It goes without saying that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become incredibly vast and varied. And, as is the case with such things, at least one major plothole has erupted as a result. Interestingly, however, a new fan theory suggests that the upcoming Loki Disney Plus series could actually fix a major plothole via Avengers: Endgame. It all begins with the version of Loki that we see escape with the Tesseract during the events of Avengers: Endgame. Specifically, because, this version of Loki is the one that the upcoming Disney Plus series will follow. It will focus on his character after the Time Variance Authority urges him to correct a certain “breakage in the timestream” he inadvertently caused.
This is where the theory, from a Reddit user via Inverse, comes into play. They’ve suggested that both Avengers: Endgame and the upcoming Loki series could retcon past MCU shows as having taken place in an alternate universe. This means Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Netflix shows Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Punisher, and Iron Fist, would no longer take place within the main Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While it would potentially make things a little messier to follow, it would also allow Disney and Marvel a way to “clean up” the main canon to their liking. This would also allow them to reintroduce these characters in new ways that would be more suitable for the current MCU. This actually falls in with a recent rumor about certain cast members from the Netflix shows returning for the MCU. And, truthfully, it does seem reasonable. While Marvel has been emphasizing the connections with shows like WandaVision or The Falcon and The Winter Soldier – other shows like Daredevil and Punisher feel distant and disconnected.
Of course, this is all just a theory stemming from Avengers: Endgame and Loki and their time travel rules. As such it’s hard to indicate whether or not Marvel really would go through all of the effort to retcon these shows in such a way. They could simply still consider them canon, despite not referencing them as heavily, or they might just stop referencing them altogether. Either way, the possibilities really are open for them to do whatever they want at this point. But whatever they want to do – Loki would certainly be the perfect way to do it.
As always, we’ll just have to wait and see what Disney plans to do. We’ll hopefully know more when Loki premieres June 11 on Disney Plus.