Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is earning praise for its fantastic attention to detail, featuring such a relentless volume of Easter eggs and visual symbolism that fans notice more with every rewatch.
However one particular detail is really blowing people’s minds this week, tying into a moment from Into the Spider-Verse that took five years to pay off.
The scene in question involves Miles Morales’ first meeting with Peter Parker, shortly after Miles gains his powers. Echoing the comics, we see a visual representation of Miles and Peter’s Spidey Sense, drawn as wiggly lines around their heads.
At first, Miles’ lines are colored in green and purple. Then they switch to red and blue, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it detail that very few people noticed at the time. Basically, that green/purple color scheme is a reference to The Prowler – and it gains a particular resonance after you watch Across the Spider-Verse.
@girl_wonderlost Foreshadowing at it’s finest I never noticed this 😍🙌🕸️💚💜♥️💙 #sony #spiderman #milesmorales #theprowler #spidermanintothespiderverse #marvel #movietok #tvtok #cartoons #animation #spidermanacrossthespiderverse ♬ The Prowler – Daniel Pemberton
In case that wasn’t enough, this color-change is also accompanied by the Prowler’s sound effect, which is woven through the music of both films.
@ants.onshit NOT CONFIRMED YET….#marvel #spidermanacrossthespiderverse #milesmorales #spiderman #trending #fyp #fypシ #tiktok #mcu #movie #marveltok #marvelfans #marvelstudios #spidermanfans #prowler #milesmoralesprowler #mcuconspiracy #conspiracytiktok ♬ The Prowler – Daniel Pemberton
At the end of Across the Spider-Verse, Miles travels to an alternate universe whose version of Miles Morales never became Spider-Man. His father Jefferson is dead, and his uncle Aaron – aka the Prowler from the first movie – becomes his mentor.
Without Peter Parker or his father to guide him, this version of Miles adopts the Prowler moniker and embarks on a life of crime. (And his music, by the way, is a mash-up of Original Miles’ heroic theme and the Prowler noise.)
Since Across the Spider-Verse is all about the importance of pivotal “canon events” that shape a character’s timeline, fans quickly drew a connection between the Prowler universe and that color-changing Spidey Sense scene in the first movie.
Obviously the main difference between these two universes is that one version of Miles gained superpowers while the other didn’t. But there’s also a suggestion that Miles always had the potential to become a villain like the Prowler, and his destiny was partially shaped by his mentors.
