-credits scene of *Captain America: Civil War*, placing it in at least 2018 (it has to be 2, so 2018).
		+ Scarlett Johansson stated the film is "2 or 3 years" after *Captain America: Civil War* in June 2016, placing it in at least 2018 (it has to be 2, so 2018).
		+ The Russo brothers stated the film is "roughly 2 years" after *Captain America: Civil War*, specifying that it is roughly the amount of time that has passed in the real world between the release dates of *Captain America: Civil War* and *Avengers: Infinity War*.
		+ Chris Evans said it has been a "couple years" since *Captain America: Civil War*.
		+ Scarlett Johansson said in *Avengers: Infinity War - The Official Movie Special*, "There is a two-year period between [*Captain America:*] *Civil War* and the start of [*Avengers:*] *Infinity War*.
	* *Avengers: Infinity War* takes place 3 years after the events of *Avengers: Age of Ultron*, which are firmly placed in Spring 2015 (see 2015 references).
		+ A set visit claimed that the film is set 3 years after *Avengers: Age of Ultron*.
	* *Avengers: Infinity War* takes place 4 years after the main events of *Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2*, which are placed in October 2014 (see 2014 references).
		+ Kevin Feige confirmed that *Avengers: Infinity War* takes place 4 years after *Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2*.
		+ The Russo brothers said, "There's 4 years between [*Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2*] and [*Avengers: Infinity War*]."
	* *Avengers: Infinity War* takes place 6 years after the events of *The Avengers*, which are firmly placed in May 2012 (see 2012 references).
		+ In *Avengers: Infinity War*, Tony says to Doctor Strange, "It's you who doesn't understand that Thanos has been inside my head for 6 years, since he sent an army to New York - and now he's back!"
	* *Ant-Man and the Wasp* takes place 2 years after the main events of *Captain America: Civil War*, which are firmly placed in June 2016.
		+ In *Ant-Man and the Wasp*, Lang is finishing a house arrest sentence. Jimmy Woo says, "As a part of his joint plea deal with Homeland Security and the German government, he was allowed to return to the U.S., provided he served 2 years under house arrest."
		+ Later, Lang says to van Dyne, "Give me a break, I haven't driven in 2 years."
		+ At the end of his sentence, Scott asks Woo, "Are my 2 years up already?"
		+ Kevin Feige stated, "[Scott Lang] answered a call when heroes needed him and now he's been under house arrest for 2 years."
	* The *Captain Marvel* mid-credits scene, 3 weeks after *Avengers: Infinity War*, is 23 years after the main events of the film, which are firmly placed in June 1995.
		+ Kevin Feige referred to "the last 23 years".
	* *Avengers: Infinity War* takes place 5 years before *Avengers: Endgame*, which takes place 9 years after 2014 (so 2023).
		+ In *Avengers: Endgame*, it is shown that the events are "five years later" after 3 weeks after *Avengers: Infinity War*. It is further confirmed that *Guardians of the Galaxy* takes place in "2014" on-screen. In these scenes, Ebony Maw says Nebula is from "9 years" in the future, making it 2023.
	* *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.*: Season 5, Episodes 14-22 take place in 2018.
		+ In Episode 8 - *The Last Day*, a flashforward is shown with events that, as shown in Episode 22 - *The End*, would take place on the Thursday of *Avengers: Infinity War*, and the on-screen text specifically says "2018".
		+ The agents return to the present day in Episode 11 - *All the Comforts of Home*. Later that day, Yo-Yo Rodriguez has her arms sliced off. The agents perform surgery on her amputated arms, and she begins to heal. 2 days later, in Episode 12 - *The Real Deal*, the monitor by her bed shows "12-06-2017", making it December 6, 2017 (see 2017 references for reasons this is a firm placement). By Episode 14 - *The Devil Complex*, the skin on Rodriguez's arm stumps has healed over, which takes 4 weeks to 2 months (1, 2). With Rodriguez having lost her arms and had surgery performed on them on December 4, 2017, earliest that *The Devil Complex* can take place is January 2018, thus meaning that from Episode 14 onward, it is 2018.
		+ In Episode 15 - *Rise and Shine*, events set at the time of Season 3, Episode 17 - *The Team* and Episode 18 - *The Singularity* in April 2016 are shown on-screen to have been "2 years ago".
		+ In Episode 16 - *Inside Voices*, events set immediately after Season 1, Episode 22 - *Beginning of the End* in January 2014 are shown on-screen to have been "four years ago".
So, all of these events take place in the first half of 2018. However, there is contradictory evidence for when exactly in the first 6 months of the year. *Avengers: Infinity War*, *Ant-Man and the Wasp*, *The Punisher*, and *Jessica Jones* would suggest closer to June 2018, while *Thor: Ragnarok*, *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.*, and *Spider-Man: Far From Home* would suggest closer to January 2018.
Scott Lang's 2-year house arrest coming to an end would imply that it has been 24 months since the end of the main events of *Captain America: Civil War*. In that film, Lang is arrested on June 24, 2016 (a firmly established date - see 2016 references). Steve Rogers breaks him out of the Raft 2 days later, on June 26, 2016, and very soon after (as shown in *Avengers: Infinity War Prelude*), Lang returns home after making his deal. The exact date that the sentence would end depends on a few factors, such as when the sentence counts as beginning from, if it counts from his initial imprisonment then whether each day spent in prison counts as double towards his sentence, and if time could be/was removed. At the earliest, the house arrest would finish on June 20, 2018. At the latest, June 27, 2018. The arrest finishes on a Wednesday, and at the very shortest, the events of *Avengers: Infinity War* start 1 week later (as at least one more weekend is shown to occur before the end of the film) on the following Wednesday. The very last day that the events of *Avengers: Infinity War* can possibly begin is Wednesday, June 27, 2018, so the latest Lang's house arrest could end would also be the earliest: Wednesday, June 20, 2018. This would also line up well with the references to the time between previous films and *Avengers: Infinity War*, with them placing it ideally closer to mid-2018 than early.
However, there are several things in *Thor: Ragnarok*, *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.*, and *Spider-Man: Far From Home* suggesting it is much earlier in the year.

	* Firstly, *Thor: Ragnarok* is firmly set in 2017 (see 2017 references). At the very latest, it takes place in November-December 2017, before *All the Comforts of Home* on December 4, 2017, which features a reference to the events of the film. There is a jump in time between the end of the main events of the film and the film's mid-credits scene, which is set mere minutes before the opening of *Avengers: Infinity War*. However, the gap should be minimal, for several reasons:
		+ The film finishes with Thor deciding to head back to Earth. Only in the mid-credits scene do he and Loki seem to actually begin discussing the problems with bringing Loki back to the planet. This would imply that it is very soon after the decision was made.
		+ Thor's hair is exactly the same in *Avengers: Infinity War* as it is in *Thor: Ragnarok*, including the streak on the side from the Watcher Informant's poor cutting. While it's possible that Asgardian hair grows slower than humans', it nonetheless implies very little time has passed.
		+ The *Statesman* has a few hundred Asgardians on board that need food and water and other general living standards, and the ship itself is highly unlikely to have enough on board to sustain a few hundred people for very long. It is possible that they could have gone a little longer if one assumes they stopped at other places for resources on the way and/or that Asgardians need less sustenance than humans, but nonetheless, the longer the gap, the more and more assumptions have to me made.
	* *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.*: Episode 12 - *The Real Deal* is firmly set on December 6, 2017, as given by the "12-06-2017" date on Rodriguez's monitor, and which lines up with all the other evidence as mentioned above. Episode 13 - *Principia* takes place shortly after and, as is evidenced by the "12-17-2017" date and Coulson's mention of "tidings of comfort of joy", it is Christmas. When Episode 14 - *The Devil Complex* begins, it is heavily implied to be merely another several days later:
		+ In Episode 12 - *The Real Deal*, the team discover that Coulson is dying. For them, it has been only a few days since Coulson made the deal with Ghost Rider, yet it has become quite bad. They do not know when he will die, but considering it took just a few days to get this bad, it would be strange for it to take several further months to kill him.
		+ In Episode 13 - *Principia*, Fitz says in December 2017, "The, uh, the gravitonium device that we used to seal the rift is barely strong enough. It's duct tape on the Hoover Dam. It's not gonna hold." Coulson asks, "How much time before the dam starts leaking?", and he says, "Well, uh, it's hard to calculate that precisely, but, based on the increased frequency of transit, electromagnetic waves, I'd say that our days were numbered." While he clearly does not know exactly how long they have, the implication is absolutely no more than a couple of weeks.
		+ In Episode 14 - *The Devil Complex*, Simmons says she would like to have a honeymoon with Fitz, implying they recently married. In Episode 17 - *The Honeymoon*, Simmons jokes about this being their honeymoon, implying they recently got married.
		+ In Episode 14 - *The Devil Complex*, Mackenzie is testing Rodriguez's newly made robotic arms. They got the arms from Hale's mechs in *Principia*. Considering how fast they usually work, it really should not take them very long to make the arms.
		+ In Episode 14 - *The Devil Complex*, Mackenzie says to Rodriguez, "Your arms aren't fully healed yet. What you need is time." Rodriguez replies, "My arms may not work, but my eyes do. At least let me sit in Control, keep an eye out for anomalies." Mackenzie says, "Maybe, but you have to allow yourself to heal. We'll handle the fighting for now." As well as this, Rodriguez is still in her hospital-esque bed for a lot of the episode. This implies that she is still healing and still needs to be taken care of, which should not be for more than a couple of months absolute maximum.
		+ In Episode 14 - *The Devil Complex*, Deke Shaw is still a bit dazed about having worked out that Fitz and Simmons are his grandparents.
		+ In Episode 14 - *The Devil Complex*, Fitz says, "Well, I've temporarily plugged the dam, but it could burst at any minute, releasing more of these anomalies into the base." The phrasing implies the temporary plugging was recent.
	* In Episode 14 - *The Devil Complex*, snow is shown on the ground, suggesting it is still winter.
	* In Episode 15 - *Rise and Shine*, Coulson says to Hale, "Listen, my team wasn't hiding all these months. We traveled to the future." From this, it can be taken that it has only been "months" since May 12, 2017, when the agents were sent to the future. While it has to now be 2018, it should not be later than early 2018. As well as this, this piece of dialogue suggests that the amount of time that his team have been back in the present is negligible, because he is generalizing the whole time since May 12, 2017 as the time that they were not around, but in the future.
	* In *Missing Pieces*, Enoch says he was going to protect Fitz for the next "73 years, 261 days". The team are in 2091, so if they left the future as early as possible, December 31, 2091, then since Fitz wakes 4 days prior, the latest he can possibly have woken is December 27, 2091. Even if Fitz were to wake as late as possible, the latest this scene could be is then April 10, 2018. Except the scene is implied to after *The End*, since it should be after the split in the timeline (seemingly not possible to have happened in the original timeline), suggesting *The End* should be no later than April 10, 2018.
	* In *Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson*, Enoch says he is planning to orbit Jupiter with Fitz for the next "72 years, 312 days", which should end before he takes Fitz to the Lighthouse. Fitz wakes no later than December 27, 2091, so the latest *Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson* could possibly be is February 18, 2019. However, it is 13 months on from *The End* (Coulson and May "got more [time] than [they] thought [they] would", so Coulson lived roughly the "weeks" Simmons mentions he might have if he is lucky in *The End*, and *Missing Pieces* ends on the 1-year anniversary of Coulson's death, the same day *Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson* is set - plus it is mentioned that Fitz died "over a year ago"), so *The End* would have to finish in January 2018.
	* In *Spider-Man: Far From Home*, Betty Brant says, "Even though we had blipped away halfway through the school year and had already taken midterms." This would make it approximately January/February. There is wiggle room for it to loosely mean "halfway", just "in the bulk of", "not at the beginning or end of", but it should still be no later than May 2018, so it is not in the final several weeks of term. This essentially confirms that Lang did not serve a full 24 months, as *Avengers: Infinity War* cannot be as late as June 2018 following this comment.
Furthermore, *The Punisher*: Season 2, which firmly places itself in April-May 2018 (see other 2018 references). Jeph Loeb stated in July 2018, "The short answer is that the stories that you're seeing, unless otherwise noted, all happen before [...] what is affectionately referred to as "The Thanos Snap". And we'll continue to be in that place until we find out what happens in *Avengers 4*," referring to all *Marvel Cinematic Universe* television released before April 26, 2019. This would place *The Punisher*: Season 2 (released in January 2019) before *Avengers: Infinity War* (save for the "three months later" epilogue of *The Whirlwind*, which is August 2018, so has to be after *Avengers: Infinity War* no matter what), thereby making *Avengers: Infinity War* set in at least May 2018. However, this is also the only answer Loeb could feasibly give, and he does not explicitly cover every single season, nor specifically *The Punisher*: Season 2 (saying only that the shows will be set before "for the most part" on a prior occasion), so it is possible that the one season being set after *Avengers: Infinity War* is not a hard contradiction to Loeb's comments, but April 2018 would be no more than 3 months maximum after Thanos snaps his fingers, and to see no acknowledgement of this in the world so shortly after is highly unlikely. Placing the Snap in May 2018, all pushing and pulling factors considered, makes sense as a compromise anyway, so the Snap should indeed be placed after the main events of *The Punisher*: Season 2. Thursday, May 17, 2018 would make the most sense (mere hours after the end of the main events), as it is as early as possible, to be as far away as possible from the end of school term in conjunction with the "halfway" *Spider-Man: Far From Home* line.
A final complication comes from *Jessica Jones*: Season 3. Most evidence would place it in November-December 2018, but this would be just about 6 months post-Snap, with zero acknowledgement of such a monumental, worldwide long-lasting trauma effect. Ultimately, the best-fitting placement is April-May 2018 instead (see other 2018 references), allowing it to be pre-Snap. However, in that case, the season ends on May 27, 2018, making the earliest the Snap can be Thursday, May 31, 2018. So, using this earliest possible placement (as any later would contradict *Spider-Man: Far From Home*, and late May is already much closer to the later evidence than the earlier), *Avengers: Infinity War* and its related events can be placed on May 30-31, 2018, with the main events of *The Devil Complex* to *All Roads Lead...* therefore being May 17-21, 2018.
A laptop early in *Ant-Man and the Wasp* has the date "4/30/2018". With the idea of Lang's house arrest being 24 months thrown out, so *Ant-Man and the Wasp*'s placement flexible - and the events of *Avengers: Infinity War* being mid-to-late May 2018, late April-early May 2018 for the main events of *Ant-Man and the Wasp* would make sense. The main events of *Ant-Man and the Wasp* begin on a Sunday, with Cassie saying, "I had a fun weekend." Scott has 3 days remaining of his house arrest sentence, and the sentence finishes right after the climax, making that Wednesday. Working back, Scott's dream in the bath is Monday night, meaning the house arrest montage spans Sunday and Monday. April 30, 2018 is a Monday, so this aligns for the main events to be Sunday, April 29, 2018 to Wednesday, May 2, 2018.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 *Avengers: Infinity War*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 5.08: The Last Day*
5. ↑ *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 5.22: The End*
6. ↑ In *The End*, the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. manage to change the timeline so that instead of the world cracking apart as it did originally, in the new timeline, the world is saved. While there are no obvious changes in the timeline until Melinda May and Leo Fitz save Alphonso Mackenzie and Polly Hinton, the change Robin Hinton senses in the episode is shown to be the fact that the Centipede Serum was slipped into Quake's gauntlets by Phil Coulson. This means that the timelines in fact diverge just before Coulson hands Quake her suit, and also fits with Robin Hinton's comment in *The Last Day* that Coulson would "bring all the pieces together", being his action that changes the timeline. For a short while after, events play out almost identically, with the only difference being that, without anyone except Coulson knowing, the serum is in fact in Quake's gauntlets. Coulson still does not, at least initially, take the serum in the original timeline as Quake was filmed in that timeline shouting at him in an identical manner to how she shouts at him in the new timeline for not taking it. The first sign of the timeline change, however, is Mackenzie and Hinton being saved, and then events begin to significantly diverge, being completely different once Quake finds the serum.
While we are shown very little of 2018 of the original timeline outside of *The Last Day*, we can assume that events are almost identical until Mackenzie and Hinton are saved. This includes the scenes in *Avengers: Infinity War* where Thanos talks to Gamora on the *Sanctuary II* and takes her to see Nebula, which occur concurrently with the events of *The End* between the divergence point and the beginning of actual significant signs of divergence.
The gaps in the original timeline can then be put together - the serum was left on Zephyr One, Mackenzie and Hinton died in the ship, Quake was absorbed by Talbot, Talbot destroyed the world, and finally what Yo-Yo Rodriguez alludes to in *Past Life* - as the world burned, May and Fitz got back to Zephyr One with Robin Hinton, but without Polly Hinton or Alphonso Mackenzie. They reached to grab them from the first of the surface to pull them on-board, but Mackenzie was not there. This is then followed by the "2018" scene of *The Last Day*.
There is also one thing we know from the original timeline that can be assumed for the new timeline, since events are occurring almost identically at the given point - that someone is filming when Quake leaves the Quinjet and shouts at Coulson (explained in *The Last Day*).
It is unclear what happened to Coulson in the original timeline. The serum is left on Zephyr One, but he does not appear to survive past 2018 anyway. Still, wherever events are unclear, they are excluded from the events descriptions.
7. ↑ In *Missing Pieces*, Enoch and Fitz are shown being attacked by the Confederacy. The implication is that it is after the time loop is broken in *The End*, since it is not only shown in the episode after *The End*, and is a significant event which would seemingly be a deviation from what is implied in *Rewind* to have been a smooth 74 years. In *Missing Pieces*, "one year later" is shown to be June 25, 2019 (see 2019 references), and in *Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson*, it is said on June 26, 2019 (see 2019 references) that Enoch and Fitz have traveled for "this past year", both also suggesting it is mid-2018, so more likely after the May 31, 2018 (see other references) time loop break than before.
Given the events in the future in Season 5 are 2091, the latest that Enoch waking Fitz could possibly be is December 27, 2091 (see 2091 references), meaning the latest that this scene can be, "73 years, 261 days" earlier is April 9, 2018. This is, in fact, before the time loop is broken on May 31, 2018, so the scene must actually be a flashback to before *The End*.
It must therefore be assumed that the attack happened before the split, then not much happened for the next several weeks. Then, shortly following the split, in the Lighthouse universe Enoch manages to keep Fitz frozen, but in the universe of the events of Season 6, things are further disrupted by the events referenced during the season, and Fitz is unfrozen.
Ideally, the time between the Confederacy attack and the time loop being broken should be minimal, as well as the attack ideally being as close to mid-2019 as possible. So, it can be taken that the attack is indeed April 9, 2018, with Enoch waking Fitz on December 27, 2091.
Following this, it is stated in *Inescapable* that they ended up on Saldon, which can be dated to April 10, 2018, so still before the timeline splits. It is implied in *Missing Pieces* that the loss of cabin pressure specifically occurred after the timeline split, when Simmons says, "Complete loss of cabin pressure. It's times like this I wish we didn't change the timeline." While the idea is seemingly simply that this was part of the attack and it all happened after the timeline split, this has been established as impossible, so it can be taken that the complete loss of cabin pressure was a later event, only occurring in this timeline, in that half of the ship. This matches with the implication in *Rewind* that Fitz's 74-year sleep was uninterrupted in the Destroyed Earth timeline.
However, it seems at odds with Enoch's line in *The Other Thing*, "We barely escaped in the ejection pod," implying that they abandoned both halves of the ship in the attack, and with Fitz's cryo-chamber shown to be aboard one half of the ship, then Fitz would have had to have been thawed during the attack. To avoid other assumptions (Fitz actually having been thawed and refrozen in both timelines, Simmons being wrong) and maintain the attack still being the cause of the difference in events (albeit with a lagged effect), it can be taken that Enoch got Fitz and the ejection pod back to one half of the ship, until failing to fix the cabin pressure. This effectively drags the impact of the crash out to after the timeline split, allowing everything else to be as intended.
Assuming it was as short as possible after the attack and crash, it should be shortly after the May 31, 2018 timeline split. It can be taken to be June 1, 2018.
8. ↑ *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 6.01: Missing Pieces*