Across the Spider-Verse: The Hidden Easter Eggs, Canon Event Secrets and Spider-Punk's Dangerous Endgame

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse hides its secrets from the very first second: a cough over the production credits, logos that morph into classic comic covers, and a tiny pair of tweezers that seemingly picks up the Earth 42 spider that bit Miles Morales. This breakdown comes from MT, who joined me for another Marvel deep dive, and his reading of the film runs from those opening credits all the way to a theory about Spider-Punk ending the trilogy.

Later in this piece, MT also lays out why he thought, as of August 2023, that Spider-Punk would most likely end up becoming the most dangerous person to the spider-verse in the sequel.

Christopher Miller's cough and the comic cover logos open Across the Spider-Verse

As the production credits roll, a mysterious cough can be heard. It belongs to Christopher Miller, one of the writers and producers. Miller and Phil Lord have been sneaking his cough into the start of their films since 22 Jump Street, so it also turns up in Into the Spider-Verse and The Mitchells vs. the Machines.

The Sony Pictures Animation logo then glitches through the design styles of popular Spider-Man comics. One appears to reference Miles Morales' Ultimate Spider-Man comics, one looks like a 1993 Julia Carpenter Spider-Woman logo, one resembles an early Spider-Man cover, one looks like the cover of Secret Wars number 8, and one nods to The Amazing Spider-Man 300, the first appearance of Venom. MT called it "a super subtle but nice touch by the animation team for hardcore comic book fans to appreciate."

Just like the first film, the sequel shows the Comics Code Authority stamp before any action. The Code was established in 1954 to monitor comic books reaching children, policing content like horror, violence and anything deemed racy. MT was thrilled the joke returned because it shows everyone involved wanted this film to feel like a Marvel comic in motion, like opening a new issue complete with editor's note boxes.

The opening montage quietly reveals the Spot took the Earth 42 spider

As Gwen drums out her frustrations with the Mary Janes, the film flashes through key moments from Into the Spider-Verse alongside glimpses of what is to come: Gwen first seeing Spider-Man 2099, Captain Stacy pointing a gun at his daughter, Miguel teaching Miles about canon events, Gwen being sent away in the go home machine, and Gwen watching Miles' parents at the end.

The easily missed detail is that somebody seemingly uses tweezers to pick up the Earth 42 spider that bit Miles. That somebody turns out to be Dr. Jonathan Ohnn, the Spot, since the same dead spider sits in his collection of multiversal spiders later on. The collection also includes spiders from Earth 19725, Earth 90214, a different spider from Peni Parker's Earth 14512, and one from Earth 333 that seemingly escaped.

His apartment also carries a multiversal phone number, 1917 1610 616. The 1 is the North American code, 917 is a New York City area code, and 1610 and 616 refer to Miles' home universe and Peter B. Parker's.

Earth 65 opens as a direct tribute to Spider-Gwen's first comic

The story begins on Earth 65, with the number referencing 1965, the year Gwen Stacy first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man 31. Her band, the Mary Janes, is made up of three women from Peter Parker's comic life: Mary Jane Watson on vocals, Betty Brant on piano and Gloria Grant on guitar. Both Betty and Gloria have worked as Jameson's secretaries at the Daily Bugle.

When a bandmate calls Gwen "deaf leopard" for drumming absentmindedly, it is a nod to the rock band Def Leppard and also exactly what happens in Gwen's first appearance in 2014's Edge of the Spider-Verse number 2, which opens with the same band scene and flashbacks. MT thought starting the sequel this way was extremely clever.

He also has a personal attachment to Earth 65's watercolour style. Robbi Rodriguez's cover art for Spider-Gwen's first solo issues led him to buy his first Marvel comic as an adult in 2015, and seeing that art brought to life was deeply satisfying for him. He points to the film using red for people Gwen resents, first the Mary Janes and then Captain Stacy, while Gwen is painted blue to show loneliness and powerlessness fuelling her coldness. He especially appreciated the splash of purple when Gwen hugs her dad, the two conflicting colours coming together.

Gwen's flashback mirrors The Amazing Spider-Man and her comic origin

The Stacy family dinner, where Captain Stacy and Peter disagree about the masked vigilante, bears a lot of similarities to the dinner scene in The Amazing Spider-Man. Ned Leeds then bullies Peter, pushing him to take the lizard serum, which strongly mirrors Earth 65's comic origin. MT noted that this is a big change from the MCU Ned who promised never to hurt Peter, though Ned's comic history as the Hobgoblin makes him being at odds with Peter seem more likely across the multiverse. He also found Peter wanting to see Spider-Woman's face before dying sad, as it reminded him of Insomniac's Aunt May wanting to see Peter's face.

J.K. Simmons returns as J. Jonah Jameson, making this the third version of the character he has played on film. In Gwen's room, a frame reading "need more punk" hints at her love of punk and foreshadows her stay with Spider-Punk, while a poster reading "protect trans kids" reflects her compassion, with the trans flag colours matching her suit. Captain Stacy wears a faded Visions Academy gymnastics shirt, which MT saw as a sign of how much he supports his daughter.

The Renaissance Vulture points back to the super collider and No Way Home

Gwen faces a Vulture from a Leonardo da Vinci style universe, the Italian Renaissance version of Adrian Toomes, whose look was apparently inspired by da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus. Given Toomes' love of inventing in the comics, MT called the design an insanely clever choice. The file Captain Stacy reads shows a faithful version of Earth 65's own Toomes, the first villain Spider-Gwen fought in her solo series.

Miguel later explains this variant arrived because of the super collider explosion at the end of Into the Spider-Verse, which tore holes in the spider-verse. Because Miguel mentions MCU Spider-Man and Doctor Strange by name, MT thought it looked very likely that this Vulture, along with prisoners like the MCU Prowler, fell into those holes after Doctor Strange's final spell. He suggested that would also explain why the MCU Vulture ended up in Sony's Venom universe.

Miguel O'Hara's genetics explain why he built Spider Society

Gwen mocks Miguel as the blue panther, the caped blue crusader, dark Garfield and Macho Libre. MT joked about his cape: "why even have the cape if you are never going to wear it." In 1992's Spider-Man 2099 number 1, Miguel is a genetic scientist at Alchemax whose coworker tries to kill him by overloading a machine meant to graft spider DNA onto human DNA. He gains a spider's strength and agility, sharp teeth and retractable talons, and MT read his teeth bared at the Vulture as a direct reference to the final page of that first issue.

MT argued that Miguel's genetics expertise is the main reason he formed Spider Society, since DNA is needed to find variants. That know-how let him build the watches and the go home machine that locks onto Miles' spider's genetic signature. In the film he appears to mainly use futuristic web shooters, whose webs apparently zigzag like Darkseid's Omega beams. Miguel also lacks a spider sense, missing the Vulture's attack that Gwen saw coming. MT guessed this is likely tied to getting spider DNA from a machine rather than a bite.

Lyla, his AI, stands for Lightwave Lifeform Approximation in the comics. Her movie design differs from her Marilyn Monroe inspired comic look, but she shares a very human personality, calling backup behind Miguel's back. Fans online apparently discovered that Lyla's teasing animation differs between versions of the film, with one showing a bunny ears selfie filter. Sony appears to have released several very slightly different versions to theaters, and one Reddit user has compiled a list of the differences.

Jessica Drew's pregnant Spider-Woman says anybody can wear the mask

Backup arrives as a heavily pregnant Jessica Drew, voiced by Issa Rae, a hero Gwen looks up to the way Miles looked up to both Peters. Jessica first appeared as Spider-Woman in 1977, but her design appears heavily inspired by Valerie the Librarian, who wore the mantle in 1974's Spidey Super Stories number 1. Her pregnancy is inspired by the iconic 2015 Spider-Woman run, and MT saw a black, pregnant Spider-Woman as spectacular representation that drives home that anybody can wear the mask.

Gwen's reveal to her father, followed by her recruitment, mirrors Edge of the Spider-Verse number 2, where Spider-UK recruits her. MT believed Captain Stacy turning half red and half blue shows him beginning to understand his daughter, and he praised the background paint seeming to cry and bleed as her father points a gun at her.

The Spot is a wronged scientist with a real grievance against Miles

On Earth 1610, judging by the convenience store camera, it is Tuesday July 11 2023, two years after the first film, and Miles has fought Hammerhead, Beetle and Grizzly. The Spot, introduced in 1985's Spectacular Spider-Man 98, is so ridiculous that Peter's first reaction in the comics was to laugh at him, just as Miles mocks him here.

Jonathan was fired from Alchemax after the collider explosion covered him in spots. His messy apartment and Breakthrough of the Year award convinced MT he loved and excelled at his work. According to co director Justin K. Thompson, the collider's science was all Jonathan, who was obsessed with dark matter as a path through the multiverse, the same subject Miles pitches to his parents about Princeton. MT suggested that in another universe Miles would probably look up to him. Instead, Olivia Octavius took most of the credit. When the Spot mentions needing more dark energy, MT linked it to the Tesseract, which What If episode 1 tied to multiversal travel.

Spider-Punk's colours, powers and plan make him the trilogy's wild card

On Earth 5101, Mumbattan blends Mumbai and Manhattan in a style matching 1970s Indrajal Comics. Pavitr Prabhakar, Spider-Man for around six months, dates Gayatri, daughter of police captain Singh, and is close with Hobie Brown, whom MT called "the single most interesting character in this beautiful movie." Hobie appears to lose colour and turn black and white when angry, as he does around Miguel. Hobie first appeared in 1969's Amazing Spider-Man 78 as the Prowler before becoming Spider-Punk in 2014, and his world draws on the London punk scene. According to Kemp Powers, he lives on a canal boat.

Spider-Punk appears to share Miles' bioelectric powers, coaching him to use his whole palm on force fields, which implies he was likely bitten by a variant of the same spider and powers his guitar. MT believed the fingertips versus whole hand contrast symbolises restraint against aggression. He saw Miguel's spider cops as like the TVA in Loki and, as of August 2023, thought Spider-Punk would most likely become the most dangerous person to the spider-verse, possibly going to the end of time to kill whatever Great Weaver writes everyone's fates, as Sylvie killed He Who Remains. "Hobie Brown is built different," MT said, pointing to him executing President Osborn in 2015's Spider-Verse number 2.

The poly multiverse, the anomaly prison and the canon events

Miguel calls the spider-verse the arachnohumanoid poly multiverse, which MT took as confirmation that there are separate multiverses. He theorised the spider-verse is Sony's own, explaining why there is no TVA there, and that Doctor Strange's spell accidentally sent MCU characters like Michael Keaton's Vulture and Donald Glover's Prowler across. Miguel's prison includes Insomniac's Spider-Man, an Atari Green Goblin and Videoman, who could possibly explain how Insomniac's hero got there, since Ganke plays Spider-Man on PS5.

Miles meets Margo Kess's Spider-Byte, whose spider sense appears to share a mysterious connection with his, and Mayday Parker, who already has powers unlike her comic version from 1997's What If 105. Canon event ASM 90 refers to Captain Stacy's death, shown with The Spectacular Spider-Man's Captain Stacy dying for the first time. MT suggested others might follow suit: ASM 50 for Spider-Man No More, ASM 33 for the trapped hero, Annual 21 for the wedding, and AF 15 for Uncle Ben.

Familiar cameos and the Earth 42 setup

Most of the spider people are original, but familiar faces include Ben Reilly voiced by Andy Samberg, Spider-Man Unlimited, Bag-Man, Lego Spider-Man, Superior Spider-Man, a Spider-Man voiced by Metro Boomin, Spinneret alongside Spiderling, Spider-Rex, the 1967 animated Spider-Man, and armored Spider-Man suits. The first film's gang joins Gwen's resistance, with Peni's new mech closer to her comic design.

On Earth 42, according to Thompson, the Sinister Six took over because Miles G. Morales was never bitten, forcing him and Uncle Aaron to fight as Prowlers. MT expected Beyond the Spider-Verse would likely see Miles team with both of them.

Do you think Spider-Punk will turn out to be the biggest threat to Miguel's spider-verse?