Forget Corriedale! Coronation Street just had the ultimate crossover with the MCU

If you thought Corriedale was the biggest crossover this year to feature Coronation Street then I fear you’re in for a shock.

The long-running ITV soap, which recently celebrated its 65th birthday and crossed over with fellow serial titan Emmerdale this month, is now also officially canon in the MCU.

For those of you unfamiliar, that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is arguably the biggest film franchise in the world and the holy grail when it comes to shared universes and crossover extravaganzas.

Who knew that when viewers – including myself – were likening Corriedale to Avengers Endgame that just weeks later Coronation Street would receive a mention in the MCU? It certainly wasn’t on my bingo card for 2026, I’ll tell you that much.

But before you start conjuring up scenarios with characters from both properties – Roy Cropper and Tony Stark clashing over the fundamentals of invention and technology, anyone? Agatha Harkness and Debbie Webster clashing in the campest showdown imaginable. Loki and Tracy Barlow fighting for the last word (my money’s on Tracy), Sally Metcalfe running against Valentina Allegra De Fontaine in an election or Peggy Carter serving a pint of Newton & Ridley’s finest – there is but just one caveat.

Corrie simply exists in the Marvel world much like it does in the real one – as a fictional TV programme.

This was officially established in Wonder Man, the latest title in the ever-growing MCU, which boasts 37 films and 17 TV series to date.

The eight-part series, which dropped on Disney Plus on Wednesday, sees Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley return to the franchise as Trevor Slattery, who previously appeared in Iron Man 3 and Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, plus short-film All Hail The King.

Trevor, as fans will know, is an actor, who previously played the role of the villainous Mandarin, and in Wonder Man he’s hopeful of landing a role in the fictional remake of – yep, you guessed it – Wonder Man.

It’s all very meta. But wait, there’s more.

While discussing thespian Trevor’s esteemed career, fellow actor Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) stumbles upon a VHS tape on his shelf, which is marked as: Coronation Street, episodes 616 – 619, 646 – 649.

Simon quizzes Trevor, who recalls a line from his stint on the cobbles as a character named Ron Jenkins. ‘A pint of bitter please and one for my friend’ he said as he pretended he was in the Rovers once more, and I think it’s safe to say that Corrie fans everywhere had their very own ‘I understood that reference’ moment.

And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, it turns out that not only did the character of Ron Jenkins actually appear in Coronation Street (and in the episodes listed on the tape) but he was portrayed by – wait for it – Ben Kingsley!

Coincidentally, the number of Ben’s debut Corrie episode – 616 – is also the number of the ‘earth’ upon which the events of the MCU take place, as confirmed in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

But while Wonder Man’s funny little scene is the first official confirmation of Corrie’s existence in the MCU, Kingsley isn’t actually the first Marvel star to have previously frequented the nation’s favourite Street.

Carl Webster star Jonathan Howard starred in Thor: The Dark World – the eighth film in the franchise – back in 2013 as Ian Boothby (aka ‘the intern’)

Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart, meanwhile, appeared in Weatherfield in the very same year as Kingsley, decades before he took on the role of Charles Xavier – aka Professor X – in the X-Men movies, playing a fire officer in a single episode of the ITV soap.

His on-screen nemesis in the X-Men franchise Magneto, played by Ian McKellen, also enjoyed a stint on the cobbles, portraying fraud novelist Mel Hutchright (or should I say Lionel Hipkiss?) in 2005. He almost starred in Emmerdale, too.

The X-Men films are not officially considered part of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe – with the events of the former franchise having unfolded on a different fictional earth than that of the MCU – but McKellen and Stewart are nonetheless set to reprise their legendary roles in Avengers: Doomsday, which will essentially bring the two franchises together courtesy of The Multiverse Saga.

I would say that’s enough Marvel knowledge for one article but, to paraphrase Captain America, I really could do this all day.

Coronation Street airs Mondays to Fridays at 8:30pm on ITV1 or stream from 7am on ITVX and YouTube. Wonder Man is now streaming on Disney Plus.

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