Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has just made more than a few connections to the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse, which is cause for fans of the Spider-Man film franchise to celebrate. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is partially to blame for the current widespread trend in the film industry of telling stories in multiple universes simultaneously. To say that Sony’s experiment was a success would be a massive understatement; the animated feature debut of the Friendly Neighbor Spider-Man brought together multiple iterations of the beloved character for the first time on the big screen.
Critics worldwide have almost unanimously concluded that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is more than just a good Spider-Man movie. This may be the best Spider-Man movie that’s ever been made. Viewers felt the same way because the movie grossed more than four times its original budget at box offices worldwide. If that incredible success wasn’t enough, things only got better for the hit film when Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a first for a film based on Marvel Comics. The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was presented to Peter Ramsey and his team for their work on the film. It is not surprising that Sony moved quickly to begin production on a sequel and even incorporated multiverse storylines into their other films, such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, given the magnitude of the film’s success. Sony’s biggest competitors, Marvel Studios and DC Studios, also decided it was time for them to get on the multiverse bandwagon. Marvel Studios named their latest batch of content “The Multiverse Saga,” and DC Studios expanded on DC’s Elseworlds with The Flash. Sony decided it was time for them to get on the multiverse bandwagon.
The scope of the multiverse is expanding with the advent of the film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which is already being hailed as an excellent continuation of the Spider-Verse trilogy. The sequel has more than a few connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and to the other live-action Marvel movies that Sony distributes. How many, you ask? Find out more by reading down below.
Brief Conversation with Mrs. Chen from ‘Venom’
The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), who blames Miles Morales (Shamiek Moore) for turning him into a freak, is the next major threat the multiverse will face. He has sworn revenge against Miles Morales. To accomplish this, he plans to use his newly acquired dimension-hopping abilities to amass as much power as possible to destroy everything that Spider-Man cares about. When testing this theory for the first time, Spot hops into a couple of different universes, the first of which is the cell-shaded 1930s universe from the original Spider-Man comics. The second is a universe made entirely out of LEGO bricks. Both of these universes serve as test beds for the theory.
The third location that Spot travels to is that of Sony’s villainverse, which includes the films starring Venom and Morbius and the upcoming film Kraven the Hunter. Spot does not have a chance encounter with Eddie Brock or Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), but he does initiate a conversation with Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu), the store proprietor that Eddie Brock frequently visits. The sequence begins with Mrs. Chen giving the impression that she is unimpressed by the obnoxious man who has just teleported into her reality.
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Return to the Marvel Multiverse
Both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s interpretations of Peter Parker are considered to be canonical members of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as of their appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Many people believed their stories had concluded after appearing in Tom Holland’s third Spider-Man film; however, Across the Spider-Verse demonstrates that they continue to play an important role in the Spider-Man universe.
Even though we don’t get any brand new footage from them, we get to see them again during some significant moments in their lives, which Spider-Man 2099 refers to as “canon events.” We witness the heartbreaking final moments of Andrew Garfield’s relationship with Captain George Stacy, played by Denis Leary. Shortly after Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) is shot, we glimpse Tobey Maguire as he consoles the man as he passes away. Their contributions to this point in the Spider-Verse films have been relatively minor, but the fact that they are there is still very exciting.
Will We See Miles and His Amazing Friends Come to the MCU?
Since the Spider-Verse trilogy is not directly involved with Marvel Studios, it is primarily considered to exist outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). However, considering the Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently in its Multiverse Saga, a partnership between Marvel Studios and Sony sounds somewhat out of the question. In addition, we know that Miles is a character in the MCU, as stated earlier, and he could very well appear in another film. Even more encouraging is that Sony producer Amy Pascal has hinted that a project involving a live-action Miles Morales is currently in the works at the company. It is currently unknown whether this Miles comes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Spider-Verse, or is an entirely new Miles altogether. Even so, the possibility that this much-loved audience character will soon be brought to life is very exciting.
