Was that a Kang reference, or did we imagine it?
The new Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer gives fans a lot to digest about the upcoming superhero movie, with Tom Holland’s webhead looking to face a variety of classic foes (including a returning Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock and Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin) as well as a collapsing universe after he unleashes dangerous magic.
But amidst all the cameos and Easter eggs (did anyone else spot Flash’s new hair?) some fans have spotted what could be a particularly intriguing callback to recent Disney Plus series Loki.
Of course, in some ways this film’s connections to Loki are obvious, with that series first introducing (and unleashing) the concept of the multiverse, i.e. a mass of parallel realities that can crash into our own. Following the events of Loki, that kind of interaction is now even more possible, and looks set to continue in films like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but it also appears it’ll first be properly released onscreen in No Way Home.
Anyway, given this background, fans might have expected a nod to Loki and how the multiverse was recently made more of a danger – and they might just have got it. Look closely in the moment that Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) spell goes wrong, and you see a flash of purple energy and wild, distant space.
Bro, that’s Kang’s place. https://t.co/yZg0gbbi8e
— ???????????????????? (@DaughterOfAdha) August 24, 2021
Some fans think that this could be a nod to the similarly-themed Citadel at the End of Time seen in the Loki finale, AKA the stronghold of He Who Remains/Kang (Jonathan Majors), the man who kept the multiverse in check until he…er…didn’t any more (thanks, Sylvie).
It could just be a coincidence and, even if it isn’t, it’s unlikely to be a hugely important point in the film (if nothing else, it’s a little unfair for Marvel and Sony to expect everyone to have ‘done the homework’ for every film by watching hours of Disney Plus) – but if it really is an intentional reference, it just goes to show how much planning goes into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Peter finished what loki started
— patrick chirico (@SDagger02) August 24, 2021
And if it isn’t an intentional reference? Well, that probably goes to show that fans and entertainment writers will read anything into anything when it comes to these lore-heavy movies. We’ll take a lesson from it either way.
Spider-Man: No Way Home comes to cinemas on the 17th December. Want more? Check out our dedicated Movies page or our full TV Guide.