Is Marvel backtracking and putting Netflix's Daredevil, Jessica Jones and more back in the MCU? A Marvel Studios exec says so

Just when you thought it was decided that Marvel’s ABC and Netflix shows were not part of the MCU’s Sacred Timeline, along comes a Marvel Studios executive to re-open the debate one more time.

Talking to Screen Rant ahead of the debut of Disney+’s Echo series, executive producer Brad Winderbaum was asked whether or not the Netflix Daredevil show is part of MCU canon, given the character’s appearance in Echo (as well as She-Hulk and Spider-Man: No Way Home). His answer was… let’s just say potentially at odds with the official Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline book.

“I can say that up until this point, we’ve been a little bit cagey about what’s Sacred Timeline, what’s not Sacred Timeline,” Winderbaum told the site. “That was born of, frankly, a period at the studio where we were like, ‘We have to stick the landing with the vendors.’ It was another part of the company developing the Netflix stuff. We were aware of what they were doing, they were aware of what we were doing, but there was a lot to balance anyway. But now that some time has passed; now that we see actually how well integrated the stories are, I think that I personally, Brad Winderbaum, would be confident in saying [the Netflix Daredevil series] is part of the Sacred Timeline.”

There is, of course, some wiggle room comparing this to the introduction to DK’s Marvel Studios - The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline written by Winderbaum’s boss, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige — especially considering that Feige basically teased that the Sacred Timeline was open to alteration in that introduction.

“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).” We’re past Phase 4 by this point — it ended with November 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — with Echo being part of Phase 5, the official first half of what Marvel calls ‘The Multiverse Saga.’ Does this mean that the Sacred Timeline is already being rewritten, beyond multiversal incursions and official visits into alternate timelines? Maybe so… which might mean that the official timeline book is already out of date just three months after publication. (It also means good things for fans hoping to see those versions of Karen Page, Foggy Nelson, and the other supporting cast again.)

Of course, the alternate answer is Brad Winderbaum will be overruled by other Marvel execs, and everything stays as it currently is. Think of the whole thing as a real life version of What If…? for now; it’s easier that way.

Maybe the best way to keep track of the MCU to this point is to just rewatch the whole thing. We’re ready to help with that.