Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The King’s Man.
As a prequel to the iconic spy film series, The King’s Man features plenty of Easter eggs and references to the first two Kingsman movies. While Kingsman 3 and a slew of spinoffs have been announced by director Matthew Vaughn, The King’s Man is the first official standalone film of the franchise. Set approximately 100 years before Kingsman: The Secret Service, 2021's The King’s Man tells the origin story of the Kingsman spy ring, which includes the inception of plenty of gadgets, aliases, and phrases that would become heavily present in the organization later on.
Starring Ralph Fiennes as Orlando Oxford, The King’s Man's cast and characters follow the noble Duke, his son Conrad, and their employees Shola and Polly as they work to unfold an international alliance that has slyly orchestrated World War I. Amidst the international battles of World War I in which Conrad enlists to fight, Orlando must also use his familial connections with various heads of state to end the war while taking down the Scottish puppet master. Along with Polly and Shola connecting a ring of butlers and domestic workers around the world, The King’s Man reveals how the Oxford family worked to form an intricate group of underground spies and intelligence figures that aim to protect the world independent of government (though, considering a King, U.S. ambassador, and Duke are founding members, this motto for the Kingsman may be a stretch).
Although The King’s Man has received mixed reviews from critics due to its uneven tone, the prequel film still serves as an intriguing genesis story for the goofy spy franchise. Though no original characters cameoed in post-credits scenes or with direct setups for current film series, The King’s Man’s mid-credits clip does suggest a sequel to the prequel is in the works. Considering the spy franchise still has about 100 years' worth of missing action and storylines between The King’s Man and Kingsman: The Secret Service, there’s no shortage of plot connections and origins that can be further explored in a prequel series. As the first exploration of the spy organization’s beginnings, here’s a breakdown of every Easter egg and reference to the Kingsman movies in The King’s Man.
The Origin Of The Kingsman Headquarters
While the Kingsman films explain that the titular tailor became the secret headquarters for the spy agency back in World War I, The King’s Man reveals that their connection to the shop goes back even further. Orlando, Conrad, and Kitchener (Charles Dance) each frequent Kingsman Tailors to fit themselves with suits, revealing it was a shop that tailored to high-status men before involving itself with a spy ring. After forming his own Round Table at the end of The King’s Man movie, Ralph Fiennes’ character purchases Kingsman Tailor Shop as a front for the organization, thus explaining how the shop has been able to hide the Kingsman for over a century.
Kingsman’s King Arthur Codenames
The King’s Man’s opening scene flashbacks to 1902 in which Conrad’s mother and the Duke’s wife is tragically killed by a foe sniper. While waiting in the carriage, a young Conrad brings up his love for Arthurian legend as he speaks with Shola (Djimon Hounsou) about King Arthur’s Round Table, stating that Shola would be Merlin, which would later become his alias. In paying tribute to his departed son Conrad and the many references to the legends throughout the film, Orlando forms the Kingsman spy ring with Arthurian codenames for each founding member.
In The King’s Man, Polly is given the name Galahad, which would later be used in Kingsman by Eggsy and Harry; Archie Reed (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is named Lancelot, later used by Roxy in Kingsman; King George V is Percival, as will be the Kingsman agent who recruited Roxy; Stanley Tucci’s U.S. Ambassador is Bedivere; Shola originates the Merlin name that would be used by Mark Strong’s Hamish; and Duke Orlando is the first Arthur, later used by actor Michael Caine’s conniving Chester King.
The Statesman
While Britain is trying to recruit the United States to join the efforts in World War I, The King’s Man cuts several times to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson back in America, along with an unnamed U.S. ambassador. Whenever Wilson gets flustered, he yells for his butler to bring him a glass of Statesman on the rocks, which Kingsman fans will cleverly recall from Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Just how Kingsman Tailors is the front for the British independent spy agency, Statesman whiskey is the American front for the U.S. spy organization. The final scene of The King’s Man thus suggests that Stanely Tucci’s U.S. Ambassador character similarly founded Statesman as fronting their spy agency, as he becomes Bedivere at the final Round Table. Following Kingsman 2, Matthew Vaughn teased that a Statesman spinoff show was in the works, so the whiskey’s inclusion in The King’s Man is likely a nod to the upcoming movie.
Kingsman’s Skydiving Parachute Test
Along with the water-flooding test, the parachute trial in Kingsman is one of the best-remembered tasks that hopeful agents must pass. In Kingsman: The Secret Service, Eggsy and the other Kingsman candidates must parachute successfully after jumping from a plane while wearing parachutes, though one candidate will have a faulty pack. Eggsy and Roxy end up holding onto each other as they parachute down, using her pack to safely reach the ground. In The King’s Man, Orlando shows Shola a parachute before their major battle with Morton, which the Duke himself uses to land in no man’s land after flying himself over the target. The King's Man's World War I-era parachute errs in getting him on the land, and Orlando ends up stuck on the side of an icy mountain. It seems that one of the Kingsman’s most dangerous tests was inspired by Orlando’s near-death experience with a 1910s parachute model.
Harry's “Oxfords, Not Brogues” Line
One of the most iconic lines from the Kingsman series is “Oxfords, not Brogues,” which Harry remarks to Eggsy in the first film. In Kingsman, the line refers to the standard Oxford shoes that Kingsman agents wear, while Brogues are the decorative styles that can be placed on shoes. Brogues began as an outdoorsy style of men's footwear, thus less refined than the standard, formal business-attire style of the Oxfords, which makes sense for the gentlemanly sentiments of the Kingsman. The King’s Man's follow-up to Golden Circle references this line by adjusting it to “Oxfords, not rogues.” Similar to the Kingsman attitudes of refinery, Orlando quotes this to Conrad when explaining that they act properly like gentlemen as is expected by their titles given by their surname Oxford and that they mustn’t act like brutal, less-refined “rogues,” even in battle.
“Manners Maketh Man” Phrase
The phrase that would become an important aspect of training Kingsman spies was actually taken from The King’s Man’s villain, Morton. While fighting Ralph Fiennes’ character in the final battle scene, the Scottish villain repeats “Manners maketh man” while describing how a gentleman like Orlando should fight. Orlando kept to his gentlemanly battle style, and it seems that this sentiment was passed down through the next century of Kingsman spies. In Kingsman: The Secret Service, Harry tells Eggsy, “Manners maketh man” before taking down a group of foes in the pub. Although originated by The King’s Man’s Shepherd villain (Matthew Goode), “Manners maketh man” would become an attitude shared by agents to come.
Eggsy’s Bladed Shoes
In Kingsman, Eggsy memorably wears specialty bladed shoes while fighting with Gazelle, which are coated with poison on the blade. The King’s Man references this attire when Orlando is stuck on the side of the icy mountain. He originates the footwear weaponry when he stabs blades of his knives into the toes of each shoe, thus allowing himself to latch onto the ice and climb up the cliff with impromptu ice picks.