Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse had many easter eggs for any Spider-Man fan to sink their teeth into. From the end credit scene with 2099 Spidey and the classic animated show nod to Spider-Ham himself, the movie was packed with references. 

Set to release June 2nd, Across the Spider-verse is ramping up to its anticipated release, showing countless new Spider-Men in the trailers and posters. Fan favorites like Jessica Drew, and even obscure ones like Bombastic Bag-Man are promised for the film. Still, the one that’s gotten so much talking is a possible connection from the animated movie to the MCU’s Spidey. 

The trailer for the film Oscar Isaac’s Spider-Man 2099 says, “Don’t even get me started on Doctor Strange and the little nerd back on Earth-199999.” Most fans took this as a direct reference to Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which Doctor Strange tries to help Peter Parker with a severe spell, until it all goes wrong. 

Earth-199999 is the proper designation for the one we’ve seen since 2008’s Iron Man, despite being labeled as 616 in Multiverse of Madness. It’s been dubbed 199999 in the comics, and with this drop in the trailer, many wondered if it was a direct nod to MCU. 

Lucky for fans, Across the Spider-verse’s co-director, Kemp Powers spoke about the possible tie-in, Comicbook.com reports. “’ The world of Miles Morales and Spider-Verse, it’s not tied into the Marvel Cinematic Universe or anything like that,’ Powers told SFX. ‘But this is a Lord and Miller film. We like to have a little bit of fun, we like to be a little bit meta, and to acknowledge the world in which we are creating these stories. That’s the best way to explain it.’”

While this nod in the trailer is, as Powers said, just a fun exercise in meta-writing, the film itself is likely to contain plenty of other references that are bound to get fans just as excited as this one, 

Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse swings into theaters on June 2nd. Stay with MXDWN for updates on everyone’s favorite wall-crawler and multiverse counterparts.