Earth-42 in Across the Spider-Verse explained. The new Spider-Verse film is finally here, and boy, oh boy, is it a mindblowing movie with more twists and turns than a tangled slinky. We’re going to discuss one of those big reveals in this article, so if you’re spoiler-phobic, turn away now.
Still with us? Great, we knew you were a true red and blue Spider-Man fan. As you know, the Spider-Verse films deal with the multiverse, and in this Spider-Man movie, we get to visit a number of alternate Earths. This was one of the reasons we loved the film so much (check out our Across the Spider-Verse review if you’re curious to hear more of our thoughts) but one Earth isn’t like the others.
Earth-42, the reality that Miles visits at the end of the superhero movie is one of the more intriguing corners of the Spider-Verse. It’s darker than the rest, almost evil seeming and with good reason. So strap in here’s everything we know about Earth-42 from Across the Spider-Verse.
Earth-42 in Across the Spider-Verse explained
Earth-42 is a bleak dimension with no Spider-Man. As a result, this version of reality has become a dark reflection of Miles’s home world, where instead of taking on the mantle of Spider-Man, his uncle Aaron trained him to become the new Prowler.
What caused Earth-42 to go bad?
Across the Spider-Verse teases that Earth-42 turned into a hellhole because it was deprived of its version of Spider-Man. You see when the Kingpin was experimenting with the multiverse in the first movie, he accidentally brought through Earth-42’s radioactive spider.
This was the spider that went on to give Miles his powers, but as it was brought to our universe, it wasn’t there to bite Eath-42’s future Spider-Man. Then without the Wallcrawler to save the day, the universe fell apart.
Who should have been Earth-42’s Spider-Man?
It’s not revealed in Across the Spider-Verse who should have become Spider-Man, but it seems likely that the alternate Miles we see become the Prowler should have become Spider-Man. That’s pure speculation on our part, and it could just have easily been Peter Parker who was meant to wear the mask. Perhaps this will be resolved in Spider-Verse 3.
All the differences between Earth-1610 and Earth-42
Here’s a full list of all the differences between Miles’s home dimension and Earth-42.
- Miles Morales was bitten by a radioactive spider and became Spider-Man in Earth-1610. On Earth-42, he became The Prowler instead.
- The Miles in Earth-42 seemingly has no knowledge of the Multiverse, unlike his 1610 counterpart.
- On Earth-1610, Aaron Davis died protecting Miles from the Kingpin. On Earth-42, Miles’s dad, Jefferson Davis, died instead, although the exact cause of his death isn’t known.
- Earth-1610 seems quite peaceful for the most part, while Earth-42 seems to be in a constant state of unrest.
- Miles has cooler hair on Earth-42. Sorry, our Miles, you know it’s true.
There will be a myriad of other differences that we didn’t notice or the film didn’t explore, but we’ll keep this list updated as we learn more about Earth-42.
Earth-42 in Marvel comics
As far as we can tell Earth-42 doesn’t exist in the comics and is an original creation for Spider-Verse.
Enough about Earth-42, though. There’s more explaining to be done, and god knows we love explaining. We’ve got guides on how to watch Across the Spider-Verse, and the Spider-Verse 2 cast.
If you’re not afraid of being spoiled, we’ve written the usual Across the Spider-Verse ending explained, revealed whether Miles and Gwen get together, explained if Andrew Garfield is in Spider-Verse 2, whether Tobey Maguire’s in Spider-Verse 2, explained the new Prowler and finally we have a list of everyone who dies in Across the Spider-Verse.
But that’s not all. We’ve got articles explaining everything you need to know about the Spider-Man 4 release date and the Spider-Man Freshman Year release date. Still, if you’ve gotten lost in the web of life and death and aren’t into all this Spidey stuff, we have a list of the new movies coming later this year so you can choose something else to watch.