Why Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s villain is pissed at the MCU
Spider-Man: About the Spider-Verse‘s new trailer is gorgeous, and it’s also kicked up a very nerdy wasp’s nest. How? Miguel O’Hara, the 2099 Spider-Man, throws a casual line about how annoying Doctor Strange and “the little nerd back on Earth-199999” were. He talks about Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
And yes, if we tried to protect the multiverse, we’d be pretty pissed at Peter Parker and Stephen Strange for ruining it for two entire movies. But in referring to the MCU’s setting as “Earth-199999,” Miguel has thrown on a gauntlet of technically epic proportions. Because the MCU wants you to think it doesn’t take place on Earth-199999, and reader, we must resist that at all costs.
Wait, Earth-199999 is… the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
To make sense of the many multiverses, Marvel Comics began ordering them by number designations in the 1980s, claiming “Earth-616” as the main setting. Since 2008 The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Marvel Comics has designated the world in which the MCU movies take place as Earth-199999. But lately, Marvel Studios has firmly disagreed.
Instead, the MCU has pushed for it for two movies she his Earth-616 – an administrative technicality from which forum wars are born.
Sony Pictures fired the first shot in the Earth-616 war in a stray line Spider-Man: Far From Home. Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio – who falsely claims to have traveled between multiverses – refers to the MCU’s Earth as Earth-616. Of course, the easiest (and most correct) explanation for this is that Mysterio was a fraudster, the rule is just an easter egg for fans, and it’s just a coincidence that he happened to pick the name of the main Marvel Comics universe.
Unfortunately for fans of disambiguation, Marvel Studios doubled down on the idea Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness, in which the titular Doctor visits Earth-838. There, that universe’s version of his old flame, Dr. Christine Palmer, him that his home universe is called Earth-616.
In response, nerds on the internet, to paraphrase Nick Fury, have acknowledged that the MCU decided to designate itself Earht-616, but since it’s a stupid decision, they chose to ignore it. By Mrs. Marvelthe protagonist herself to the editors behind the Marvel Database, people won’t have it.
Satisfying, About the Spider-Verse‘s new trailer sets the record straight – doing so as the biggest multiverse movie and best Spider-Man movie to date.
Of course none of this really matters right now. But as the multiverse expands and Kang’s story continues to get more complicated, Marvel may need to get a little more specific with which Earth is which. And for the sake of the mental health of anyone writing about these institutions, please. Let Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios have it different numbers.