Netflix Parodies Marvel With Holiday Cinematic Universe

There has never (yet) been a post-credits scene that brings together two lead characters from disparate Netflix Christmas movies, but after a few offhand references in the dialogue, fans have decided that the streaming giant's holiday yarns are all one big, shared universe -- and it's hard to argue with them, since Netflix themselves have gotten in on the fun. The latest? Netflix released a poster that -- ahem -- "assembled" the characters of their shared universe of holiday movies, featuring a design and logo reminiscent of Avengers: Endgame, complete with the caption that "The festivities. Are. Inevitable." You can check it out below.

Additionally, they shared a tweet that said "The lore is clear," with a link to an earlier graphic they had shared laying out the connections between their various movies. You can see that here.

The short, non-graphical version: The mother of all Netflix Christmas franchises — A Christmas Prince, with three installments so far — is seen on a TV in The Holiday Calendar, and Aldovia (the fictional nation the prince hails from) is referenced in The Knight Before Christmas. It's also on a TV in The Princess Switch, which is in turn referenced in the third installment of The Christmas Prince. The TV in The Knight Before Christmas also has Holiday In the Wild on it, while The Holiday Calendar and The Princess Switch both get to watch Christmas Inhreitance.

You got all that?

The idea of Netflix building a cinematic universe around their holiday films is a fun one, even if not much really comes out of it. For years, everyone in Hollywood has been trying to capture the lightning in a bottle that is the ongoing appeal of Marvel's shared Cinematic Universe. The MCU is based on comics, but even with that model to emulate, attempts by DC, as well as Mark Millar (at Netflix) and Rob Liefeld (at Netflix) have fallen short or failed to get off the ground altogether.

Blending the "shared universe" trend with the avalanche of annual Christmas movies getting attention at places like the Hallmark Channel, where Christmas movies have become such a staple of the brand that they are referenced more or less year round as the thing those viewers tune in for. The difference? Netflix has a lot more money to throw around, meaning that they can get Kurt Russell and Tyrese Gibson to show up in their Christmas movies.