This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Five years after the success of the groundbreaking and innovative Academy Award-winning animated superhero feature, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, the highly anticipated sequel has arrived with just as much ambition, emotion, and creativity as the plot of the first film. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse continues to build upon the stories of the series' protagonists, Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, along with old and new iterations of Spider-Man and their own expansive universe.
This sequel also branches out by establishing connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, proving this series can coexist with that massive franchise. Here are some of the MCU links depicted in the film.
Miguel O'Hara's line about Earth 199999
Miguel O'Hara aka Spider-Man 2099 (voiced by Oscar Isaac) is a new character in this series as a seriously humorless Spider-Man of Mexican and Irish descent who leads the Spider-Society (a unit filled with Spider-People from alternate universes ordered to protect and defend the Multiverse). Miguel is muscular with plenty of stamina, and a spidey suit that makes him look like a ninja vampire (which Gwen jokingly calls him).
There is a moment at the beginning of the film when Miguel first encounters Gwen on Earth-65. As Miguel introduces himself as he and Gwen are both fighting Vulture inside the Guggenheim Museum, he explains to her how her takedown of Kingpin and the collider from the first film left a big hole in the multiverse by causing villains to shift to other dimensions outside their own. Then, Miguel says "And don't even get me started on Doctor Strange and that little nerd back on Earth-199999!"
This quote is a direct reference to Doctor Strange and Tom Holland's Spider-Man in the MCU film Spider-Man: No Way Home, where Peter and Strange made a huge mess by rearranging the multiverse and bringing other Spider-Men and villains like Green Goblin into their world and scrambling several timelines. It is Miguel's responsibility to make sure every Spider-Man follows his or her timeline so that universes and dimensions aren't disrupted, or else it can lead to global catastrophe.
The MCU's branching timeline makes an appearance
One of the biggest moments in the film is Miles being introduced to the Spider-Society, meeting several versions of Spider-Man and Spider-Woman. When Miles encounters Miguel, he shows Miles a branching timeline (the spider-verse) that visually depicts each Spider-Man losing an Uncle Ben and/or a loved one, including when Miles lost his Uncle Aaron.
Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man is also shown when he emotionally witnesses the death of Dennis Leary's Captain Stacy, along with Tobey Maguire's iteration of the character losing Uncle Ben in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. Garfield and Maguire officially joined the MCU when their Spider-Men appeared alongside Tom Holland in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and referencing each of them shows that this animated series is also trying to bring together all the Spider-Man characters and the fascination of the multiverse.
The purpose of Miguel showing Miles the timeline is to prove the point that each Spider-Man is supposed to go through his or her own journey, even when they all lose a loved one in order to pursue their heroic endeavors. However, Miles disagrees and grows frustrated when he learns that his own father is now expected to die, forcing him to make a tough decision: follow the Spider-Society or go his own way.
Donald Glover's cameo confirms MCU's Miles Morales
Donald Glover makes a surprise cameo as an alternate version of Aaron Davis aka Prowler (who made his initial appearance in the MCU feature, Spider-Man: Homecoming). When Miles is introduced to the Spider Society, he sees several anomalies locked in red laser cages. These anomalies are villains and various characters that Gwen, Spider-Punk, and other Spidey heroes had to take down because they were encountered in the wrong universe. Mysterio, Typeface, a rhino, and some familiar video game guys are among the anomalies held imprisoned.
Miles looks at Donald Glover's Prowler for a few seconds. Prowler is dressed in a cool, Black Panther-like outfit with claws, and politely tells Miles that "it's rude to stare." Glover's brief but intriguing cameo looks like just a flashy appearance, but it may signify more than meets the eye. A fan campaign in 2010 argued that Glover should be the next live-action Spider-Man, but the role would ultimately go to Andrew Garfield in Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man.
However, Glover would go on to voice Miles Morales in Disney XD's 2015 animated series, Ultimate Spider-Man, and then join the MCU when he portrayed Aaron Davis the arms dealer in Spider-Man: Homecoming. While Aaron Davis/Prowler was voiced by Mahershala Ali in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, this cameo may signify that Glover intends to portray Prowler in the future considering that Sony is currently developing a live-action Spider-Man film centered on Miles Morales.
All the film's references to the MCU, the multiverse, the various iterations of Spider-Man, and the villains associated with the hero, are all brought together to create a more expansive world in this animated series. Perhaps these Spider-Verse films will transition to the MCU and the next live-action Spider-Man films to make the case that Spider-Man is about more than just one hero. Spider-Man is a diverse community of heroes who all struggle to balance their personal lives and their heroism, and they have to suffer tremendous obstacles to succeed. Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will determine the fate of these heroes and where the franchise could potentially go next.
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is in theaters now.