Marvel finally, officially canonises the Netflix Marvel-verse

After many years of speculation, Marvel has updated their websites and Disney+ pages to confirm that the six television series which aired on Netflix from 2015 to 2019 are now officially counted as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

As originally spotted by CanWeGetSomeToast here.

The six TV series have been unofficially called the "Netflix Marvel-verse" or some other derivative, due to Marvel's prior reluctance to rule on their canonical status. The shows aired as part of a deal between Marvel Studios, ABC and Netflix, but which did not include MCU guiding light Kevin Feige as part of the decision-making process. The line of shows did not stick around for very long - just four years - but produced a stunning amount of content in that time: 161 episodes airing across 13 seasons in six distinct shows. Although each season stood alone, there were some shared characters and motifs which culminated in the event mini-series Defenders, which saw Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist join forces against a mutual threat. The Punisher, which had not been originally planned, spun out of the character's well-received guest role in the second season of Daredevil.

With Disney planning to launch its own rival streaming service to Netflix in the shape of Disney+, the deal was cancelled in 2019. The contract required Disney to wait two years before developing their own versions of those characters, but when the time came they intriguingly used the same actors. Vincent D'Onofrio reprised his role as Kingpin in Hawkeye, whilst Charlie Cox reprised his role as Daredevil in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home and then the Disney+ series She-Hulk and Echo. D'Onofrio, Cox and John Bernthal as the Punisher will all reappear in Daredevil: Born Again, currently in production.

Despite this, some believed that these actors were nonetheless playing "new" versions of the characters, not necessarily the same ones we saw on Netflix. Fortunately, it appears that Marvel finally realised that was too weird and confusing. By officially canonising the shows and moving them into a more prominent slot on Disney+, they may also be hoping to pick up some fresh views. This also possibly opens the door to Krysten Ritter reprising her role as Jessica Jones, as well as Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple, Finn Jones as Danny Rand (I mean, if you really want to), Mike Colter as Luke Cage and Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing.

The other pre-Disney+ Marvel TV shows which aired on ABC are still not listed in the official timeline, including Agents of SHIELD, Runaways and Inhumans (in the last case, that may be for the best). Their fans may hold out some hope that they may yet be reunited with the main timeline.

The Netflix Marvel-verse in Release Order

1. Daredevil: Season 1 (2015)
2. Jessica Jones: Season 1 (2015)
3. Daredevil: Season 2 (2016)
4. Luke Cage: Season 1 (2016)
5. Iron Fist: Season 1 (2017)
6. The Defenders (2017)
7. The Punisher: Season 1 (2017)
8. Jessica Jones: Season 2 (2018)
9. Luke Cage: Season 2 (2018)
10. Iron Fist: Season 2 (2018)
11. Daredevil: Season 3 (2018)
12. The Punisher: Season 2 (2019)
13. Jessica Jones: Season 3 (2019)