Last updated on August 26, 2025
Still From Spider-Man Episode “Double Identity”
Magic’s Head Designer Mark Rosewater dropped yesterday his traditional teaser for the upcoming Spider-Man Universes Beyond MTG set, and among the usual grab-bag of mechanics and card text hints he mentioned: “A famous Spider-Man meme is made into a card.”
He didn’t spell out which meme. But given the options, the heavy favorite is the two Spider-Men pointing at each other.
Sorry… What Spider-Man Meme?
Sensational Spider-Man – art by Dan Dos Santos
In case your alien spaceship just landed on Earth (and I hope you come in peace!), Mark is almost surely referring to this image, used in gazillion memes online:
Source: Gazillion memes on the web
The meme depicts a scene from the “Double Identity” episode of the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon, where a villain impersonates Spidey and the two accuse each other of being the fake.
Folks have been using this meme for more than a decade, and the meme became so popular that it even made it back to the real Spider-Verse: It’s a post-credits gag in Into the Spider-Verse, and a promo photo for No Way Home recreated it with Holland, Garfield, and Maguire. That’s why this one is very likely the “famous meme” that MaRo’s teasing.
What MaRo Actually Said
Alongside several other mechanics, creature types, and card names like “Spider-Verse,” “With Great Power…,” and “Spiders-Man, Heroic Horde,” Rosewater’s teaser lists “A famous Spider-Man meme is made into a card.” He doesn’t spell out exactly which meme we’ll get, but with how famous the pointing meme is, it would be a massive disappointment if it’s any other. And you have to give it to WotC: As they’ve shown us with the SpongeBob SquarePants Secret Lair, they do know a good meme when they see it:
If Spidey’s meme card is indeed the pointing gag, the obvious execution would be an effect that copies or mirrors a creature. Above all because among Mark’s teasers there’s also “a card that keeps the legend rule from applying to Spiders” (think of an arachno-Mirror Gallery) thus letting multiple versions of the same legendary Spider hero co-exist. In other words, it looks like we won’t just get the meme made into a card – we’ll be able to replicate it on the board! Which would line up really well with cloning and multiversal Spideys.
Another hilarious option would be a Trouble In Pairs reprint… but with how complex that card is, and how the Spider-Man set seems to be aimed at newer players, I’d doubt that that’s where this meme’s going (sadly!).
Spiders In All Colors
Even if you’re not too much into (or even put off a bit by…) memes, a couple of other teasers may be relevant. First, “A five-color Spider-Man” screams five-color Commander, letting the set’s many Peter/Miles/variants fight under a single Spidey commander.
We’ll also be getting a Legendary Sand Elemental Villain (Sandman, obviously) and it looks like it’s Morbin’ time: there’s also a Legendary Vampire Scientist Villain!
Green Goblin, Revenant – Illustration by Chris Rahn
Mark always publishes his teasers a week or two before the official reveals, so keep in mind nothing’s 100% confirmed until officially revealed (or, well, leaked, but thus far Spider-Man’s been airtight in that regard).
Also remember that we have no clue if the meme card will be draft chaff, a solid Commander card, or the next Standard-breaking staple. And that only tabletop players will get the meme: For reasons that are still not entirely clear, Spider-Man won’t come as-is to Magic’s digital platforms like MTGO or MTG Arena, but rather will have a reskinned version called “Through the Omenpaths” with different card names and card art.
In other words, if you play on MTG Arena you’ll get a Standard-legal set that is mechanically identical, but with different illustrations – so even if the digital version has two “somethings” pointing at each other, they won’t be Spidey.
We’ll know more once Spider-Man’s previews kick off during a showcase stream on August 29 at 3:30 pm PT on twitch.tv/magic.
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