Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was released way back in 2018 to critical acclaim and eventually won a BAFTA, Golden Globe, and the coveted OSCAR for Best Animated Film. It’s gone on to become one of the most well-loved Spider-Man movies ever made, and to many, one of the best movies ever made. It’s no surprise that Sony would greenlight a sequel.
The as-of-yet untitled Spider-Verse sequel is still well over a year away with an October 7th, 2022 release date, so it’s not too surprising that we’ve only had confirmation on three characters: Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacey/Spider-Woman (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld), and one new character, who we’ll get to in a bit.
While we can likely expect the return of Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), and possibly the other Spider-Men and Women from the first film, they’ve been excluded from this list of potential Spider-People that may pop up.
Note: This list is purely for fun speculation and contains no scoops on anything related to ‘Into the Spider-Verse 2’ or any other movie in Sony’s Spider-Man franchise. Also, the title refers only to Spider-Men, but rest assured there are women included in this list!
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1. Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman
Jessica Drew is possibly the most famous Spider-Woman in all of Marvel’s history, and she has quite an interesting backstory. She was originally created for an issue of Marvel Spotlight #32 as a way to trademark the name “Spider-Woman“, but she proved so popular it caused Marvel to develop her into an ongoing character.
Outside of her short-lived animated series that ran from 1979 – 1980 and a handful of video games, Jessica hasn’t made any other official appearances, whether it be film or television. She is set to star in a female-centric Into the Spider-Verse spin-off with Gwen Stacy and Silk, but it’s safe to assume that she could make an appearance in the Into the Spider-Verse sequel before her spin-off movie.
The 1979 Spider-Woman cartoon is available to watch on Disney+ (depending on your region).
2. 90s Spider-Man
Spider-Man: The Animated Series originally debuted in 1994, but its age hasn’t held it back because the series is one of the most loved of all the Spider-Man cartoons. The series adapted many plotlines from the comics, and it was even the first time we ever saw the Spider-Verse. In the two-part story, Spider-Wars, we got to see Peter Parker team up with other versions of himself to defeat another Peter who had bonded with a symbiote.
There was even a tad bit of controversy this week regarding the possible appearance of the 90s Spider-Man due to a rumour that Peter Parker’s voice actor, Christopher Daniel Barnes, had been offered a role in the Into the Spider-Verse sequel, but it has since been debunked. You can read all about that over on the cartoon’s official Facebook page.
Even still, it would be amazing to see the “90s Spider-Man” make an appearance, especially since he was left out of the 2014 comic event, Spider-Verse.
You can watch Spider-Man: The Animated Series on Disney+ (depending on your region).
3. Cindy Moon/Silk
Cindy Moon/Silk is one of the newer Spider-Heroes in the Marvel canon, making her comic-book debut in 2014. Still, she’s become so popular she has already made two cameo appearances in the MCU, where Tiffany Espensen plays her. However, her secret identity does not yet exist in the universe.
Silk was actually set to appear in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse before being replaced with Peni Parker. She is set to appear in the Untitled Spider-Women spin-off to Into the Spider-Verse alongside Jessica Drew and Gwen Stacy’s versions of Spider-Woman. As with Jessica, it would be great to see her appear in Into the Spider-Verse 2.
4. The “PlayStation” Spider-Men
Sony could have gotten away with including only Peter Parker from the 2018 game, but since the release of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, they would no longer be able to escape the wrath of fans if they didn’t include both Peter and Miles. The “PlayStation” versions of the characters have garnered so much praise in such a short amount of time that they’ve quickly become two of the most famous versions of the superhero.
The advanced suit worn by Peter in the video games made a cameo appearance in Into the Spider-Verse as one of Peter Parker’s many suits solidifying the PlayStation version of the hero in the multiverse canon.
And hey, we got five versions of Peter Parker (if you include Peter Porker and Peni Parker) in the first Spider-Verse film; it’ll be fun to see an alternate Miles in the sequel.
5. Web-Slinger
Um – a cowboy Spider-Man? Sign me up!
Patrick O’Hara (unrelated to Miguel O’Hara) is Web-Slinger, a Spider-Man from Earth 31913. Miles Morales recruited O’Hara to cross dimensions and join the Web-Warriors, an army of different Spider-People formed as part of the Spider-Verse event.
I don’t know much about Patrick O’Hara, but what I do know that a cowboy-themed Spider-Man is perfect for the humour that is Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Think of the comedy potential, especially when Patrick O’Hara comes with his own horse named Widow, who was also bitten by a radioactive spider.
6. The “Evil” Spider-Man of Earth-15
Who says that Peter Parker can only be the good guy? How about we introduce, say, a Peter Parker from a universe where he’s a mass murderer merged with a symbiote? That’s who the Spider-Man of Earth-15 is.
Understandably, this incarnation of Spider-Man would have to be massively toned down to suit a more general audience, with his crime sprees having to be implied or changed completely. Earth-15 Spider-Man’s story is so ingrained with other Marvel characters, from Daredevil to the X-Men, that it’s likely his entire backstory would have to be changed.
7. May “Mayday” Parker
The Marvel Comics have covered bleak subjects, and one of the bleakest is that of Peter and Mary-Jane’s losing their eldest child in a 1963 issue of Amazing Spider-Man. Despite losing their child in the main 616 universe, in another universe, Mary-Jane gave birth to a healthy baby girl named May “Mayday” Parker.
First appearing in Marvel’s “What If…?”, a series of comics which alters classic Marvel storylines such as“What if Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four” and “What if Doom became Sorcerer Supreme?“. This particular 1998 issue asked the question: “What if Mary-Jane Never Lost the Baby?”
Enter Spider-Girl.
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May Parker takes over the role of Spider-Man when her father is forced to retire after losing his leg. Taking over as Spider-Girl, this What If story proved so popular that May ended up headlining her own comic series, which became Marvel’s longest-ongoing series with a female lead. Her comic has since been relaunched a few times, and Mayday has even gone under several name changes, most notably Spider-Woman.
Considering that Into the Spider-Verse included a subplot where Peter B. Parker was still struggling with his divorce from Mary-Jane, caused by him not wanting children, it would be fun to see how he might deal with a daughter from another universe.
8. Spider-UK
Created just for the Edge of the Spider-Verse comic event, Spider-UK is exactly what it says on the tin – he’s the British version of Spider-Man, only he’s not an alternate Peter Parker, but Willian Braddock, an alternate version of Brian Braddock AKA Captain Britain.
The inclusion of a British Spider-Man could make some for great banter with the other Spider-People, especially Spider-Man Noir. However, the inclusion of William Braddock is a bit of a grey area since he’s based upon a character that Sony does not own. If they can’t use William Braddock, then another alternate, Peter or Miles, would likely suffice, and it would work fine because it’s a multiverse, and anything is possible!
9. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man
From a cameo deleted cameo in Venom to a scrapped cameo in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Sony seems deadset on banking on the popularity of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Sadly for them, they’ve been unable to do so due to their commitments with sharing Peter Parker with Disney.
But now we’ve had Holland as Spider-Man for a little while and with Spider-Man: No Way Home dealing with the multiverse and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse already handling the details of how all the different Spider-People can visit each other (see the post-credits scene on how it’ll be done), it no longer seems like such a stretch that Tom Holland could lend his voice in a cameo appearance as the MCU version of Spider-Man. Considering that this would be an animated cameo, it seems more likely that we would see him appear here rather than Morbius or Venom 2.
Speaking of Venom…
10. Tom Hardy’s Venom
Yes, I know – Venom is not a Spider-Man in the strictest sense, but Eddie Brock is a Spider-Man character, and the symbiote species is synonymous with the franchise, so much so that the whole species is completely off-limits to Marvel Studios.
While Tom Holland is wrapped up in the confusing web that is the Sony-Marvel Spider-Man deal, Tom Hardy does seem to have a tad more wiggle room when it comes to cameo appearances because his iteration of the character is so different from previous versions and so disconnected from the rest of the Spider-Man franchise that Hardy popping-up for a vocal cameo wouldn’t even seem weird.
There are, of course, the rumours that Sony and Marvel would like to use Venom in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they’re likely completely untrue since Sony is building their own cinematic universe called…
*deep breath*
The Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters… or SPUMC.
Apparently, naming their franchise the Spider-Verse would have been too much of a mouthful.
At the time of writing, the Venom movies are completely unconnected to the MCU (or any other Spider-Man projects for that matter) and are solely a product of Sony.
Honorary Mention – Takuya Yamashiro
Ending this list is an honorary mention. Why an honorary mention? Because our beloved Takuya Yamashiro (or “Japanese Spider-Man”) has already been confirmed to appear – well, kinda.
Takuya was the star of his very own Spider-Man series, which ran from 1978-1979 and is known locally as “Supaidāman”. Takuya isn’t the first Japanese Spider-Man, but due to the cult status of his series, he has become one of the most popular alternate versions of the superhero. I mean – he has his own giant robot named Leopardon, so what’s not to love, really?
Takuya and Leopardon were even included in the 2014 comic-book event, aptly named, “Spider-Verse”, marking their first appearance, making them official members of the Marvel Canon. His universe even has an official designated number: Earth-51778.
As you can see in the image above, Into the Spider-Verse producer Phil Lord has confirmed via Twitter that an appearance of “Japanese Spider-Man” is at least in the design phase, whether or not the character makes it to the final film or is cut completely remains to be seen. Hopefully, if he does make the final cut, Takuya’s original actor, Shinji Todō, will be given a chance to reprise his role.
For more information on Takuya Yamashiro, you can watch Marvel’s 616 docu-series on Disney+. The first episode is all about the history and legacy of “Japanese Spider-Man”.
And that’s the list! Did I leave any of your favourite Spider-People out? Would you even like to see Tom Holland or Tom Hardy appear in the Into the Spider-Verse sequel? Let me know in the comments below or over on Twitter!
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