Whether it’s Tom Hardy’s Venom making a cameo in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” or Morbius teasing a team-up with Michael Keaton’s Vulture for a sinister plan, Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and Sony’s Spider-Verse are clearly linked in some way. Also, to avoid confusion, we’ll be referring to the sections of the multiverse that have appeared in the MCU as the MCU’s multiverse and the area of the multiverse in which the “Venom” and the “Spider-Verse” films take place as the Spider-Verse collectively. As fans of both Marvel franchises, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed the multiversal adventures and cameos. However, we’re also thoroughly confused about how it all fits together.
Fans of the MCU might be tempted to say that Sony’s Spider-Verse is merely a pond within the wider ocean of the MCU’s multiverse. Sony fans may argue that the Spider-Verse has always been there before the MCU films started exploring the multiverse, which means the events in the MCU films are happening in the Spider-Verse. Which is the case? Well, fear not, for we’re here to untangle this web and figure out how exactly the Spider-Verse and the MCU’s multiverse are all connected.
Universes Apart
So it’s no secret that certain aspects of the Spider-Verse have collided with the MCU’s Earth-616. Besides Venom coming over and leaving his mark, we’ve also seen Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker make their way into Earth-616. With the revelation of the existence of the singular Sacred Timeline as shown at the end of the first season of “Loki”, does that mean that Garfield and Maguire’s Spider-Men are just two branches that came off the Sacred Timeline? Does this mean that before the MCU’s Sacred Timeline split apart into branching paths, there was no Spider-Verse? Well, it’s complicated, so let’s break it down.
According to the writer of “Loki,” Michael Waldron, during an interview with ScreenCrush, the Sacred Timeline isn’t a singular universe in a straight line with no variations. Otherwise, there would be no variants in “Loki”. Rather, the Sacred Timeline is a series of other timelines, which are also called universes, that vary in small, inconsequential ways but they have a “baseline”. The baseline is a status quo such as perhaps the assembling of some version of a team of superheroes, the emergence of a set of certain characters and most importantly, the absolute guarantee that He Who Remains comes into existence in every reality…and Kang doesn’t. Any variation that endangers the emergence of He Who Remains found in a timeline is immediately pruned from existence.
Sure Captain America could be Captain Carter but if a possible variant of Peter Quill starts running around with Infinity Stones and possibly creating enough chaos and variation, then nope. He’s toast. So to clear up the misconception, no the Sacred Timeline isn’t the end-all-be-all universe/timeline that fractured and became the multiverse. The multiverse has always existed, with timelines like strands that have been branching out all over the place. Think of the TVA as the rubberband that ties all these timelines into a bundle that follows a clear baseline and flows in a single direction.
Now, seeing that Spider-Man exists on Earth-616, it stands to reason that the existence of some version of Spider-Man is part of that baseline. Regardless of whether He Who Remains established the Sacred Timeline or not, there would have definitely been universes with a Spider-Man in some of them. So to answer the question: No, the universes from the Spider-Verse have always existed and were always going to come into existence. He Who Remains simply wanted to control all timelines, including the ones within the Spider-Verse, to have them all lead to his existence. Is it possible that his TVA may have pruned certain variants of Spider-Man? Sure it is but it doesn’t matter because he’s dead now. With He Who Remains murdered, the multiverse is going to need a new leader to establish a new baseline. Let’s meet him.
The Spider’s Status Quo
So if you’ve seen the second official trailer for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”, you may notice one particularly grumpy Spider-Man 2099 played by Oscar Isaac, Miguel O’Hara, going on a bit of a rant about Doctor Strange and the little nerd (Tom Holland’s Peter Parker) and how their actions screwed things up for the multiverse. Oh wait, but it gets better because Spider-Man 2099 then goes on to reference that particular universe as Earth-199999, which is huge! You see for the longest time, the main universe in the MCU has been designated as Earth-616, which is also the designation given to the main Marvel universe in the comics. It was a way to cement the status of the universe that most of the films take place in as the prime one.
So to have Miguel O’Hara refer to it by a different designation shows that whatever new multiversal status quo he’s trying to make, he doesn’t consider the MCU to be the main one. Also, whatever Tom Holland’s Spider-Man did to mess up the multiverse has apparently discounted him from being part of O’Hara’s Spider Society; Miles Morales also seems to be on his bad side as well. Why is he so upset? It’s because O’Hara, much like He Who Remains, wants order and stability within the multiverse. He probably feels that the best way to achieve that is with the baseline that if there’s a Spider-Man variant existing in one particular universe, they’re going to have to follow the tragic hero plot, learn sacrifice and save the day.
Now, he’s not a monster like He Who Remains going around pruning universes and killing variants that don’t fit into his baseline. He just wants to link up with all of them and ensure that they’re living out their destiny and not endangering the multiverse by destabilising it with too many crossovers. If the events of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” has taught us anything, is that when characters from one universe travel out of their native one into other universes, it either causes instability or an incursion event that destroys both universes.
That being said, it seems like Miguel O’Hara is perfectly fine with his baseline having other heroes, even variants of MCU characters, sharing the same reality as members of his Spider Society. There’s even a TV spot that sees Spider-Gwen cheekily calling O’Hara the Blue Panther with him sarcastically replying “That’s funny“. This implies that in Spider-Gwen’s world, there probably exists some version of the Black Panther running around and O’Hara is aware of that too!
Right, so we’ve established that no one franchise has a particular monopoly on the origin of the shared multiverse. Rather, there are periods in which individuals and organisations have tried to control and maintain order over a collection of universes for a time. He Who Remains tried to tie all realities down, presumably also the ones from the Spider-Verse, and failed. Now, it’s Miguel O’Hara’s turn to ensure the order of the multiverse with his Spider Society acting as watchdogs and protectors over every Earth that has a Spider-Man variant.
With that in mind, will Miles Morales’ story be forced to conform to Miguel O’Hara’s baseline? How does Miles Morales’s failure to adhere to the baseline threaten the stability of the multiverse? To find the answers to all these burning questions and more, you’re gonna have to swing over to a local theatre near you.
Be sure to catch “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” when it hits theatres on 1st June and be sure to join in our free ticket and merch giveaway as well!
