How A Spider-Man Movie Easter Egg Teased Michelle Obama's Presidential Candidacy
The long-awaited sequel to 2018's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," titled "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," has a lot to offer. It has all kinds of web-slinging action, multiverse shenanigans, and memorable moments that have made "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse" one of the most highly-anticipated continuations in development today. Naturally, it's also loaded with Easter eggs for eagle-eyed fans to look out for. Some pay homage to Spider-Man's history, while others honor the legacy of Marvel Comics. Meanwhile, some take a vastly different approach, such as one that highlights the politics of Miles Morales' (Shameik Moore) world.
In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in "Across the Spider-Verse," we see a sticker on the wall of Miles' room that reads "Michelle Obama 20," with the rest of the year seemingly hidden. In Miles' universe, Michelle Obama — the former First Lady of the United States, wife of former President of the United States, Barack Obama, and oft-forgotten "NCIS" cast member — runs for president. It's unknown if she wins her election, who her running mate is, and who she runs against. One also has to wonder if she chose to run after Barack's two terms, or if, in this timeline, she runs for president instead of him.
As tenured Marvel Comics readers might know, Michelle isn't the first Obama to appear in a Spider-Man-centric project.
Year's before Michelle's Spider-Verse shout-out, Barack Obama joined Spidey on the pages of Marvel Comics
Years before Michelle Obama scored a shout-out in "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," Barack Obama landed a cameo appearance alongside the web-slinger on the pages of Marvel Comics. As an add-on to 2009's "Amazing Spider-Man" #583, readers were given the "Spidey Meets the President!" short story. The plot sees Peter Parker working as a photographer at President Obama's inauguration when he spots what's effectively a clone of the new commander-in-chief. He suits up as Spider-Man and gets to the bottom of this odd mystery.
"It was really, really cool to see that we had a geek in the White House. We're all thrilled with that," said Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada at the time of the story's publication (via WickedLocal.com). For those unaware, President Obama is a massive Spider-Man fan, having collected Spidey comics for years prior to his inclusion in "Amazing Spider-Man" #538. He has also appeared in various other Marvel Comics issues, from "Secret Invasion" #8 from 2008 to "Thunderbolts" #128 and #129 from 2009.
It's far from uncommon for political figures to make their way into movies and comics, so it should come as no surprise that high-profile names like Michelle and Barack Obama have featured in Spider-Man projects over the years. In the aforementioned cases, their inclusions were nothing short of good fun.