SPOILER ALERT: This article contains SPOILERS for ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’, so if you haven’t seen it all the way through, you may want to turn back.
By now, everyone should know to stay put after a Marvel movie, because there is always something else to be seen once the credits finish scrolling. That was certainly the case with ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘.
Unfortunately, many may not have grasped exactly what ‘Spider-Verse”s stinger meant. After the credits, the screen goes black, and the phrase “Meanwhile in Nueva York” appears. For deep-cut fans, that was tip-off enough to know what was coming next.
Viewers glimpsed a woman that appeared to be a scientist until it is revealed that she is a hologram of some sort. It is quickly established that the camera is a first person view of an unseen new male character. The female hologram, Lyla, is speaking to him and together they are discussing the fracturing of the wall between dimensions. Luckily, it seems that between them, Lyla and this person have created a watch-like device that will allow this man to jump between realities at will. He puts the “watch” on and the camera POV switches to a third person, revealing the identity of this mystery man.
This is where some may have gotten lost.
It turns out that this is Spider-Man 2099, a.k.a. Miguel O’Hara. This character was introduced as part of a futuristic imprint of Marvel Comics that began in 1992 and also included a futuristic version of Dr. Doom, the X-Men and more. In the year 2099, New York has become Nueva York. Although the 2099 comics wound up not doing very well, Spider-Man 2099 has retained something of a cult following and has been revisited many times since then.
When Lyla asks him which dimension he wants to visit first, Miguel answers that he wants to go back to where it all began, Earth-67. After that comes another in-joke/gag similar to those that permeated entire movie.
Earth-67 is numbered after the year 1967 when the first animated ‘Spider-Man’ TV series hit the airwaves. There are a number of Easter Eggs throughout the film that reference this cartoon, including its famous theme song.
The image above was lifted from the episode “Double Identity”, and has been turned into countless memes. As a nod to that strange pop culture phenomenon, the creators of ‘Spider-Verse’ tacked it onto the end of the movie but animated the figure of Spider-Man 2099 over the Spider-Man on the left (facing the camera).
The pair then begin bickering about each others’ identities and who pointed at whom first.
Miguel used the watch to visit this reality, and while it may seem like a throwaway gag, this will most likely play into the already-announced ‘Spider-Verse’ sequel. That is because Miguel is voiced by none other than Oscar Isaac. It’s unlikely that he would have been hired for this part just for this one scene. It’s more likely that he will have a big role in the sequel.
In the credits, Isaac is listed as simply “Interesting Person #1,” while Greta Lee, who voices Lyla, is listed as “Interesting Person #2′. Lee may be recognized from ‘Inside Amy Schumer’ or ‘Wayward Pines’ among other projects.
Now we just have to wait a few years to see what is in store for Spider-Man 2099 in the Spider-Verse.
‘Spider-Man: Inside the Spider-Verse’ is now playing in theaters.
Source: ComicBook.com
