All of us have experienced that one event (or several events) that changed the course of our lives, forever.
I’m sure at the time you probably wished you avoided the incident but, looking back, you realise it made you who you are today.
In the latest Spider-Man movie (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) we see how several events that occurred across different universes led to Spider-Man becoming the person he was meant to be.
And now Tiktok users are calling these ‘canon events’.
One TikTok creator (known as @monotonousdaydream) explained that “a canon event is an event that occurs in Spider-Men’s lives, which binds them together as Spider-Men/ensures the sanctity of their Earths/timelines”.
Another user broke this down in simpler terms by explaining that a canon event “is what makes the characters we love today. Without loss, the hero can’t grow, without trauma, they can’t overcome the challenge”.
So essentially a canon event is something we have to go through to become the person we’re supposed to be – see it as character-building.
That ex you dated for years that ultimately was no good for you? Canon event. Your first job from hell? Canon event.
Users on the clock app have shared their canon events and how it helped shape them.
“Watching the girl who hates studying choose to go to uni straight out of high school because she doesn’t know what else to do (it’s a canon event),” said user @eilishckerr.
“Went for a week, decided I was going to take a gap year instead lol,” another commented.
One user said their canon event was simply “dropping out after first year”.
User @imdefinitelycrying describes an experience of getting into a first relationship: “Watching a people pleaser girl get into her first relationship with an ‘I don’t know what you want me to say,’ boy that’s not over his ex.”
“That was my first bf [boyfriend], still am a people pleaser, never getting into a relationship again,” one user shared in response to the video.
“This trend really makes me realise that I haven’t had a single unique experience,” another chimed in.