A big part of what makes the MCU’s Multiverse Saga so appealing for — let’s say — more mature fans, and why Avengers: Secret Wars is so enticing, is that it can help us better understand the fractured nature of the many Marvel movies of the 2000s, which each operated in their own pocket dimensions — in sharp contrast to the MCU.
At least, that’s what we thought, but a compelling fan theory might’ve just turned our understanding of those pre-Marvel Studios films on its head. Sure, we know there are no Avengers in Tobey Maguire’s Earth thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home, but that’s not to say he was the only hero on his world. So what if, as as one Redditor pitched, all of the Marvel movies of that era took place on Earth-Raimi.
Specifically, that’s Ang Lee’s Hulk (which we know is definitely not MCU canon), Fox’s X-Men franchise and OG Fantastic Four films, Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider, Wesley Snipes’ Blade trilogy, Ben Affleck’s Daredevil, and Thomas Jane’s Punisher. That’s a lot of extra players operating on Peter 2’s turf. But, actually, it makes a lot more sense than it seems at first glance.
Everyone remembers the Doctor Strange namedrop in Spider-Man 2, but the Punisher also makes a brief cameo in that same film’s final scenes. And a Hugh Jackman cameo in the 2002 film was slated to happen at one point. And then Reed Richards impersonated Wolverine in a Fantastic Four deleted scene. Daily Bugle employee Ben Urich appears in Daredevil and the supernatural nature of Blade and Ghost Rider means they could easily co-exist on the same Earth.
The clues are all there, then, so maybe Secret Wars could ultimately reveal that all of these characters come from the same universe. Maybe Earth-616 suffers an incursion with this universe — Earth-2002, perhaps? — and that’s how the old legacy stars return. What with a bunch of X-Men dropping by for Deadpool 3, it looks like we could get some clarity on this fascinating possibility soon enough.