Across The Spider-Verse: The Clue Everyone Missed Early That Changed Everything
"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" might as well have a giant "Part One" attached to the title. It ends with a massive cliff-hanger that sets up "Beyond the Spider-Verse," coming out next year.
The film has quite a few twists in its final act, including Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) winding up in a completely different reality. Miles attempts to get back home after realizing the Spider-Society wants his father dead so that the multiverse can maintain canon. Miles uses the Go Home Machine to achieve this, which scans his DNA to determine where he's from. At first, everything seems all right, with Miles even revealing to his mother that he's Spider-Man. However, it soon becomes clear that not everything is as it seems, as Uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali) is alive in this world. Creating a huge Marvel first, the Go Home Machine found that his DNA contains material from Earth-42 since that's where the spider that bit him was from. Miles is from Earth-1610, which causes problems for Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), who goes there to wait for him.
It's a shocking reveal, especially given the deteriorated state of Earth-42, and Gwen assembles a team that will presumably go to that universe to rescue Miles. However, for those paying close attention, the reveal may not have come as that much of a shock since the film directly shows viewers where Miles is going.
The Go Home Machine literally says it's sending Miles to Earth-42
It's impressive how many callbacks to "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" take place in the sequel and how many setups pay off. In the first movie, the spider is clearly labeled "42," and it even glitches, hinting that it's not from Miles' reality. This factors into the follow-up, as Miguel O'Hara (Oscar Isaac) has a real ax to grind with Miles, seeing how he's an anomaly that shouldn't exist because the spider wasn't meant to bite him. But it pays off in thrilling fashion, with Miles relegated to a different universe in which his counterpart is now the Prowler.
However, the Go Home Machine actually shows the audience where Miles is going. After it scans Miles, it indicates that it's going to send him to Earth-42. This should've been a red flag to anyone who paid attention when the film first goes to Miles' universe. Big letters on the screen specify that Miles' reality is officially designated Earth-1610, so the machine misreading his DNA is right there in plain sight.
Some fans managed to catch on early, such as Redditor u/Ishmit_singh, who was disappointed that paying attention ruined the twist: "I am so mad at myself that i caught onto the Earth-42 part wayy too early on When miles goes into the machine and it scans his eye , it already shows Earth-42 right there." Others noticed it but didn't catch on to what was happening, like u/Bucen: "I was so stupid. I saw the earth 42 and literally thought 'what a blunder from the creators. The spider is from earth 42, not Miles'." It goes to show how "Across the Spider-Verse" will reward rewatches, and there's plenty of time to do that until "Beyond the Spider-Verse" arrives in theaters on March 29, 2024.