canon event

A canon event is an experience, usually an awkward or painful one, that feels like an unavoidable part of growing up or becoming who you are. Saying “it’s a canon event” means “everyone goes through this, so let it happen.”

What does canon event mean?

The phrase comes from the 2023 animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, where “canon events” are key moments every version of Spider-Man must live through, even tragic ones. Online, people borrowed the idea for everyday life: the first heartbreak, a terrible haircut, getting lost abroad, or crying in a supermarket car park.

It’s mostly humorous. Calling something a canon event reframes a bad experience as character development, and telling a friend “don’t stop her, it’s a canon event” means letting them learn a lesson the hard way.

How to use canon event

• “Getting your heart broken at 19 is a canon event.”
• “Everyone dyes their hair a terrible colour once. Canon event.”
• “Let him buy the cheap tent. It’s a canon event.”
• “Missing my train and sprinting through the station, another canon event.”

Where canon event comes from

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse opened on June 2, 2023. In the film, Miguel O’Hara (Spider-Man 2099) explains that canon events cannot be changed. According to Know Your Meme, TikToks joking about personal “canon events” began that same day, and Merriam-Webster notes the scene sparked a trend immediately after the film’s release. “Canon” itself is fandom vocabulary for events that officially happened in a story.

Related terms

• Main character: acting like the star of your own story.
• Side quest: a detour from your main plans.
• NPC: a background character.
• Delulu: delusional, sometimes on purpose.

See more terms like this in our internet slang dictionary.