OK, it looks good now! I agree with your analysis. I also think it begs the awesome question, "Is there a standard time we're working from for this timeline?" As in, beyond the problem of having 24 timezones on Earth, we've got events happening on the nine realms in the Thor movies and literally "on the edge of the galactic rim" (GotG infinite comic) in Guardians of the Galaxy. Marvel seems to have glossed over these problems with the Thor movies, I guess. Maybe it will in GotG too. But if you're travelling through wormholes in space-time and running into singularities and moving matter/information in real time on a cosmological scale, times get messed up. If something happens 200 million years ago but is witnessed on Earth on April 4th, 2014, does it happen on April 4th or 200 million years ago...? Time is relative. Just something cool to think about...
Exactly. Basically the approach I'm taking is to order it chronologically and use as specific a date as possible. Obviously, sometimes specific dates aren't provided or can't be determined, hence the occasional "????".
And yes, time dilation/relativity can certainly complicate matters. We'll see what happens in Guardians of the Galaxy in terms of that.
As for the events on Earth, again, chronology is the first rule (hence breaking up the prequel comics and comic adaptations and inserting pages between scenes), so like the Iron Man 2 opening with Vanko, that must be happening essentially the same time as the ending of Iron Man 1, perhaps with a few second delay for the live feed to be transmitted/broadcast for Vanko's viewing.
Really, the most important tool for determining where a lot of the movies went in terms of chronology was the Fury's Big Week comics, which confirmed that Iron Man 2, Thor, and Incredible Hulk all overlapped/occurred the same week. Most everything else is dated through dates seen in the films themself, or info provided through DVD commentary, etc. Iron Man 1 is expressly set in early 2008 based on dialogue and dates shown onscreen.
The only real continuity screw up is with Iron Man 2. Originally it was said to occur 6 months after Iron Man 1, but Fury's Big Week retconned that some. Since Thor is confirmed as occurring a year before Avengers, that places Iron Man 2, Thor, and Incredible Hulk one year before (2011) Avengers (2012).
To still make sense of the "6 months later" tag shown in the opening of the a Stark Expo scene in Iron Man 2, I prefer to think Vanko witnessed Stark's reveal as being Iron Man at the end of May, 2008, then spent the next couple years studying the arc reactor tech and building his Whiplash suit. He finishes his suit around the end of 2010 (2 and a half years after beginning), and then the six months later tag accounts for the period of time between end of 2010 and May 2011, when IM2 occurs (which also lines up with when the Monaco de Grand Prix occurs in reality). I presume after finishing the suit Vanko spent the next six months trying to obtain a false passport (he's shown getting one in the film itself) and studying Tony Stark's movements/schedule for a chance he could take his revenge.
There is a certain logic to it as well, since Tony, uber-genius that he is, was able to build his first suit using in the cave over a 3-month period using re-purposes Stark tech weapons/missiles. Once back home and with access to essentially unlimited resources and tech, Stark was able to build, test, and troubleshoot/modify his Mark II suit within a matter of weeks.
Vanko, while very intelligent, isn't on par with Tony, nor does he have the resources, tech, etc Tony has. Hence he was able to build the Whiplash suit, but it took much longer. Once Vanko worked for Hammer he had access to those resources and was able to build his Whiplash Mark II suit in a matter of days.
Basically that's how I prefer to explain the slight continuity screw up regarding Iron Man 2.
Anyway, Iron Man is firmly set in 2008; with the retconning from Fury's Big Week, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Incredible Hulk are set in 2011. Avengers is placed one year later in 2012 (also slightly visible on the banners seen in the background of the museum scene), Iron Man 3 occurs six months after Avengers during December, 2012. Agents of SHIELD begins in September, 2013. Thor - The Dark World occurs in late 2013 (over 2 years after the first Thor and over a year after Avengers). Captain America - The Winter Soldier occurs about two years after Avengers (but before July 4, since Cap mentions he's 95 years old and he was born July 4, 1918)--also episode 16 of AoS, which occurs just before and during the early portion of Cap-TWS, places it in March based on a date seen on a wall in one scene. The remainder of AoS likely will occur in April and May, 2014, same time as they air or thereabouts.
Generally, the MCU operates in real-time. Usually the release of a movie or air date of an AoS episode helps place the date it takes place, pretty closely. Or at least within a few months of the date reflected in the movie itself.
Also I just got to the Thor part of May 30th, 2011 and I barely remember what happened in those opening scenes from 965 AD that I watched when I started working through the timeline months ago. Ahahaha this is ridiculous.
Lol. I've pored over the films, One Shots, TV episodes, and comics so much, I've got most of the MCU memorized. For the most part, anyway.
Anyway, if you notice anything else, definitely let me know! And thanks for spotting those misplaced entries!