Five years before Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse hit theaters, its biggest plot twist may have already been teased by its predecessor. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the long-awaited sequel to the 2018 hit animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Both films have received high praise from fans and critics alike, and have had impressive results at the box office. One of the most impressive aspects of the Spider-Verse films is the astounding level of detail that went into both of them.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a game-changer in the field of animation that took four years and the efforts of 800 people to make. It introduced numerous Spider-Man variants and included Easter eggs and references that touched on all parts of Spider-Man’s expansive history. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse managed to up the ante by featuring six distinct animation styles and introducing even more Spider-Man variants than the first. As a result, the Spider-Verse films encourage fans to watch more than once to be able to catch all of the animation details, Spider-Man variants, and references. This is how fans managed to catch one incredibly clever detail in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ahead
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse foreshadowed the sequel’s twist
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s biggest twist is that Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) was never actually supposed to be his world’s Spider-Man on Earth-1610. He became a Spider-Man only after a radioactive spider from Earth-42 traveled through the multiverse to his world and bit him. This event changed the whole timeline of Earth-1610, eventually leading to the death of its original Spider-Man (Chris Pine) and Morales taking his place. But if Morales is an anomaly and was never meant to be a Spider-Man on Earth-1610, then who was he supposed to be?
We see one possibility of who Morales would’ve become at the end of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, when he is transported to Earth-42. On Earth-42, he discovers a bleak reality where Morales became the Prowler instead of Spider-Man. This might’ve been the original fate of the Miles Morales from Earth-1610, too.
Across social media, a detail has been circulating from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse that teases Morales’ Prowler twist. The scene occurs when Morales and his world’s Spider-Man meet for the first time. Both of their Spider-Man senses go a bit haywire as they realize they are alike in their powers. When Morales’ senses go off, we see them illustrated against a purple and green background, which are the colors of the Prowler, while Spider-Man’s are illustrated against a red and blue background. However, as they stare at each other, Morales’ colors gradually change to match Spider-Man’s red/blue scheme.
It seems that this was the moment that Morales’ fate changed. His original color scheme showed that he was meant to be his world’s Prowler. When he met Spider-Man, this kicked off the chain of events that would inevitably lead to Spider-Man’s death and Morales taking up his mantle. So, five years before Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse premiered, its predecessor had already subtly and cleverly teased Morales’ potential to become the Prowler and the anomaly that made him Spider-Man instead.
Not only is the foreshadowing quite clever, but it also has a lot of implications for the ending of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. One could argue that Earth-42’s grim reality exists because it lacks a radioactive spider. However, if the Morales of Earth-1610 was also meant to become the Prowler, it seems to imply that becoming the Prowler is the actual fate of every iteration of Miles Morales across the multiverse—and not just the result of timeline changes.
(featured image: Sony Pictures)
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