It's debatable if Black Clover: Sword of The Wizard King is canon, but there are many tie-ins to the Black Clover manga in Netflix's new movie.

Warning: Spoilers for Black Clover: Sword Of The Wizard KingNetflix's Black Clover: Sword Of The Wizard King movie features many tie-ins to Yuki Tabata's ongoing manga. Although Netflix announced that the film isn't canon, this is contradicted by the fact that there are events from the manga that clearly influenced its overall storyline, which is set before Asta and the Black Bulls' journey into the Heart Kingdom. It would be more correct to say that Sword of the Wizard King is a standalone story that doesn't affect future events in the manga, but that does not mean that there are no tie-ins.

In the movie's first scene, Asta is unable to participate in a tournament since he's been exiled as a result of events in chapter #219. He manages to take part, however, by registering with a false name and wearing a mask. While this is a direct tie-in to the manga, the discrepancy is that even after Asta gets exiled in the manga, he's able to move around the kingdom freely to get his affairs in order before leaving. And when he does leave, he travels much too far to the Heart Kingdom to freely move back and forth. Moreover, the Black Bulls aren't exiled in the movie unlike in the manga, where they shared the same fate as Asta.

Many of the Black Clover Movie Tie-Ins Aren't Problematic

But not all tie-ins are retcons. The most exciting one references the Devil Skeleton in Hage that the anime always referenced at the beginning of every episode. By chapter #205, however, the mystery of the Devil Skeleton was already fully explained, which even resulted in the first Wizard King getting resurrected and Nero transforming from a bird into her original human form. However, the skull ends up becoming a major site in the movie.

Another tie-in references the time when Licht stabbed and killed Julius. As Julius explained in chapter #215, he was able to avoid death by depending on Time Magic he had stored into his forehead to rewind him to an earlier time in his life in the event he would have to avoid an unpleasant development, such as this one. Because Julius was rewound to a moment when his magic was much weaker, the spell that Julius had cast 10 years earlier to seal the movie's big bad Conrad was weakened, allowing Conrad to escape.

The Sword of the Wizard King Mirrors Current Events in the Black Clover Manga

The movie also mirrors ongoing events in the manga in a pleasing way. In the movie, for example, Conrad is a former Wizard King who's trying to create a more equal world just like Lucius Zogratis, who shares the body of the current Wizard King, is doing in the manga. The difference is that Conrad's vision is contingent on destroying everything while Lucius is manipulating the souls of people to transform them into his vision of perfection. The film also flips Asta's relationship with each Wizard King. In the manga, Lucius sees Asta's imperfections as a stain that needs to be eliminated in order for his new world to be truly equal. Meanwhile, Conrad views him and Asta as similar souls who even share the same mantra on what their special type of magic is.

Considering the revelation of the current Wizard King as the final villain of Black Clover's story, the timing of the film's release couldn't have come at a better time. While the events of Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King have been declared as non-canon, fans of the series will still find plenty of satisfying tie-ins with the ongoing manga.

Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King is streaming on Netflix.