After Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 impressed everyone, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be the second superhero movie to release in the summer of 2023. It continues the multiverse aspect of Sony’s Spider-Man universe (SSU), and will even reference Spider-Man: No Way Home’s events of the MCU.
The trailers of Spider-Verse 2 have already shown Miguel O’Hara mentioning Earth-199999. Even though the MCU has tried to get away from this old designation of Earth-199999 and called itself Earth-616, it was apparent that Miguel was talking about Peter 1’s fiasco in No Way Home alongside Doctor Strange.
But now, fans have even got confirmation that the film will also make a jump from animated to live-action as it will feature a crossover with SSU’s Venom.
Across the Spider-Verse‘s connection with Venom revealed
It was initially rumored that Peggy Lu’s Venom corner store owner, Mrs. Chen would appear in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Now, those rumors have been confirmed, courtesy of a photo posted by Spider-Man‘s official Vietnamese Facebook account. It features the villain known as The Spot, using his abilities to pop up into Mrs. Chen’s store in the live-action Venomverse.
With this cameo from Venom‘s Mrs. Chen, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse officially becomes a part of the SSU. In 2018, a scene from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was attached to Venom as a post-credits scene, but there was no established connection between the films back then.
With The Spot leaving the animated multiverse to jump into live-action, one can only wonder which other cameos are hidden in the Spider-Verse sequel. Fans could also expect setups for Kraven the Hunter or the upcoming Madame Web movie as these two films will be following Spider-Verse 2 in late 2023 and early 2024.
Will Tobey, Andrew, and Tom’s characters appear in Spider-Verse 2?
The producers of the Spider-Verse franchise, Phil Lord and Chris Miller have always teased plans regarding the cameos of Peter 1, Peter 2, and Peter 3 in the animated space. But even though Across the Spider-Verse will pack plenty of surprises such as the Venom connection, it is unlikely that fans will see the three characters appearing in the title.
Even if one of them does show up, it will only be a small cameo at best because extended roles for one or all three of them may be reserved for the final outing. After all, Across the Spider-Verse is a sequel in a three-movie series which will be followed by Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
So, just as No Way Home wowed everyone by uniting Tobey Maguire, Tom Holland, and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men, Sony may be saving their union with Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, and other Spider-people for Beyond the Spider-Verse, which will arrive on March 29, 2024.
Fans are now gearing up for the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse on June 2.