Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani just offered his thoughts on making a surprise appearance in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special on Disney+.
Nanjiani has been nothing but positive about his inclusion in the MCU since first appearing as Kingo in 2021’s Eternals, always being one to promote the franchise’s latest happenings. And while it’s still unknown when he’ll get to fully reprise his role in a future MCU project, he’s already set for a smaller appearance as Phase 4 comes to an end.
In Spring 2022, set photos from Southern California showed a poster of a movie featuring Nanjiani’s Kingo on the set of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, confirming his continuing run as a Bollywood movie star. The poster was seen outside of the real-world TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, which recovered nicely after the area was bombed during 2013’s Iron Man 3.
And now, with the Holiday Special officially available for the world to watch on Disney+, Nanjiani shared his own reaction to the unexpected MCU cameo.
Eternals Star Reacts to Guardians Holiday Cameo
Warning – The rest of this article contains spoilers for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special on Disney+ included two nods to Kumail Nanjiani’s Kingo, who first debuted in 2021’s Eternals.
When Mantis and Drax look for Kevin Bacon at the TCL Chinese Theater, fans can see a poster on the wall featuring Kingo in one of his Bollywood movies, titled Haxan’s Haxaner.
A couple of minutes later, the holiday spirit comes through with another Kingo poster for a movie called Kingo’s Kristmas, the poster for which can be seen outside of the bar that Drax and Mantis are in.
Following the special’s debut, Najiani took to Twitter to thank Marvel for including these two posters as Easter eggs on Disney+. Calling the project “very fun, funny, and extremely emotional,” the actor offered a special thanks to James Gunn for using the two Kingo posters:
“The new Guardians holiday special by James Gunn is lovely. Very fun, funny and extremely emotional. I loved it. And a special thanks to him for including posters for TWO Kingo projects in there.
Another MCU Nod to Kingo on Disney+
Considering how passionate Kumail Nanjiani is about his role in the MCU, it seems only fitting that he’s been seen so often outside of his only major Marvel project to date.
This is the second time Kingo has made a cameo in 2022 alone, as he was part of a discussion between Kamala Khan and Kamran during Episode 2 of Ms. Marvel as they got to know one another. That mention and this new cameo only reaffirm how big he is as a Bollywood star in the MCU, although nobody knows yet that he’s also one of the world’s oldest and most powerful superheroes.
On top of the cameo itself, seeing Nanjiani react to the posters shows once again how grateful he is to be a part of this expansive franchise. It also comes as a kind of full circle moment for him in his Marvel story, as he almost was cast in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in a different role before taking on the part of Kingo.
Now, while the Eternals’ next appearance is still up in the air, fans will continue to watch out for new Kingo posters in the Multiverse Saga’s upcoming projects that are a little more Earth-centric.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is now streaming on Disney+, as is Kumail Nanjiani’s work in Eternals.
