Summary

• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is packed with Easter eggs, multiple Spider-Men, and references that fans of all ages will love.
• The opening credits feature an audible cough and visual cue from writer/producer Chris Miller, continuing a running gag in their movies.
• Spider-Gwen’s room features a trans flag, hinting at the possibility that she may be trans, while also confirming her as an ally.

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Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has a massive amount of Easter eggs and a literal army of different Spider-Men from multiple realities. As Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) enters the vast Spider-Verse for the first time, he meets several different Spider-People seen in the original comics, games, and more. Likewise, there are so many amazing and spectacular references Spider-Man fans of all ages will absolutely love.

In Across the Spider-Verse, Miles learns about his true place in the multiverse in a sea of countless versions of Spider-Man. Encouraged by his parents to forge his own path, Miles does exactly that when he ends up at odds with the vast majority of these Spider-Verse heroes who’ve formed a formidable Spider Society. Here are all of the most prominent new heroes, Easter eggs, and Spider-Cameos we’ve managed to spot in Across the Spider-Verse.

Related: Across The Spider-Verse Ending Explained: Miles Morales Shocker & What It Means

79 Coughing During Across The Spider-Verse Opening Logos

Eagle-eyed viewers will notice an audible cough paired with a visual “cough!” text at the very beginning of Across the Spider-Verse’s opening credits. As revealed in April of 2023, the cough belongs to writer/producer Chris Miller. Having originally coughed during the audio mix for Phil Lord and Miller’s 21 Jump St., the cough has been added to nearly every movie they’ve done since as a running gag. However, the visual cue seems to be a new addition for Across the Spider-Verse.

78 “Let’s Do Things Differently” (Spider-Gwen’s Story)

In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, every new version of Spider-Man was introduced with personal origin narration beginning with, “Let’s do this one last time”. However, Across the Spider-Verse shifts gears with a deeper dive into Spider-Gwen’s past and present with the opener: “Let’s do things differently”.

77 Spider-Gwen’s Trans Flag And Color Scheme

Featured in Gwen’s room on Earth-65 is the trans flag that says “Protect Trans Kids”. Combined with the similar color schemes of Gwen’s world, some have come to believe that Across the Spider-Verse is hinting that Spider-Gwen herself might be trans. While that hasn’t been confirmed, she’s at the very least confirmed to be an ally.

76 J.K Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson

Featured multiple times across a few different realities, J. Jonah Jameson was there to report on Spider-Man (or Spider-Woman) being a menace. Likewise, it’s wonderful that actor J.K Simmons playing and/or voicing JJJ is apparently a multiversal constant. While there was fresh dialogue from Simmons, the LEGO universe hilariously featured dialogue from Simmons’ first outing as Jameson in the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man trilogy.

75 Doctor Strange and the Nerdy Kid From Earth-199999 (MCU)

Confirming that Kingpin and his super collider created a massive hole in the multiverse, Spider-Man 2099 also referred to “Doctor Strange and that nerdy kid from Earth-199999”, a reference to the MCU and the events seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Unfortunately, this is the only reference to Tom Holland’s Webslinger, though perhaps there’s hope for an appearance in Beyond the Spider-Verse.

74 Across The Spider-Verse’s Real-Life Cameos

Across The Spider-Verse contains a series of appearances from real-life people involved in the creation of the movie throughout its runtime:

• To begin with, Spot crashes into a table near directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson.
• When Spider-Man and Spot are having the foam fight, Pam Marsden (Head of Physical Production at Sony Pictures Animation) as well as Kristine Belston (President of Sony Pictures Animation) are in the background.
• Michelle Grady (Executive Vice President and General Manager at Sony Pictures Imageworks) is shown in the foreground during one of Miles’ spider-traversal scenes.
• Bob Persichetti (Executive Producer) and Alan Hawkins (Head of Character Animation) are near Miles as he carries cakes on the subway.
• Alan Hawkins is also on the money that Spot is shown trying to steal with his powers.
• Visual Development Artist Jay Thankur reveals one of the billboards in Mumbattan is his girlfriend in the digital movie bonus content.

73 Hammerspace (Spider-Ham)

During Spider-Gwen’s battle with a Da Vinci-themed Vulture from another universe, she gets help from Spider-Man 2099 and Jessica Drew’s Spider-Woman. When 2099 rips off one of the Vulture’s wings, the villain pulls a new wing from a pocket dimension which 2099 refers to as “Hammerspace”, a nod to John Mulaney’s Spider-Ham who was able to pull cartoon objects like hammers out of nowhere as seen in Into the Spider-Verse.

72 “I Think It’s A Banksy” (Post-Malone)

In Into the Spider-Verse, a passerby comments on a multiversally-warped lampost: “I think it’s a Banksy”, referring to the work of the iconic street artist. This was actually a line from rapper Post Malone, and it’s heard again in Across the Spider-Verse following the battle with the Da Vinci Vulture at the Guggenheim Art Museum, taking place in Spider-Gwen’s Earth-65.

71 “We Love and Accept You”- Miles Morales’ Parents

During Miles’ narration introducing himself and what he’s been up to since Into the Spider-Verse, he imagines a scenario where he tells his parents that he’s Spider-Man, believing that in some other universe they might be okay with his Webslinging. While Miles’ parents do know he’s Spider-Man in the comics, it wasn’t a walk in the park and led to some pretty significant family struggles. Likewise, Miles’ mom in the Insomniac game universe knows his secret as well.

70 Ganke Lee Is NOT Miles’ Guy In The Chair

Unlike the MCU’s Ned Leeds, the Ganke from the comics, or the Ganke from the Insomniac games, Across the Spider-Verses’s Ganke Lee has zero interest in being Miles Morales’ “guy in the chair”. He wants no part in Miles’ antics as Spider-Man, believing that even one act of helping Miles would be a slippery slope that would lead to him becoming “The Guy”.

69 Ganke Playing Spider-Man On A PS5

As Miles is rushing to get to his meeting with his parents and school counselor, he runs through his dorm room at Brooklyn Vision where Ganke is playing games on a PlayStation 5. Additionally, it definitely looks as though he’s playing a version of Insomniac’s Spider-Man (perhaps even the upcoming sequel).

68 Secret Tom Holland Spider-Man Reference In Miles Morales’ Room

Also featured in Miles and Ganke’s room is a poster of South Korean soccer legend Heung-min Son. In real-life, Son is a personal hero of actor Tom Holland’s, so the addition of the poster is likely very much intentional as Son is also a big Spider-Man fan himself. Apparently, Ganke’s a Son fan too.

Related: Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Confirmed A Villain Theory 4 Years Later

67 Across The Spider-Verse’s Real-World Reference

In line with Spider-Verse’s impeccable soundtrack – and Miles’ own love of music – Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse contains a series of references to real-world bands and musicians, all with slight tweaks to reflect the main movie universe being slightly different to the focal Marvel reality, which is supposed to directly reflect reality. Some of these can be seen in Aaron Davis being drawn with a “3-Pac” shirt in reference to the real 2-Pac, the Beastie Girls being a play on the Beastie Boys, and Miles’ dorm poster having a poster that is a play on the real Wuu-Tang Clan.

Other real-world references are noted in the “Obscure Spiders and Easter Eggs” Across The Spider-Verse feature, which comes with the digital movie edition. Some notable features include the detail that Miles lives in a reality wherein the real-world basketball icon God Shammgod played for the Knicks and became “one of the all time greats,” hence Miles’ Shammgod jersey, and that the oyster cart “Mothershuckers” is also taken from a real food cart of the same name.

Finally, several members of the team who worked on Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse are themselves referenced in the movie via their area or zip codes, as in the “Obscure Spiders and Easter Eggs” feature, Production Designer Patrick O’Keefe mentions that he encourages artists to add their respective codes into the background of scenes. With so much effort placed into the number of references in the film, it’s good to know the team themselves also get their own respective references.

66 Miles’ Moose References The Mitchells Vs. The Machines

Miles’ room at home contains a reference to fellow animated movie The Mitchells Vs. The Machines in the form of a small wooden moose figure. The moose is a key part of the other animated movie’s plot, and serves as a symbol of family, which works well with the themes of Miles trying to balance his family life and his superhero responsibilities.

65 Across The Spider-Verse Has Two Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs References

Miles’ rooms are not the only ones rife with references, as a glimpse of Spider-Byte’s room reveals that Margo also has something from another movie – namely, the Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator, or FLDSMDFR for short, which comes from the movie Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. The machine is incredibly hard to spot, but its presence was confirmed in the “Obscure Spiders and Easter Eggs” Across The Spider-Verse feature. While it’s unlikely the tool will ever be featured beyond a very quick cameo, it’s nice to know Margo’s snacks are unlikely to ever run out, given the device can turn water into food.

The bonus feature also mentions a second reference to the movie. The jello mold in Jefferson’s celebration spread is revealed as another nod to Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, cementing its bizarre yet wonderful ties to the iconic Spider-Verse sequel.

64 The Spot Is The Villain of the Week?

A core motivation for The Spot is that he wants to be taken seriously as a true nemesis. However, he’s frequently referred to as a “Villain of the Week”. This is a common comic term referring to foes who aren’t very memorable and rarely show up beyond a handful of appearances. While this is largely accurate for The Spot in Marvel comics, it looks as though the villain is determined to fight back against this flippant label, seeking to become more dangerous than ever before.

63 Miles Morales’ Project 42 Is A Much Bigger Deal

While Project 42 was simply a reference to the Alchemax project that created the spider that bit Miles in the comics, Project 42 is far more significant as revealed in Across the Spider-Verse. Brought from another universe by The Spot when he was still a scientist working at Alchemax, it’s revealed that this spider was meant to bite and create a different Spider-Man, making Miles Morales a major multiversal anomaly which explains why he wasn’t invited to the Spider Society.

62 Venom Reality in Across the Spider-Verse

In addition to a brief visit to the LEGO universe, The Spot also visits Earth-688 which is home to Tom Hardy’s Venom. While the Lethal Protector is nowhere to be found, Spot does obtain some Venomints during an interaction with Mrs. Chen in her convenience store, who is quite unimpressed seeing as how a symbiote and its host are her regular customers.

61 “The Palm of My Hand” (Doctor Octopus)

Upon realizing his true ability to travel the multiverse, Spot remarks that he has “the power of the multiverse in the palm of my hand”. This is very similar to Doctor Octopus and his fusion reactor in Spider-Man 2: “The power of the sun in the palm of my hand”.

60 Everything Everywhere All At Once Reference (Bagels)

When The Spot return to his apartment to build a miniature super collider, a billboard on the roof can be seen with a giant bagel on it. Not only is this a reference to Spot being the guy who got hit in the head by a bagel in Into the Spider-Verse, but the billboard says “All Of It Always All Over The Place”, a hilarious reference to A24’s Oscar-winning multiverse movie Everything Everywhere All At Once which has its own bagel significance.