We’ve seen Spider-Man’s origin story almost as many times as we’ve seen Bruce Wayne’s parents eat hot lead in an alley. The whole “bitten by a radioactive/genetically-modified/magic-adjacent spider” tale has been told, rebooted, retconned, and repackaged so often that by the time the MCU introduced Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War, they wisely hit the fast-forward button. No need to show us another bug bite and a sobbing uncle. We get it. With great power comes great exhaustion.
But in doing so, Marvel may have quietly skipped over one of the most suspicious and potentially universe-breaking questions in Peter Parker’s story:
Where. Did. The. Spider. Come. From.
Normally, that kind of mystery could be shrugged off with a lazy “science stuff happened,” but No Way Home dropped a multiversal mic on all of us when Norman Osborn looked around MCU Earth and basically said, “Wow, I don’t exist here. Neither does Oscorp. Or my son. Or my high blood pressure from dealing with him.” That wasn’t just a fun little Easter egg. That was a seismic lore quake.
Because in almost every version of the Spider-Man mythos, Oscorp is the birthplace of Spider-Man’s powers—either directly or through one of its science-fair disasters. No Oscorp means there was no evil scientist leaning too hard on the “mutate a spider” lever. So, who did it? Stark Industries? AIM? Roxxon? Some basement dweller with a radioactive Etsy shop? Someone out there made a super-spider, and Marvel hasn’t told us who.
And that’s weird, because in most continuities, that spider didn’t just randomly wander out of a terrarium to bite Peter like it was having a bad day. It was a lab experiment. Meaning someone made it, probably for a nefarious purpose, and possibly noticed when it disappeared and turned into a teenage superhero with abandonment issues and a t-shirt costume budget. There’s a pretty big difference between “a freak accident” and “secret corporate bioweapon walking around in gym shorts.”
Initially, we were told that the animated series Spider-Man: Freshman Year would be a part of the MCU, a prequel to Civil War, and in doing so, would introduce Harry and Norman Osborn. For several reasons, none of this happened. First, there’s the fact that Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn states that Oscorp isn’t a thing in this reality, meaning he couldn’t possibly have existed in the MCU prior to No Way Home. Second, and most importantly, the writers flat out said that Freshman Year isn’t part of the main MCU and then went ahead and changed the name to Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. So there’s that.
And if there’s no Norman, there is no Harry, which means no Oscorp, and no obvious spider-producing company, which then opens the door for all kinds of shady new players. Is someone in the MCU secretly running the spider game? Are there more spider-kids waiting in the wings? Is this all a long con leading to Cindy Moon, aka Silk, or a proper Miles Morales intro? Don’t act like you wouldn’t be into that.
Now, to be fair, throwing Harry Osborn into the mix at any point would have messed with Peter’s dynamic with Ned, who basically has the best friend slot on lock. And it’s totally possible that MCU Norman Osborn does exist, just off the radar—maybe running some off-brand Oscorp equivalent from the shadows, complete with unethical experiments and an HR nightmare waiting to happen. Maybe Peter bumps into him in the next movie. Maybe he doesn’t.
But the longer Marvel stays silent about Peter’s spider origins, the louder the mystery buzzes in the background. Because that spider didn’t just show up for no reason. And when it comes to the MCU, nothing is truly random. Not even radioactive insect-related superpowers.
So until we get answers, we’ll be watching. Waiting. And side-eyeing every tech company in the MCU that has a research division and a suspiciously large arachnid budget.
