The latest Spider-Man film took a number of worthwhile risks in its nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime, but one of the biggest payoffs came in the introduction of the multiverse.
The multiverse has existed in Marvel comics lore for decades, but was largely considered too complicated and bewildering to pull off on the big screen. Spider-Man: No Way Home gambled on its ability to make something so objectively confounding enjoyable, and it paid off in spectacular style.
Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Please proceed with caution if you have yet to see the film.
The film’s final fight saw three separate Spider-Men face off against a lineup of time-honored villains snatched from multiple different universes. The chaos of this massive battle is only amplified by Doctor Strange, who spends the majority of the fight attempting to prevent the multiverse from shattering into a million pieces. As the barrier between worlds begins to break down, glimpses of the multiverse can be seen through massive cracks in the sky.
In those cracks, eagle-eyed viewers caught sight of several distinct silhouettes. This prompted a wave of theories about who the MCU might be teasing in the tiny reveal and has been the topic of passionate debate ever since. The silhouettes flash by quickly, and are blurred and indistinct, which leaves viewers to guess and dispute which shape they think they saw outlined in the sky. A few popular options have been thrown out, and some of them seem like legitimate candidates.
Who appeared in the multiverse cracks in Spider-Man: No Way Home?
Too many figures to count appear in the split-second No Way Home multiverse reveal, leaving fans with nothing but a couple of hunches to work off of. A few key details make certain characters far more likely than others to appear in future MCU films, enhancing the likelihood that they were actually featured in the multiverse scene.
Kraven the Hunter
We already have confirmation that a film centered around Kraven the Hunter is headed to theaters in 2023, which makes him one of the most likely cameos in No Way Home‘s multiverse scene. The Kraven film will not be part of the MCU, however, which throws his inclusion back into doubt. While he seems easily more likely than some of the other characters on this list, the relationship between Sony and Disney, which owns Marvel Entertainment, has been rocky for years now.
Most fans generally see Sony’s collection of Marvel movies ⏤ including but not limited to the Venom films, the upcoming Morbius, and all of the non-MCU live-action Spider-Man movies ⏤ as entirely separate from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The post-credits scene in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, paired with the mid-credits scene from No Way Home, hint toward a major shift, however. These scenes plunge Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock into the MCU, albeit briefly, hinting that the two universes may soon see more crossovers.
The existence of Hardy’s Brock in the MCU indicates that Sony and Disney may have come to more agreeable terms in recent years and really bolsters theories that Kraven was featured in the multiverse cracks. The lead figure in the scene also appears to be holding a spear, which makes Kraven a strong candidate. Not many villains in the Marvel world wield spears, it turns out.
If the figure really was Kraven, it could mean another crossover event is in Sony and the MCU’s future. Kraven’s film will follow the solo style of Venom and Morbius, following Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven, a world-renowned hunter who is determined to cement his status by eliminating the most dangerous game there is. In the world of Spider-Man, that game is Spidey himself, but in Kraven’s solo Sony flick he’ll likely start with his sights set on a different foe. Eventually, however, this veteran Spider-Man villain could make his way into an MCU release.
Scorpion
Thanks to his distinct outline, theories that Scorpion appeared in the multiverse cracks have some solid reasoning to lean on. While the majority of the shapes revealed in the brief scene are rather indistinct, numerous fans think they spotted Scorpion’s recognizable electro-mechanical tail, which resembles a scorpion’s tail, outlined against the purple cracks.
Scorpion is a popular Spider-Man villain, and one that has faced off against the wall-crawler on numerous occasions. He’s been around since the 1960s, and there are rumors that he, like Kraven, could get a solo Sony movie in the future. This makes the chances of him appearing in the multiverse scene more likely, as recent films and teasers indicate that both Sony’s and Marvel’s characters could occupy at least similar universes.
The character behind Scorpion’s mask, Mac Gargan, has also already been introduced in the MCU. He was played by Michael Mando in Spider-Man: Homecoming and, while he never made the transition into his villainous alter-ego, he survived the film’s events. He was shown sharing a quick conversation with Michael Keaton’s Vulture in the film’s post-credits scene, inquiring after Spider-Man’s identity.
Scorpion is a formidable villain that shares a portion of his power portfolio with the more familiar Doc Ock. An experiment granted Scorpion his superpowers but robbed him of his sanity, creating a vicious villain. His Scorpion suit provides Gargan with his unique appearance, as well as many of his abilities. He also possesses the typical comic book power lineup: super speed, strength, agility, durability, reflexes, and stamina.
Rhino
Another character that was introduced in a previous Marvel film but left to dangle tantalizingly in an unknown future is Rhino. A version of the character played by Paul Giamatti appeared at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, presented as a plug for a much more prominent appearance in the film’s follow-up. No Amazing Spider-Man 3 ever came, however, leaving Giamatti’s take on the character with only a brief moment to shine.
Rhino is a prominent Spidey villain, however, clashing frequently with the web head in Spider-Man comic books. His presence in a future film would make sense, particularly in light of an extra shout-out the character got mid-way through No Way Home.
During one of the charming bonding scenes between No Way Home‘s trio of Spider-Men, the Peters discuss some of the weirdest villains they’ve ever faced. Garfield is shocked to learn that both of the other Spider-Men have seen combat with aliens, and compares his own much-tamer villains to Maguire’s Venom and Holland’s Thanos. He makes specific mention of Rhino in this scene, noting that he once fought a “Russian guy in a rhinoceros machine.” The scene is almost immediately overshadowed by the charming exchange that follows, as Maguire and Holland’s Peters insist that Garfield’s Peter needs to appreciate himself more.
The mention of Rhino could well have been purposeful, however, and spurred a number of fan theories about his eventual re-introduction into the Marvel world. Aleksei Sytsevich, the man behind that rhino mask, likely doesn’t have what it takes to carry a solo film a la Kraven’s upcoming release, but he could easily appear in a future Spidey flick to give Peter a fresh headache. His powers mostly center around his suit and enhanced abilities, leaving him with the strength to hurl massive vehicles and the speed to outrun a moving train.
Black Cat
Of all the entries on this list, this one seems like the biggest reach. Black Cat is a frequent and popular Spider-Man character, jumping sporadically between villain, hero, and antihero depending on the storyline, but has yet to make an appearance in any live-action Spider-Man release (apart from a brief cameo by her alter ego, Felicia Hardy, in The Amazing Spider-Man 2). She is also one of Spider-Man’s most intermittent romances. The duo’s complicated recurring relationship is a big draw behind Black Cat as a character, particularly with the knowledge of how No Way Home ends. With no one else there to support him, it seems entirely feasible that Peter could be tempted into a relationship with Felicia Hardy.
Hardy’s inclusion in a Spider-Man story always complicates things. She is technically a villain, though her tendency toward thievery falls far below the murderers and terrorists that Spidey is often pitted against. She provides an interesting moral quandary for Peter nearly every time she reappears in his life, and her inclusion could fill an MJ-shaped void should one be presented in the next Spider-Man movie.
That being said, the internet at large is absolutely enamored with Zendaya’s take on MJ, so it seems unlikely that she will be excluded from future Tom Holland-led Spider-Man films. It could add an interesting element into future films if Peter were pulled in different directions by the separate women in his life, particularly if MJ was still struggling to remember him.
No additional hints have been dropped about Black Cat like those we saw with Rhino, but a solo movie from Sony is reportedly in the works. This makes her inclusion in the multiverse cracks far more likely, despite the lack of any distinctive cat shapes in the scene. Hardy is an interesting and engaging character, unpowered apart from the “bad luck” she causes in those she interacts with. The original power was given to her by Kingpin, and given Vincent D’Onofrio’s recent reintroduction as the popular baddie, we could be looking at another slow burn effort by the MCU to introduce a new character.