After the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, it’s not impossible for the Spider-Verse to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In fact, there’s a scene in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse where the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home were referenced.
So, what’s the MCU status of the Spider-Verse? Is the Spider-Verse part of the MCU?
The answer is no, the Spider-Verse is not connected to the MCU. Across the Spider-Verse co-director Kemp Powers said that the Spider-Verse is “not tied into the Marvel Cinematic Universe or anything like that.”
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Read at your own risk!
The MCU Easter Egg in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Explained
In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Miguel O’Hara, the leader of the Spider-Society, makes a reference to the events of No Way Home when he said “And don't even get me started on Doctor Strange and that little nerd on Earth-199999."
It can be recalled that in No Way Home, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker asked Doctor Strange to cast a spell that would make everyone forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
However, the spell got corrupted after Peter repeatedly asked for alterations. As a consequence of such, the corrupted spell opened the multiverse, which lead people from other universes to come to Earth-616.
Characters that arrived include the Spider-Man villains as well as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man.
Additionally, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s live-action versions of Spider-Man appear in archive footage when Miguel O’Hara explains to Miles Morales what “canon” events are and why they should not be disrupted.
Miguel explains that there are events that should happen to all Spider-Man, such as Uncle Ben’s death and the death of a Captain close to Spider-Man.
Footage of Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man crying over Captain Stacy’s death and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man during Uncle Ben’s death appear.
Additionally, a Venom universe (which is connected to the MCU after No Way Home) character, Mrs. Chen, appears in Across the Spider-Verse.
These references, cameos, and easter eggs in Across the Spider-Verse show that the Spider-Verse acknowledges the MCU, which leaves questions as to whether the Spider-Verse is canon to the MCU.
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Is Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Connected to the MCU?
In an interview with SFX (via Digital Spy), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse co-director Kemp Powers clarified that the Spider-Verse is not part of the MCU.
"The world of Miles Morales and Spider-Verse, it's not tied into the Marvel Cinematic Universe or anything like that. But this is a Lord and Miller film,” Powers said.
“We like to have a little bit of fun, we like to be a little bit meta and to acknowledge the world in which we are creating these stories. That's the best way to explain it," Powers explained.
Powers added "This isn't something where we did anything in conjunction with Marvel. Miles's universe, trust me, there's plenty to work with.”
This also answers the question as to whether the MCU’s universe is Earth-616 or Earth-199999. In the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (2008), Earth-199999 is designated as the universe of the MCU.
However, in Spider-Man: Far From Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the MCU’s universe is referred to as “Earth-616”.
But in Across the Spider-Verse, Miguel O’Hara calls the universe of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man “Earth-199999”.
But now that we know that the Spider-Verse is not connected to the MCU, the MCU’s universe remains to be Earth-616.
But just because the Spider-Verse is not part of the MCU, doesn’t mean we can’t expect more MCU easter eggs and cameos on the third Spider-Verse film, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
RELATED: Do Miles and Gwen End Up Together in Spider-Verse?
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters.
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