Credit: Inside the MagicSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the massive new hit from Sony Pictures, has been crossing over with every version of the arachnid hero that exists, but it turns out it also subtly introduced the Fantastic Four to the universe of Miles Morales.
The first Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) understandably blew a lot of minds when it introduced not just Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), but two different versions of Peter Parker (Chris Pine and Jake Johnson, respectively), an alternate Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), and a whole host of other Spider-people, including ones voiced by Nicolas Cage and John Mulaney.
Across the Spider-Verse upped the ante by cracking open a whole new infinite array of variants of Peter Parker, referencing Tom Holland, subtly indicating Pedro Pascal might be a Spider-Man, and even throwing some of Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man in there too. Just as excitingly, one particular Spider-Man with direct ties to the Fantastic Four also appeared.
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The Bombastic Bagman Appeared Twice in Across the Spider-Verse
Rare among superheroes, Spider-Man is known for being defeated, humiliated, and just plain embarrassed a lot, and the Fantastic Four contributed to that on at least one occasion. As seen above, Across the Spider-Verse featured a particular variant of Peter Parker known as the “Bombastic Bagman” and the “Amazing Bag-Man.” As you might expect, Spider-Man was not having his most shining moment when the Fantastic Four got involved. Not as bad as the Clone Saga, but still not great.
In The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #258, Spider-Man (back when Peter Parker was the only one) sought the aid of Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four when he began to suspect something was off about the mysterious black alien goo that had symbiotically bonded to him during the Secret Wars event. Richards managed to separate him from the alien, but it later escaped and bonded back to Spider-Man before being removed by the sound of church bells (it makes sense in context).
Johnny Storm Gave Spider-Man a Spare Fantastic Four Suit
In the meantime, Peter Parker still needed to fight crime. Johnny Storm, the prankster of Marvel’s First Family, decided to do Spider-Man a solid and loaned him a spare Fantastic Four uniform… however, he still needed a mask and all they had in the Baxter Building was apparently a paper bag. Also, the Human Torch didn’t give him any shoes and taped a “Kick Me” sign to Parker’s back. At a certain point, it kind of seems like Storm is just trying to make it as difficult for him to fight crime as possible. Who’s side is he on, anyway?
Will ‘Beyond the Spider-Verse’ Feature More Fantastic Four?
The #BombasticBagman
Had to try a few different versions ranging from accurate to the comic to some more original versions, but was still a very fun style exploration.#AcrossTheSpiderVerse pic.twitter.com/JObB3biszO
— kris anka (@kristaferanka) July 2, 2023
Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara (aka the vampiric Spider-Man 2099) made it clear that if something has ever happened to Peter Parker or one of the many other versions of the Spider-Society, it is canon somewhere. Thus, it makes sense that Bag-Man/Spider-Man and his Fantastic Four association could appear.
Related: Across the Spider-Verse Key Figure Made Production a Nightmare, Insiders Allege
That does leave it unclear whether there could be more Fantastic Four references in the upcoming Beyond the Spider-Verse. If Marvel Studios wants to get some version (any version!) of the Fantastic Four out there in the Marvel Cinematic Universe first, it’s going to have to work faster than it currently is.