God Of War is now canon in the MCU

Spoiler warning: this article contains mild spoilers for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special - if you want to go into that totally unspoiled, scroll away now and get it watched.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has never shied away from including pop culture references in its movies and shows, from the Galaga easter egg in Avengers, to Ebony Maw being compared to Squidward by Tony Stark in Infinity War (thanks, GamesRadar+). Now, as reported by Twinfinite, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special has included a God of War reference which has seemingly made the games canon in the MCU.

Before we get into it (and to block out any spoilers just in case you’ve not scrolled away yet), check out this bizarre God of War Ragnarök ad starring Ben Stiller as Kratos.

So, how did this end up happening? It was such a subtle nod that you might have missed it - while Drax and Mantis wandered through Hollywood hoping to find Kevin Bacon, the two are confused for cosplayers. After a family takes a picture with the pair, you can hear the woman excitedly tell her kid that they “got a picture with the God of War”, clearly assuming that Drax was dressed as Kratos.

Now, this opens up a whole load of questions that I need answers to. Namely, does this mean that some MCU characters have played God of War Ragnarök? More importantly, has Thor played it? Is he offended that so many people online prefer the in-game Thor to him? Please, Kevin Feige, I can’t rest until I know.

We can only assume that Ragnarök has been doing as well in the Marvel universe as it has in real life, anyway. The game has absolutely dominated The Game Awards’ nominations this year, including a nom for the coveted Game of the Year award - we’ll just have to see how many accolades it manages to take home.