The Boys Season 4’s Timeline Shows How Badly The MCU Messed Up After Endgame

Not for the first time, Amazon’s The Boys is doing superhero franchises better than the MCU. Following a trio of successful seasons on Prime Video, The Boys is expanding. Despite spending five years solidly mocking the concept of shared universes, The Boys is now becoming the very thing it poked fun at, with its first live-action spinoff, Gen V, airing in 2023. More are on the way too, including a The Boys spinoff set in Mexico. While The Boys may be starting to more closely resemble the MCU, it’s handling some aspects of franchisedom noticeably better than Marvel.

The Boys season 2’s “Girls Get It Done” scene was the feminist fist-pump that Avengers: Endgame‘s A-Force moment very much wasn’t. Despite the MCU having an 11-year head-start, The Boys has also done a far better job in terms of LGBTQ+ representation through characters such as Queen Maeve and Gen V‘s Jordan Li. Ahead of The Boys season 4, the parody has scored yet another victory over the parodied, this time with a creative decision concerning its timeline.

The Boys Season 4’s Chronological Timeline Avoids A Big MCU Problem

Spaghetti Is Great, But Not For A Superhero Shared Universe Timeline

Showrunner Eric Kripke previously confirmed the in-universe timeline for The Boys season 4, and it’s extremely simple. The Boys‘ narrative is effectively unfolding in release order, with Gen V season 1 taking place after The Boys season 3, The Boys season 4 taking place after Gen V season 1’s ending, Gen V season 2 taking place after The Boys season 4, etc. Kripke has also expressed confusion over other superhero shared universe timelines being needlessly complex, arguing, “All that folding-in-on-itself timeline stuff that I think other comic book universes find themselves having to do is just bewildering for me.”

Kripke didn’t reference the MCU by name, but Marvel’s movie universe is perhaps the best example of the timeline chaos he describes. The Infinity saga – i.e. all movies up to and including Avengers: Endgame – was relatively easy to follow, with the timeline broadly progressing in release order aside from obvious period pieces like Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain Marvel. The MCU’s expansion into TV shows and its increased habit of not acknowledging major events from Phase 4 – the giant Celestial from Eternals, for example – has resulted in a timeline that, to use Kripke’s description, resembles a plate of spaghetti.

The Boys Season 4’s Timeline Is A Promising Sign For Its Shared Universe

The Boys Fans Don’t Need To Fear Getting Lost As The Franchise Expands

One could argue that paying too much attention to a shared universe’s timeline is pointless, and each entry should just be enjoyed on its own merits. While an admirably positive outlook, such thinking defeats the very object of having a shared universe. The purpose of multiple projects falling under the same fictional umbrella is that viewers can draw extra enjoyment from how the various pieces connect to create something that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

A shared universe is designed to reward viewers for keeping up with output. Since Avengers: Endgame, the MCU’s pieces have been fitting together with ever-increasing awkwardness, and each release only adds to the muddle. The Boys season 4 adhering to the franchise’s linear chronology and pledging to continue that pattern going forward is hugely reassuring, and a positive sign for the franchise’s future as Amazon continues to grow its satirical, subversive superhero sandbox. The train-like timeline ensures audiences will know exactly where they stand in The Boys‘ narrative at any given point – without needing to consult an officially-released book on the matter.

Such simplicity also makes the shared universe easier to navigate overall. For example, The Boys season 4 happening after Gen V‘s ending removes any confusion over which characters from Godolkin University can and cannot appear in the main show’s upcoming run. Likewise, viewers will enter The Boys season 4 knowing that Billy Butcher was investigating The Woods at the end of Gen V, and can expect that plot point to resurface.