As the MCU is currently doubling down on the Multiverse Saga, there have been some questions and confusion from fans surrounding the canon status of other Marvel movies and shows that were not produced by Marvel Studios.
With Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock and Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin from Netflix's Daredevil series appearing in MCU projects, it opened up a large conversation amongst fans about whether the Netflix series is now part of the MCU canon or not.
We've also seen characters from Sony's Spider-Man movies appearing in the MCU as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield and the respective villains of their films became major parts of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Deadpool 3 is also set to embrace the Marvel movies that were made by 20th Century Fox as the characters from that franchise are returning for the upcoming MCU film.
There's also the current live-action Spider-Verse from Sony which has hinted at some connections to the MCU with Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock appearing in No Way Home and Michael Keaton's Vulture showing up in Morbius.
Now, the mastermind behind the MCU has finally set the record straight and addressed the canon of the other Marvel movies and shows once and for all.
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Kevin Feige Sets the Record Straight on the Canon of Non-MCU Marvel Movies and Shows
In the newly-released book Marvel Studios The Marvel Cinematic Universe An Official Timeline (via The Direct), Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige addressed the canon of the Marvel movies and shows outside the MCU in the foreword.
He explained that only Marvel Studios-produced movies and TV shows are considered to be part of the MCU's "sacred timeline" although he hinted that the other Marvel movies and shows may end up converging later on.
"On the Multiverse note, we recognize that there are stories—movies and series—that are canonical to Marvel but were created by different storytellers during different periods of Marvel’s history. The timeline presented in this book is specific to the MCU’s Sacred Timeline through Phase 4," Feige wrote.
"But, as we move forward and dive deeper into the Multiverse Saga, you never know when timelines may just crash or converge (hint, hint/spoiler alert)."
In other words, any Marvel movies and shows that were not handled by Feige and his team at Marvel Studios are not part of the official canon of the MCU. The Fox's X-Men movies, Agents of SHIELD, and Netflix's Daredevil are notable examples of that.
However, they are still part of the wider MCU multiverse so they are still canon as their own individual stories that are set in other timelines and Marvel Studios still acknowledges their existence.
If we go with Feige's explanation, we can safely say that the Cox version of Daredevil that we're seeing at the moment is not the same as the Netflix series iteration since it is not recognized as part of the MCU's sacred timeline.
Since we're in the Multiverse Saga, the characters from non-MCU properties could still show up such as Hugh Jackman's Wolverine in Deadpool 3. There are still more explanations that Marvel Studios needs to settle soon regarding the logic and leaps of it, but at least we're clear now on the basic level.
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