Canon event
Etymology
From Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), in which certain tragic "canon events" must occur in every Spider-Man’s life or their reality unravels. "Canon" is fandom’s word for what officially counts as part of a story. The phrase spread rapidly on TikTok that year, applied to ordinary coming-of-age misfortunes.
noun · /KAN-un ee-VENT/
A formative, often painful experience someone seems fated to go through — one you shouldn’t try to spare them.
What it names
It reframes a friend’s looming mistake as a necessary rite: the first bad relationship, the regrettable haircut, the job that teaches you to quit. The comic premise is that intervening would break their story, so you let the event happen because it makes them who they’re meant to be.
Example
I wanted to warn her about him, but my roommate said no, this is a canon event, let her live it.
Related idea
A relative of a rite of passage, but framed by inevitability — the joke is that you must not prevent it.