Spider-Verse 2 Trailer Hints At Another Spider-Man Variant (Not 2099)
The first teaser trailer for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) hints at a new Spider-Man variant, but it's not Spider-Man 2099. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse featured the on-screen debut of numerous reader-favorite iterations of Spider-Man, with Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, a.k.a. Spider-Gwen, being the most prominent. The film introduced Miguel O’Hara, a.k.a. the Spider-Man of an alternate 2099, in a humorous post-credits scene, but Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 appears to have a more significant role for O’Hara, in addition to another slightly less well-known Spider-Man variant.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a love letter to decades of Spider-Man comics, starring Miles Morales and retelling his origin story with earnestness and familiarity with the comic source material that’s perhaps only matched by the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy. Thanks to a particle accelerator-related incident, other iterations of the webslinger are brought into Miles’ universe each with a distinct origin story and personality. Despite the abundance of Spider-Man variants, however, the film remains Miles’ story, and it does the comic book hero justice while including unique details.
Miguel O’Hara, a.k.a. Spider-Man 2099, will return in Across the Spider-Verse, most likely with a far more prominent role. Moreover, the film’s first trailer suggests that another Spider-Man variant will join the cast: Pavitr Prabhakar, the protagonist of Spider-Man: India. Propelled into another reality instead of having multiverse visitors in his, Miles Morales swings through a universe whose architecture, musical variation of the Spider-Verse theme, and Hindi signage suggest that the film will include Pavitr Prabhakar in its roster of spider heroes. According to a device worn by Miguel O’Hara, the reality is Earth-50101. Miles is sent into a universe that the device confirms to be 2099’s Nueva York next (Earth-928), coinciding with Miguel O’Hara’s appearance in the trailer.
It's important to note that Earth-50101 is the designation of Spider-Man: India’s reality. Published in 2004, Spider-Man: India tells the story of an alternate Spider-Man comics universe version of Peter Parker, Pavitr Prabhakar, following a similar narrative to his Amazing Fantasy origin and including new iterations of Spider-Man’s famous supporting characters and antagonists. Spider-Man: India was a limited series, only lasting four issues, but it was nevertheless popular. Pavitr Prabhakar’s Spider-Man appeared in both volumes of the Spider-Verse comics crossover event and the Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors comic series, where he was part of a team of multiverse Spider-Man variants.
Spider-Verse 2 will feature the return of Miles’ companions from the first film, in addition to an expanded role for Spider-Man 2099 and new Spider-Man variants. Two spider heroes who are confirmed to appear in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse are Spider-Woman, a.k.a. Jessica Drew, and Takuya Yamashiro, the Spider-Man of the 1978 TV series. While the first trailer to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) only shows Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and Miguel O’Hara, it seems that viewers can expect to see Pavitr Prabhakar as well.