‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Features ‘Shaun of the Dead’ Easter Egg

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse contains countless Easter eggs that reference various corners of the Marvel universe, yet the film’s many references aren’t limited to things that only devout Marvel fans would recognize. The film’s co-director, Rodney Rothman, shared on Twitter that there’s a reference to Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead.

Wright himself revealed the Easter egg by sharing an image of not only the scene where the reference appears, but also shared a better look at the poster that can be seen in the background. However, rather than it being an image of “Shaun of the Dead,” it is instead called “From Dusk Till Shaun,” which is a play on the horror film From Dusk Til Dawn.

On his own account, Rothman detailed how the reference came to be.

The director confirmed, “Spider-Verse takes place in a universe like ours but NOT ours. So we asked some favorite filmmakers, musicians, and authors and others to tell us what they would make in an alternate universe. We put those things in Miles’ universe. Many things. We open tomorrow. Happy hunting.”

Not only is this poster a nod to an alternate dimension version of the film, it’s also a nod to a long-rumored sequel to the 2004 horror-comedy. Sadly, star Simon Pegg claims that this might be the closest we get to seeing the film ever come together.

“I jokingly wrote a treatment for From Dusk Till Shaun, which was a sequel to Shaun of the Dead,” Pegg explained to Entertainment Weekly last year. “It was all about Shaun and Ed (Nick Frost) having to go up to Edinburgh, or something. I don’t know. It was ridiculous. And it was a joke. It wasn’t like a serious pitch. Edgar thought it would be funny to do the film again, but with vampires. But it was all just pub talk.”

Despite this plan being “pub talk,” Wright confirmed details about a plan for a Shaun of the Dead follow-up.

“There was a brief idea we had, that we entertained for all of like 72 hours, where I thought you could do an alternate reality sequel.” Wright revealed. “It basically starts with the same movie but then it becomes not about zombies. But these films, they take three years. So, it’s like, if you’re doing another movie, let’s do something completely different.”

Check out Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse when it hits theaters Friday to spot the film’s many Easter eggs.