A question many fans of Marvel's pre-Disney+ live-action television projects still have is whether or not those shows are still considered canon to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While they ostensibly started that way, it's no secret that Marvel Studios and Marvel Television had a rather strained relationship as far as their supposed shared universe was concerned, especially towards the end of the latter's existence.

Marvel TV's Netflix dramas, for example, made a real effort to fit into the MCU early on, though it's clear this became less of a priority as time went on. Combine that with the fact that Marvel Studios' big-screen projects never really reciprocated efforts to connect in the first place, and you have some disparities between the two worlds that are pretty hard to reconcile. Weirdly enough, however, one of the biggest inconsistencies between Marvel Netflix and the larger MCU comes down to Staten Island hip-hop legends, the Wu-Tang Clan.

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Marvel's Netflix shows used several Wu-Tang Clan songs in their soundtracks. This already lends itself to an interesting discussion about what sort of real-life media exists within certain fictional universes. After all, just because the audience can hear a certain song doesn't mean that song actually exists within the world of the show. Take, for instance, modern music being used in period dramas like Peaky Blinders. However, the Wu-Tang Clan does, in fact, exist within the Marvel Netflix universe -- and by extension, the MCU (at least in theory).

Marvel's Luke Cage Season 1 features a guest appearance by Clifford "Method Man" Smith as himself. Method Man actually meets the titular Hero for Hire, who praises the rapper's work -- a touching moment, given Smith's obvious love for Marvel Comics. After the fact, Method Man cuts a freestyle rap, "Bulletproof Love," in which he not only sings the praises of Luke Cage but also name-drops Iron Man. Ghostface Killah, another Wu-Tang Clan member, later appeared as himself in Luke Cage Season 2. If that wasn't enough, even Frank Castle gave the legendary rap group a shoutout in the first season of Marvel's The Punisher.

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With that in mind, Marvel's Netflix lineup featured a total of four Wu-Tang Clan tracks, all of which come from the group's debut studio album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Perhaps the most famous instance is the iconic scene from Luke Cage Season 1, in which Luke wrecks shop while listening to "Bring da Ruckus." Two additional Wu-Tang songs were used in Luke Cage Season 2, with another actually popping up in the 2017 crossover limited series The Defenders. The one used in The Defenders creates a rather significant continuity issue.

In The Defenders' series finale, the climactic final battle between the titular heroes and the forces of the villainous Hand is set to the tune of Wu-Tang Clan's "Protect Ya Neck." In the song's opening verse, Inspectah Deck drops the line, "Swingin' through your town like your neighborhood Spider-Man," paying homage to Marvel's resident wall-crawler, who himself joined the MCU in 2016's Captain America: Civil War.

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On the surface, it seems like this line could simply be re-contextualized as being about a real-life superhero, similar to Method Man's "Bulletproof Love" referencing Luke Cage and Iron Man. After all, the Spider-Man reference can be heard clear as day in The Defenders. The issue is that, according to his passport in Spider-Man: Far From Home, the MCU's version of Peter Parker was canonically born on Aug. 10, 2001. And per the events of Civil War, he didn't become Spider-Man until roughly 2016. The reason this is a problem is that Enter the Wu-Tang came out in 1993.

In other words, it seems as though, in-universe, the Wu-Tang Clan somehow managed to name-drop a superhero who wouldn't even be born for close to a decade. What's more, other continuity problems could potentially stem from Enter the Wu-Tang's apparent canonicity, especially as the Fantastic Four prepare to make their way to the MCU. In the iconic track "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F' Wit," RZA references legendary villain Doctor Doom, a character Marvel Studios didn't even own the rights to until 2019.

As rumors swirl about Charlie Cox's Daredevil potentially joining the main MCU in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it remains to be seen if Marvel Studios will actually acknowledge the Man Without Fear's Netflix history, or quietly retcon it. At any rate, whereas Netflix took Marvel into TV-MA territory, Marvel Studios seems to have no interest in venturing beyond PG-13 for any film not called Deadpool 3 -- meaning that, sadly, fans are unlikely to see another Marvel project featuring Wu-Tang tracks in the near future. So, it seems like Inspectah Deck canonically mentioning Spider-Man over two decades before Civil War will simply be swept under the rug.

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