Shared universes are all the rage in movies and have been long before Marvel stepped up to the plate. Sure, their Cinematic Universe has revolutionised blockbuster cinema, providing a new franchise model that other studios with superhero rights are keen to replicated, but long before Nick Fury swung by Tony Stark's pad late one night, film-makers have been having purposeful links between their films. The king of this has to be Quentin Tarantino. What started off as a little name drop in Pulp Fiction (Vince Vega is the brother of Reservoir Dogs' Mr Blonde) has become a definitive part of the director's filmography. There's way too many to list here, as evidenced by this whopping article that brings together all these references. Tarantino's contemporary, Kevin Smith, has likewise created his own universe, starting with Clerks and running through to its bleated sequel. The Askewniverse is particularly interesting because on top of having all of Smith's early movies linked, it also contains the Scream series; in a strange crossover Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back and Scream 3 see the stoner heroes visit the set of Stab 3, the in-world adaptation of the events of the horror series events. These are all intended as part of the world by those involved. Today we're going to look at something slightly different, where it's the fans who have read extra meaning into in-jokes or recurring elements to create their own shared universes, some convincing, some flat-out bonkers.
