Spider-Man: ATSV Trailer Gives Ms. Marvel's Iman Vellani More Earth-199999 Support
The second trailer for "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is chock-full of references to Spidey's greater lore and comic book history. However, what is perhaps the most shocking detail in the preview has to do with a different strand of Marvel's cinematic output entirely. As it happens, one particular line from Miguel O'Hara's Spider-Man 2099 adds a strong level of credence to a long-standing assertion that "Ms. Marvel" star Iman Vellani has held with regard to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
At one point in the trailer, Miguel is having a pretty heated discussion with Miles Morales. That's when he notes something that no doubt made MCU fans' ears perk up: "Don't even get me started on Doctor Strange and the little nerd back on Earth-199999." It's pretty apparent that this line is a reference to the events of "Spider-Man: No Way Home," another recent multiverse-related tale for Tom Holland's MCU version of the web-head.
Crucially, the line suggests that the MCU is actually set on Earth-199999 in the Marvel multiverse — an idea that Vellani has held firm about, despite some MCU movies referencing their own home universe as Earth-616. "I have this argument with Kevin [Feige] every time I meet him in person," Vellani said in an interview with Deadline. "It's not 616, the MCU is definitely 199999."
Where did the 616 vs. 199999 debate come from?
Prior to "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's" affirmation that the MCU is, indeed, set on Earth-199999, there were conflicting accounts on the numerical designation of the live-action Marvel continuity kicked off by 2008's "Iron Man." "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z, Volume 5," an encyclopedia published in 2008, labeled the MCU as Earth-199999 in the multiverse. For many, this numbering has stuck as the MCU's canonical designation.
On the other hand, several movies have clearly stated that the MCU primarily takes place on Earth-616, such as "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and "Spider-Man: Far From Home." As Iman Vellani notes, however, that designation makes for a major continuity issue, as Earth-616 is usually used in official Marvel materials to refer to the main universe that most of the comics take place in. "You can't take it from the Marvel comics canon, that was the main comics canon where all the main events took place," she explained to Deadline.
As strange as it sounds, it may actually be possible that both of these designations are accurate at the same time. In the greater Marvel multiverse that encompasses essentially every continuity from the company's entire history, the MCU stands as Earth-199999. However, the MCU has also gone about constructing its own self-contained multiverse in recent years, including adaptations of alternate Earths from the comics. Within this sub-multiverse, as it were, the MCU functions as Earth-616. Of course, that's just another theory.