Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has many, many winks and Easter eggs hidden within its frames, including Bagel Hits, Peter B. Parker’s Judaism, and the brief “appearance” of Donald Glover. But maybe the Easter egg of all Easter eggs is a mystery that goes all the way back to the very beginning of Miles Morales’ story: The number 42.
In the comics, 42 is Miles’ winning number when his name is drawn in the lottery for Brooklyn Visions Academy. And the spider that bites him is marked with a 42 — Arachnid Subject 42 in an Osborn Industries laboratory.
In this exclusive clip from Sony Pictures’ Spider-Verse home video release, co-director Peter Ramsey explains what 42 meant to the creators of Miles Morales’ movie — chance, fate, and randomness. In other words, exactly the kind of seemingly small but incredibly significant events that make alternate universes.
Miles’ co-creator, Brian Michael Bendis, doesn’t hesitate to tease fans on Twitter with the mystery of what 42 “really” represents, like when he retweeted this poor soul without answering them:
Ok seriously I loved Spiderverse but now that the movie has continued this number 42 mystery that you started, are you going to come clean or what? What does 42 mean?!!!
— JasonRain (@JasonMarleyRain) December 16, 2018
The real answer is buried back in a 2014 blog post. When asked if 42 is a reference to the jersey number of the pioneering baseball player Jackie Robinson, as Ramsey mentions in the above video, Bendis answered:
“It’s either that or someone who wrote the book is a huge Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fan… Or both :-)”
