Every Into the Spider-Verse Easter Egg That Points Toward No Way Home and Across the Spider-Verse

One of the easiest Into the Spider-Verse Easter eggs to miss only made sense once No Way Home came out. In the spider cave scene at the midpoint of the film, several Spider-Man costumes hang on the wall, and one of them, first assumed to be a variation on the Iron Spider suit from Captain America: Civil War, also looks a lot like the Integrated Suit Peter wears in No Way Home.

Rewatching the film in 2021 after seeing No Way Home completely changed how I read that cave scene, and once you start looking, that wall of suits and the rest of the film turn out to be filled with references that only click with hindsight.

A Wall of Costumes Hides Comic and Game References

The cave is filled to the brim with suits, including the one from the PlayStation 4 and 5 game, which also appears in the end credits among a row of red suits. To the right of it is the black rubber suit Spider-Man used to fight Electro in the comics, and he wears something similar to take on Electro in No Way Home.

Miles also comes across a suit with a red cape, pulled from the story What If Spider-Man Had Never Become a Crime Fighter. That look got referenced in the What If...? zombie episode when Peter ends up wearing Strange's cape, and it also calls back to an earlier moment in this film, just after the bus trip, when Peter B Parker tells Miles that Spider-Man does not wear a cape because it is disrespectful.

Next to it is the stealth suit, introduced when Peter was evading the Spider Slayers, plus the Mark II suit. The cave also holds the Spider Buggy, which shows up again as a model in Miles's bedroom in Across the Spider-Verse, tying that film back to this one.

Gwen's Shoes and a Kept Bus Ticket Show Miles's Influence

In Across the Spider-Verse, Gwen wears sneakers instead of the ballet slippers she had on in Into the Spider-Verse, which perhaps shows that Miles's style rubbed off on her a bit.

Gwen also opens Miles's sketch pad to a picture of her, and on the left of that page you can catch a bus ticket from the Hudson Valley Express, the bus Miles took with Peter B Parker. It is a nice touch that he keeps it in his pad, since it clearly meant a lot to him.

The Post-Credits Scene Introduces Spider-Man 2099 and a Multiversal Bracelet

The post-credits scene has Oscar Isaac playing Spider-Man 2099, and we watch him get a bracelet that lets him travel through the multiverse into any dimension at will. That is somewhat similar to the quantum realm GPS introduced in Avengers: Endgame, since it lets him hop from reality to reality.

He ends up as Spider-Man 67, and the two have a pointing contest that references some of the best meme material ever.

That bracelet turned out to matter: in Across the Spider-Verse, Gwen wears it as she sits in Miles's room, carrying the device forward into the sequel.

Peter B Parker's Arc Was Foreshadowed Early, and His Healing Factor Shows in a Bruise

Peter B Parker is a massive character in the film, and he takes Miles to the grave of the Peter Parker from this universe. That moment was actually foreshadowed earlier: when Miles is about to start his Great Expectations essay, you can spot the cover of the book beside his pad, showing a man and a child in a graveyard, which mirrors Peter B meeting Miles later.

You can also catch Peter B's healing factor in full effect during the scene where he is tied to a punching bag. If you watch his eye throughout it, the bruising around it disappears over time, a small detail that shows just how much effort the animators put into each scene.

Doctor Octopus's Twist Still Winks at the Classic Villain

There is a big reveal that Doctor Octopus is a woman in this universe, but a slight nod is given to the 616 version, since during the lab scene there is a scientist who looks a lot like him. Maybe we all need to examine our own personal biases.

Kingpin's Collider Scene Points to Daredevil's Multiverse

The film culminates with the collider opening so Kingpin can come into contact with an alternate version of his family. We get several flashes of Vanessa and his son, and one of these looks a lot like Matt Murdock, suggesting that in one reality his kid is Daredevil.

There is also an African American version of the family, which could be a reference to the Michael Clarke Duncan version of the character, who played the villain in the Ben Affleck Daredevil movie.

There is also a moment where Kingpin and Miles fight on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, and the way that location looks makes it seem like it was pulled right out of the intro to the Netflix Daredevil show, which Kingpin was the main villain of.

This Earth Is Designated 1610, a Deep Cut for Ultimate Comics Fans

When the collider starts to activate, a screen shows that the Earth this movie takes place on is 1610. Fans of the Ultimate comics will know that is the designation that universe has. Ultimate Spider-Man is where Miles first appeared, before he was brought into the 616 timeline after the events of Secret Wars.

The Number 42 Keeps Appearing, and It's Not Hitchhiker's Guide

The number 42 shows up at several points in the film, and some fans assumed it was a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where 42 was said to be the meaning of life. Director Peter Ramsey shut that down quite quickly.

Ramsey stated it is actually a reference to Jackie Robinson, who also wore the number 42 as the first Black professional baseball player, and that Miles is "smashing racial barriers" the same way Robinson was.

The number turns up repeatedly: on the back of the spider that bites Miles during the opening title sequence, on the lottery ball that got Miles into Brooklyn Visions Academy, at the 42nd Street subway station when Peter Parker's death is announced, on a sign Miles knocks loose while falling off a building that drops the numbers four and two, and as the maximum occupancy listed on the bus Miles and Peter B ride together.

Two Versions of Peter Parker, Told Apart Through Small Details

The two Peters are pretty much polar opposites in personality. The one Miles first meets is finessed and practiced, while Peter B Parker is sloppier, more of a falling with style kind of guy, and that difference is reflected in their name badges, one looking brand new and the other crumpled and messy.

Later, Peter B and Miles go to a fast food place, and Peter B says that in his world this restaurant already shut down. The Peter Miles meets is slightly older than the one in Miles's universe, so Peter B is a couple of years ahead. In the restaurant you can notice they scored a C for hygiene, showing these places were slowly on the way out.

Uncle Aaron's House Hides the Prowler Reveal, a Donald Glover Injoke, and the Ending Sets Up a Year Later

Miles's uncle Aaron's house is filled with Easter eggs too. In his living room there is a picture hanging above the sofa, and if you look closely it seems to have the word Prowler written in graffiti, hinting at his identity as the villain.

This is one of my favorite Easter eggs in a movie ever: you can catch Community playing in the background on Aaron's television, in the scene where Donald Glover wears Spider-Man pajamas. Glover plays Aaron in this film, so it is a strange loop of Aaron watching a multiverse version of himself in a Spider-Man costume. In Homecoming, Glover's character also mentioned his nephew, who we now know is Miles.

Not long after, Miles talks to Gwen properly for the first time, and she stumbles over her own name, calling herself something that is not quite Gwen. That could point to a nexus being from the comics, someone who is exactly the same in every reality.

Miles's spider sense flashes green and purple, Aaron's colors, before shifting to blue and red like Peter's, showing that Miles is not going to be led into a life of crime by his uncle and will instead follow Peter's path. Later, Miles reaches the switch using the exact same climbing technique Peter used earlier, and while Gwen and Peter do not know where he learned it, we do. The film closes with Miles sitting in bed as Gwen arrives through another doorway, a scene we now know takes place a year after the main events of the film.

Which of these Easter eggs had you already caught before No Way Home came out, and which ones took you by surprise?