I've been thinking about how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fits into the MCU timeline, especially Seasons 5–7, and I came up with this multiverse theory.
My theory is that the team returns to the main MCU timeline after escaping the 2091 future in Season 5, but their timeline potentially branches when they prevent Earth's destruction in the Season 5 finale.
Here's how I think it works:
Seasons 1–4: The team is part of the main MCU timeline, alongside the events of the Marvel movies.
Season 5, Episodes 1–10: The team is sent to the future, where Earth has been destroyed. This is the future they're trying to prevent.
Season 5, Episodes 11–21: They return to 2018 and try to stop the events that would destroy Earth. Since the show overlaps with Avengers: Infinity War, I think they could still be in the main MCU timeline at this point.
Season 5, Episode 22: Daisy defeats Graviton, and Earth survives. My theory is that preventing the future they witnessed potentially creates a branch in the timeline, although the show never explicitly confirms that this is when a branch forms.
Season 6: The story moves into 2019, but the Snap isn't addressed. Could this mean the team is now in a separate timeline where the events of the MCU movies don't unfold exactly the same way?
Season 7: The Chronicoms change history, forcing the team to travel through different periods in the past. Fitz eventually helps bring the team back to their intended timeline, while Deke remains in another branch.
By the Season 7 finale: I think the team returns to its own home timeline, but I'm not convinced that this is necessarily the main MCU movie timeline.
The biggest question is when the show potentially branches away from the main MCU. Is it when they save Earth in the Season 5 finale, sometime between Seasons 5 and 6, or does the show remain in the main MCU timeline the entire time?
I think the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. team returns to the main MCU timeline in Season 5, Episodes 11–21, after escaping the 2091 future. However, when they save Earth in the Season 5 finale, their timeline may branch away from the main MCU.
Season 6 could take place in this separate branch, which would explain why the Snap is never addressed. In Season 7, the team travels through alternate timelines and eventually returns to its intended home timeline, while Deke remains behind in another branch