From getting bit by a radioactive spider to losing a parent, there are many events that unfold across all Spider-Man universes that lead the hero to becoming who he is. While Spidey doesn’t exist IRL, many on TikTok are sharing similar “canon events” — or unavoidable, unchangeable events — that lead humans to becoming the individuals they are today.
The trend was inspired by “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” a sequel to the Oscar-winning 2018 film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” In the sequel, Miles Morales, a teenage Spider-Man living in modern-day New York, runs into trouble when he attempts to disrupt the set-in-stone mythology that occurs across all universes of the Spider-Man comic books, known in the movie as “canon events.”
From eldest daughters to LGBTQ people, creators are using canon events as shorthand for shared experiences that are inevitable and crucial to the development of a person’s character and identity.
“A canon event in someone’s life would be like something that you have to go through to become Spider-Man, in the context of Spider-Man,” said Karma Carr, who posted a canon event video that received 2.8 million views. “When you have your canon event, it changes you. It’s like your inciting incident.”
Canon event videos, which are set to music from the soundtrack for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” have received millions of views on TikTok. One creator even made a filter inspired by the trend, which has been used over 128,000 times in two days.
Each video declares that the creator “cannot interfere” with the canon event unfolding in front of them. In “Spider-Man,” disrupting a canon event could destroy the Spider-Verse, according to Screen Rant. In real life, doing so would likely drastically change a person’s trajectory.
People love to feel seen and just, like, valid in their experience.
TikToker Karma Carr
On TikTok, relatable content and tidy labels regularly go viral. These trends can give viewers a sense of belonging and identity. Carr said that TikTok users are “constantly just talking about our experiences” because there is a desire to connect with others, especially after years of isolation due to the pandemic.
“People love to feel seen and just, like, valid in their experience,” Carr said.
For Carr, it was discovering Discord at a young age and forging relationships through the messaging app that served as a canon event.
She thought her experience may have been too niche for the trend, but she was surprised to see that it resonated with a lot of people. The canon events trend reminded her of a common line seen in TikTok comment sections: “I’ve never had an original experience.”
“Everyone goes through the same exact thing,” she said.
Victoria Johns, whose video received 1.6 million views, agreed that videos like these show that people aren’t alone in their experiences.
Johns’ video described the relatable moment when a young woman falls for the first guy who shows interest in her. She said many viewers commented that they went through the same thing.
“You make silly mistakes in life,” she said. “But where you are now is a good place and you wouldn’t be there if you hadn’t made those silly mistakes.”
The trend allows people to accept and laugh at the moments in life that may have made them feel ashamed before. Carr said the canon event videos are helping people embrace cringe, a sentiment that has become increasingly popular in recent months.
“Once you get over that fear [of cringe], it is so freeing,” Carr said. “And it’s so nice seeing people in the comments being more open and happy about it, when otherwise they just would never have brought that from the grave.”
Ultimately, canon events on TikTok show that embarrassing moments, while excruciating at the time, are unavoidable. Luckily, they will always pass.
“Mistakes are gonna happen, but your life is just gonna keep moving on,” Johns said. “It’s gonna be OK.”
