The DCU is still in its very early throes under the guidance of James Gunn, and its early steps have been genuinely encouraging, particularly compared to the barren wasteland us DC fans have suffered through since the end of Nolan's Batman trilogy.
Gunn is known for taking risks and approaching problems in ways that others may not, so it wouldn't be a massive surprise if we're in for a bit of a weird ride over the next few years. With that in mind, it seems like we might have had the first foible for DC, as it turns out Spider-Man is now canon thanks to the events of the Peacemaker TV show.
As first reported by Screen Rant, Peacemaker season 2, episode 6 sees Chris's friends follow him into the alternate dimension after he decided to leave his life behind to live as his doppelgänger (admittedly confusing if you haven't seen the show.)
The group is quickly split apart once they arrive in the new dimension, with vigilante quickly setting off in search of his own doppelgänger. After he does eventually find him, Gunn took the opportunity (as the writer and director of the episode, to reference one of the best known memes out there, turning Spider-Man into DC canon in the process.
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If you've somehow never seen it, the meme I'm referring to is a frame from the comics where several versions of Spider-Man meet and point at each other in disbelief.
The two characters even go as far as saying, ""We Spider-Man meme'd," after they do it, eliminating any doubt that the meme is what they were referring to.
There was a bit of a Marvel version of this in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Universe, which both featured several versions of the character. Equally, in Spider-Man: No Way Home, previous versions of Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield) appeared to help Tom Holland's version of the character to come out on top.
Now obviously this is just meant to be a bit of a fun joke, and you shouldn't expect to see Spidey in a DC property any time soon, but it's a funny unintended consequence that could be the source of several in-jokes for a while to come.
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That said, it does leave the door open for other Marvel characters to appear in some form and that's something to get excited about.
Topics: DCU, Spider Man, Marvel