(This post contains some big spoilers for “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” obviously)
The live-action “Spider-Man: Far From Home” may be about to dominate the box office, but right now thanks to Netflix millions of folks are being exposed to the absolute brilliance of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Yeah, yeah, “Spider-Verse” isn’t part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it rules just as hard as any MCU movie, and it’s got a teamup of Spider-Folks that rivals any MCU ensemble.
But if you thought the seven Spider-People who participate in the plot in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” — Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), Peter Parker (Chris Pine), Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage) and Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) — represented the full breadth of the Spider-Verse, well, you are sorely mistaken.
The post-credits scene for “Into the Spider-Verse” introduces us to another important Spider-Man from the comics, and also visits a past small screen incarnation of Peter Parker. And it feels pretty likely that should “Spider-Verse” get a sequel, that one of these other Spider-Men will be a part of it.
That bonus Spider-Man is Miguel O’Hara, better known to fans of his comics as Spider-Man 2099. Miguel is from a version of New York dubbed Nueva York and his origin story involves a career working at Alchemax — the company responsible for all the stuff that happened in “Into the Spider-Verse.” Miguel, from his lofty perch in the distant future, has been monitoring the whole Spider-Verse situation as it went down, and once it all ends decides to dabble a little bit by doing some multiverse traveling of his own
And he pays a visit to none other than the Spider-Man from the 1967 animated series, where he stumbles into the meme in which two identical Spider-Men are pointing at each other. You know what I’m talking about. This one:
You didn’t think a movie about a bunch of alternate universe Spider-People would avoid that joke, did you? It’s a hilarious bit that initially feels like just a fun throwaway gag until you discover that none other than Oscar Isaac is providing the voice for Miguel O’Hara.
Given that star power, it’s tough not to assume that Spider-Man 2099 will have a part to play in any potential “Spider-Verse” sequels — one has already been greenlit, actually. So for those who, like me, were mildly disappointed that Miguel missed out on the bulk of the shenanigans this time around, that post-credits scene provides an enticing prospect. Though, to be clear, we still don’t know for sure that Spider-Man 2099 be in the next “Spider-Verse” film. But we can’t help but hope, either way.