We have a simple question that needs to be answered: When is Luke Cage in the MCU?

We will include spoilers of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, so please be warned.

If you haven’t checked out Marvel’s Luke Cage, I’d suggest you binge watch it on Netflix right now.  Thought to be the best of the three Marvel original programs on Netflix currently, Luke Cage was so popular it’s opening weekend, that it blacked out Netflix’s servers on the Saturday following it’s Friday release.  Starring Mike Colter as Power Man, the series is a mix between 70’s black exploitation and a spaghetti western and has been reviewed by at least one critic as a “love letter to Harlem”.

However after watching this series for a 2nd time, I’m trying to understand something: when did this series happen in the MCU?

Ok, you have the kid selling “The Incident” DVDs on the street, which was the attack in Manhattan with the Avengers, so we know that much.  But if we’re running with the Defenders timeline, and some of the lines of script that’s been showing up, we know that this should have happened after Daredevil (at least S1), and Jessica Jones, since Jessica was actually mentioned in the middle of the season on Luke Cage, however, it doesn’t jive with the beginning of the season.

In episode 1 of Luke Cage, Luke is working in a Harlem barber shop.  Pops, who owns the shop, mentions that one day Reva comes in with a escape con husband and asks Pops to help him out.  We know through Jessica Jones, that Reva should have been dead for a while before Luke meets Jessica.  Luke owned a bar in the Jessica Jones series.  If this series, in fact, is after Kilgrave’s death, how did Luke go from owning his bar to working two jobs and being on the run in the Luke Cage series?

I know I’m getting knit picky, but I just want to get this straight.  Also, since Iron Fist, The Punisher, and The Defenders are set to be released, it would be interesting how it would fit with the ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.  It’s been hinted that The Defenders may make an appearance in the Marvel films.  As of right now, it looks like these shows are still set after the first Avengers film, but before “Captain America: Winter Soldier”, 2nd “Avengers” movie, or “Civil War” films.  It’ll be interesting to see how Marvel decides to push the other storylines forward to run parallel with the film universe.