28 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' Easter Eggs and References You Might Have Missed (Plus Those End Credits Scenes)

Image via Sony

When does No Way Home take place in the MCU? We can see the Halloween decorations, so we’re guessing that No Way Home occurs approximately two months prior to Hawkeye, because it’s Christmastime by that point.

We also see billboards for Rogers: The Musical, which Hawkeye later takes his kids to see (much to his embarrassment).

Peter finds out, from investigators, that the Nick Fury he was taking orders from in Far From Home wasn’t really Nick Fury. We found out in the end credits scene in Far From Home that he was actually Talon, a Skrull in disguise.

J. Jonah Jameson, as played by J.K. Simmons, debuted in the Raimi/Maguire films, and he made his MCU debut at the end of Far From Home, where he played an Alex Jones-style political pundit. He continues this role in No Way Home as Spider-Man's biggest critic (and supplement spokesperson); The Daily Bugle, rather than being an establishment paper, has been reimagined as Jameson's pundit platform.

The character Matt Murdock makes his MCU debut as an attorney who’s advising Peter. Better known as Daredevil, Murdock is played by Charlie Cox, who also played the blind superhero in the Netflix streaming series. Up until now, that series has been non-MCU canon. This might signify a change in things, especially since Daredevil mainstay Vincent D’Onofrio is now playing Kingpin on Hawkeye.

Dum-E is a robot that a 16-year-old Tony Stark built at MIT and used as his personal assistant. It has appeared in multiple films, and it even saved Tony’s life in Iron Man. Dum-E is currently in Happy Hogan’s apartment—you can see it when Peter goes there to get some privacy. Later in the movie, Dum-E accidentally drops the LEGO Death Star (a callback to Spider-Man: Homecoming) when he’s helping Peter rebuild it.

We learn that post-Snap, Wong had been promoted to Sorcerer Supreme, because Strange was turned to ash for five years. We can see Wong in the New York Sanctum, taking care of a mess in Siberia (hence the snow) while Strange is drinking tea.

Just as they did in Far From Home, the filmmakers included comic book Easter Eggs in this movie. For example, the MIT rep’s license plate reads “63A5M-3.” This is a reference to the third issue of The Amazing Spider-Man, released in 1963, in which Dr. Octopus debuted. Mere moments later, Dr. Octopus debuts in the MCU and attacks Peter.

Aunt May delivers the iconic Spider-Man line—which appears in the final panel of Spider-Man’s very first comic book issue—right before she dies. She delivers the full line, unlike her Raimi predecessor: “With great power must also come great responsibility.”

During the scene where all the Peters are working in the lab, Ned calls out to them, and they all start pointing at each other in confusion. This is a homage to the above meme, from the 1960’s Spider-Man animated TV show.

The final fight takes place on the Statue of Liberty, which has been painted gold and holds a Captain America shield aloft instead of a torch (although the shield gets knocked off during the fight). No doubt, the MCU will explain this at some point; in Episode 5 of Hawkeye, Yelena made a reference to the “new-and-improved” Statue of Liberty.

Electro says that he thought Spider-Man was Black and reflects that there must be a Black Spider-Man somewhere out there in the multiverse. This is a possible reference to Miles Morales, who is Black and Puerto Rican and is Peter Parker's successor in the comics.

It seems that Miles' debut in the MCU is only a matter of time. There was a reference to Miles all the way back in Homecoming; Donald Glover/Childish Gambino played Aaron Davis, a small-time criminal who Spider-Man interrogated. Aaron is Miles' uncle in the comics, and in the movie, he tells Peter that his nephew lives in the city. 

Uncle Aaron is the most recent supervillain to take on the mantle of Prowler.

Peter (Garfield) gets the perfect redemption when he catches MJ right before she falls to her death; it’s a redo of his failed attempt to save Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He may not have been able to save “his MJ,” but at least he was able to save another’s.

When Peter (Maguire) stops Peter (Holland) from killing Green Goblin, it’s a callback to the first Spider-Man, when Green Goblin died due to being impaled by his glider. This time, Peter (Maguire) is able to prevent it.

There’s a heartbreaking detail near the end. Even though MJ doesn’t remember Peter, she still wears the Black Dahlia necklace that Peter gave her at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. There’s still a chance MJ could find her way back to Peter if she can remember, or at least figure out that she’s forgotten

We see the LEGO Emperor Palpatine mini-figure on Peter’s desk at the end of the movie, This is a callback to Ned’s debut scene in Spider-Man: Homecoming, when he asks Peter to build the LEGO Death Star with him.

The final scene is not so much a scene as it is a trailer for Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

The trailer doesn’t nail down any specific plot points, but we learn some key things. Wanda Maximoff will co-star in the film; Strange finds her in a garden, likely another illusion of her own making after the events of WandaVision. We see disillusioned sorcerer Mordo, who disagreed with Strange when he broke natural law in Dr. Strange, and will no doubt be pissed that the entire multiverse is now in jeopardy.

We also see what looks to be an evil Dr. Strange (perhaps from the What If…? Disney+ series?), which means that we could be in for a ton of cameos and alternate history Avengers. 

The whole thing looks trippy, and luckily, we won’t have to wait long. Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to be released on May 6, 2022, in theaters nationwide.