This ‘Into The Spider-Verse’ Cameo Has Big Implications For The Sequel

Minor spoilers for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to follow. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has taken the Spider-Man movie franchise into unexpected and exciting directions. Free from both the confines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the pressures of massive studio-saving box office expectations, the animated film is able to just have fun with the webslinger — or rather, with multiple webslingers. Into the Spider-Verse takes place in the Marvel multiverse, and as a result features all kinds of different versions of Spider-Man. One of them, Miguel, doesn't show up until the post-credits scene, meaning he'll likely feature in the sequel. But what can fans learn from Miguel in the Spider-Man comics to predict how the character (voiced by Oscar Isaac) will factor into the film's sequel?

Miguel, who's voiced by Oscar Isaac in the film, is Miguel O'Hara, the alter ego of a version of Spidey known as Spider-Man 2099. The first Into the Spider-Verse movie introduces a number of non-Peter Parker iterations of Spider-Man from across the multiverse, namely Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Peni Parker, Spider-Man Noir (technically an alternate Peter Parker), and Spider-Ham, but with the exception of Spider-Ham, who made his comics debut back in 1983, these Spideys are relatively new characters; all of them first appearing in comic books in the past decade. Spider-Man 2099, on the other hand, has a much longer history.

Miguel premiered in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #365 in August of 1992 before appearing in his own solo series just a few months later. As the name Spider-Man 2099 implies, Miguel is from an alternate future version of the Marvel universe set in the year 2099, and is the first Latino version of the character (he's half-Mexican). In his time, superheroes like Peter Parker and others are all long dead, and the world is now essentially run by corrupt and powerful corporations. Like Parker, Miguel is brilliant and gifted when it comes to science. He works as the head of a genetics department for one the aforementioned corporations, Alchemex, and his job is to attempt and create a new breed of super soldiers.

Miguel researches the powers of the long-deceased Spider-Man, believing them to be useful in any potential soldier. But after someone dies during one of his experiments, he decides to quit. His boss retaliates by forcing Miguel to become addicted to one of the company's drugs, which prevents him from leaving since he will have no way of obtaining the drugs otherwise. So in an attempt to cure himself of his addiction, Miguel attempts to alter his own DNA in an experiment, but a vengeful coworker sabotages him and ends up splicing Miguel's DNA with that of a spider. The result is a new Spider-Man who devotes himself to fighting evil corporations like the one that led to his condition.

As this futuristic Spidey, Miguel has some abilities that are similar to those of Peter Parker and Miles Morales, such as superhuman strength, agility, and reflexes, but most of his powers are different. Rather than relying on mechanical web shooters, Miguel can shoot organic webs from his wrists. Instead of being able to stick to a wall, Miguel climbs walls using sharp claws in his hands and feet. He has no spider sense, and instead relies on superhuman sight and hearing to detect threats. He also has venomous fangs, and can poison foes by biting them.

Miguel could make an interesting addition to the Into the Spider-Verse sequel. He would add yet another take on just what it means to be Spider-Man, while also adding more diversity to the film's lineup. He could introduce a time-traveling element to the franchise's dimension-hopping fun. And after years of seeing Spider-Man get bitten by a spider on the big screen, it could be fun to see a Spider-Man that actually bites back. With Spider-Man 2099 coming on board, the future of Into the Spider-Verse is bright — and hopefully not overrun with corporations.