The Marvel Star Trek Crossover Everyone Forgets
Marvel didn’t really invent the whole “cinematic universe” thing, but they have built an empire of films and TV shows by perfecting it. This has led to other franchises biting their style, including Star Trek, which is attempting to turn its NuTrek Paramount+ shows into an interconnected world where even the animated Lower Decks can cross over with the live-action Strange New Worlds. However, there was one occasion when Marvel and Star Trek effectively crossed over that everyone forgets: when future Discovery star Anthony Rapp met Thor in Adventures in Babysitting.
One of the other kids who gets caught up in the titular adventures in babysitting is a young Anthony Rapp, the talented actor who would later play prickly engineer Paul Stamets on Star Trek: Discovery.
Adventures in Babysitting is the first film from future Home Alone and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone director Chris Columbus. It involves a babysitter getting caught in a madcap adventure with her young charges, including a young girl who really loves the Marvel comic hero Thor (she wears his helmet for most of the film).
Her affection for the character culminates in a scene where she mistakes a muscular blonde mechanic for Thor. Adorably, when she tries to give him her helmet, he tells her (perhaps because he is playing along, or perhaps because he is secretly Asgardian) that he has one at home.
Take a closer look at who is wielding the hammer: that is Vincent D’Onofrio, who would later be cast as the Kingpin and appear in shows like Daredevil and, most recently, Echo.
It’s a cute scene that reminds us how pervasive Marvel was throughout pop culture well before the MCU debuted in 2008. Where, though, does the Star Trek connection come into play? Simple: one of the other kids who gets caught up in the titular adventures in babysitting is a young Anthony Rapp, the talented actor who would later play prickly engineer Paul Stamets on Star Trek: Discovery.
As film lovers, we firmly believe everyone should watch Adventures in Babysitting. It’s heartwarming without being overly cloying, and each scene is inexplicably more memorable than the one before. However, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans in particular owe it to themselves to watch this scene for more than just the brief appearance of Thor. Take a closer look at who is wielding the hammer: that is Vincent D’Onofrio, who would later be cast as the Kingpin and appear in shows like Daredevil and, most recently, Echo.
Here’s hoping that we see a Thor helmet in the background of Anthony Rapp’s character Paul Stamets’ quarters when Discovery returns for its fifth and final season on April 4.
While some purists might chide that this isn’t a “real” Marvel/Star Trek crossover, we’ll remind everyone that this awesome scene is much better and infinitely less embarrassing than the most infamous of the real crossovers.
Previously, there were two different Marvel comics in which Star Trek crews (from The Original Series and The Next Generation, respectively) met with the X-Men. This culminated in the novel Planet X, which had fun pointing out how similar Xavier and Picard looked (Patrick Stewart had not yet been cast to play Xavier onscreen) and hinted that Picard might want to display his Horga’hn mating statue when sexy Storm was around.
Long story not very short, crossovers between Marvel and Star Trek have historically been insane, and we’re deeply unlikely to ever see an onscreen collaboration between NuTrek and the MCU. Fortunately, we’ll always have Adventures in Babysitting, a film that accidentally brought these two worlds together in the most entertaining way. Here’s hoping that we see a Thor helmet in the background of Anthony Rapp’s character Paul Stamets’ quarters when Discovery returns for its fifth and final season on April 4.
