The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special dropped a number of real-world Easter eggs for pop culture fans to soak up and we share the positive reactions comic-book fans had to Kevin Bacon’s Batman impression.
The holiday special serves as the final feature from Marvel Studios this year and fans will have to wait until February 17, 2023, to see the next project in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
The upcoming Christmas special presentation is brought to you by writer and director James Gunn, the man behind the MCU’s Guardians trilogy, and focuses on the titular heroes celebrating the holiday season on Earth in order to lift Peter Quill’s spirits. The feature will see Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Michael Rooker, and Zoe Saldaña reprise their roles.
Marvel Studios’ Special Presentation: The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | Official Trailer
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Recap
Attempting to put Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) in a festive spirit, Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) travel to Earth in search of something to give Peter that Christmas spark.
Behind many of Peter’s favorite movies is actor Kevin Bacon, who debuts in the MCU playing himself before Drax and Mantis take him on board The Bowie.
Upon realizing that Bacon is in fact an actor – who has not “saved the world”, so to speak, as himself but instead his characters – Mantis asks Bacon to pretend that he is a hero, which prompts the actor to say “I’m the Batman” in the iconic lower register.
Comic Fans React to Kevin Bacon’s Batman Nod
Comic fans from Marvel and DC’s camp were thrilled to hear the Dark Knight mentioned in this capacity and many took the opportunity to confirm the actor was indeed Batman in the MCU – in jest, of course.
Another viewer pointed out that Drax did not know Batman by his popular name nor by Bruce Wayne because he would likely refer to Gotham’s protector as “one who is part bat, part man.”
Alongside referencing Batman, the holiday special also confirmed GoBots were canon in the MCU and possibly Transformers as well.
Eternals was the First to Canonize Batman in the MCU
Hearing Batman or any DC superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is pretty rare, however, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was not the first time we’ve heard Batman being name-dropped.
Back in 2021’s Eternals from Chloé Zhao, Karun (Harish Patel) introduces himself as a valet to Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), and Gilgamesh (Don Lee) answers: “Oh, valet. Like Alfred in Batman.”
A second DC reference is also made in Eternals when Phastos’ son compares Ikaris (Richard Madden) to Superman: “Dad, that’s Superman! With the cape and shooting laser beams out of your eyes!”
Ikaris soon corrects him, saying: “I don’t wear a cape.”
By Jo Craig – [email protected]
The Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special is now streaming on Disney Plus.
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