When nerds make movies, beautiful things can happen. In this case, the fact that MCU producer Kevin Feige happens to be a big fan of Star Trek IV led to a cameo that now places a character from The Voyage Home into Spider-Man: Homecoming.
The world will never be the same.
[Slightly NSFW photo below.]
[Very minor spoilers for Spider-Man: Homecoming.]
There is a scene in the latest Spider-Man movie where the webslinger is hanging out on a Queens rooftop and a guy who owns a hot dog cart below shouts at him to “do a flip!” Spidey, being a teenager in search of constant approval, happily obliges. Next to that hot dog vendor is another guy toting a boombox—and you may recognize him:
According to StarTrek.com, that is none other than Kirk Thatcher, the “Punk on Bus” who Spock nerve pinches into a heap after he refuses to turn down his music on San Francisco public transit. Here he is thirty years ago in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home:
And here’s the story of how it all went down, according to Thatcher:
“I was having a meeting with the guys at Marvel and Kevin Feige had to leave early to catch a plane to New York for the last few days of shooting and wrap on Homecoming. I mentioned that I was going to New York too, only two days later. He got excited and asked if I would be interested in doing a cameo as a punk in Spider-Man? I, of course said, ‘Sure!'”
Apparently, the whole cameo appearance, from inception-to-filming took only 48 hours. Thatcher mentioned that Feige was a big fan of Star Trek IV and really loved the bus scene, so he was eager to bring the character back 30 years later. So you know what that means…
…the events of Star Trek now exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
At some point the Punk on Bus got tired of San Francisco and packed up for Queens. Everything is connected now—the Guardians of the Galaxy will covertly set up Starfleet in the future; the guy who invented transparent aluminum on Scotty’s behalf was probably abruptly scooped up by Stark Industries; and that whale probe? Yeah. Thanos sent it. The Infinity War will be fought with whales.
Infinity Whales.
Thatcher has now said that he would love the character to cameo elsewhere and fund his retirement years, and it’s hard to think of a reason why that shouldn’t happen, if only because he can tie together every fictional universe we’ve ever cared about.
Punk on Bus: traveler of the multiverse.
