Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” the sequel to the critically acclaimed and wildly popular “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” was released on June 2. The movie delivers an impactful, heartfelt coming-of-age story wrapped up in a visually stunning and unique animation style, setting the stage for the third installment while teasing high stakes and a thrilling finish to the trilogy.
Spider-Man has set himself apart from other superheroes as a relatable, underdog character whose mantle can be taken up by anyone with a pure heart and a dedication to putting others before themselves. While he does have superhuman abilities, Spider-Man’s greatest power has always been his sense of responsibility to others and doing the right thing no matter the cost.
“Into the Spider-Verse” understands this sentiment behind the character and portrays a high-school kid, Miles Morales, as someone who looks up to the main Spider-Man of his universe. When Miles is also bitten by a spider, he realizes the responsibilities that have fallen upon him and steps up to meet them.
The film, however, chooses not only to focus on Miles’ story as Spider-Man but also on Miles’ story as a high-school sophomore with great ambitions and dreams for his future. Miles struggles with what it means to be Spider-Man and what he has to sacrifice from his personal life to uphold the mantle, including his relationship with his parents, his friends and, of course, other Spider-Men.
The movie also excels in balancing out its expansive array of Spider-Men, skillfully devoting appropriate time to each based on their relevance and impact on the overall story. Spider-Woman Gwen Stacy, Miles’ confidant and close friend from the first movie, gets her turn in the light with a deeper emphasis on her origin story, her emotional struggles with her father, Captain Stacy, and her evolving relationship with Miles. To maintain the mystery behind Gwen’s motivation, the movie often reverts to Miles’ perspective to keep the audience intrigued and trying to guess her intentions.
The movie remains consistently fast-paced so the audience has the opportunity to meet newer Spider-Man characters. Immediate standouts are Pavitr Prabhakar or Spider-Man India and Miguel O’Hara or Spider-Man 2099. The former is a goofy, witty, wise-cracking Spider-Man from the city of Mumbattan, a fictional combination of Mumbai and Manhattan, who teams up with Miles and Gwen in their journey across the multiverse to defeat the movie’s primary villain, The Spot.
The love and attention to detail by the creators of the movie is especially apparent in scenes with Miles, Gwen and Spider-Man India in Mumbattan as the dialogue of the city’s citizens is in Hindi and the textualized action sound effects sprinkled throughout the movie appear in Hindi as well. These small details work well to endear the audience to the film and are a big step towards faithful representations of ethnic groups in movies produced by large film studios.
In contrast, Miguel O’Hara is unlike all the other Spider-Men audiences have met so far. Dark and secluded, he speaks with an ominous voice and has an ever-present expression of anger and disgust on his face. He operates as the leader of the Spider-Society, a collection of Spider-Men from across the multiverse, with the purpose of maintaining and preserving the order of cannon events that occur in the ‘Spider-Verse’. Spider-Man 2099’s calculating and precise mind immediately identifies Miles as an anomaly in the multiverse and instructs him that he cannot save his father from The Spot in order to preserve the multiverse.
Confused and outraged, Miles turns to Gwen and other Spider-Men for guidance but hears the same from them. They emphasize that the sacrifice of loved ones is part of every Spider-Man’s story, leaving Miles to question both his story as both Miles and Spider-Man. This serves as the main theme of the story as it portrays Miles’ struggle to become the Spider-Man he believes he is, not just the canonical carbon copy of other Spider-Men. This theme works well to set this movie apart from previous Spider-Man projects as it poses the important question of what it means to be Spider-Man. The answers to such a question are very subjective which works in favor of the movie. Since each audience member’s answer is driven by their personal experiences, this allows everyone to take something different from this movie.
The movie sets its characters and central theme against a backdrop of gorgeous visuals, further improving upon the unique, comic book-inspired animation style of the first movie. Each frame in the movie looks like a comic book page that has come to life with characters and environments shrouded in deep textures and detailed shadings. This animation style works amazingly well in scenes with high-stakes action and chaos as well as in scenes with somber character moments. The movie’s creators also went the extra mile and used a slightly varied animation style for each universe the characters visit to ensure each universe feels unique and different.
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” tells a story that stands strong on its own while also improving upon everything that worked in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” all while connecting to the overall story arc planned for the trilogy. The movie ends on a massive cliffhanger with Miles being transported to the wrong universe, one where his father has passed away and the version of himself in this universe has taken on the role of the villain, the Prowler. Simultaneously, Gwen tries to assemble Spider-Men from both this movie and the previous one to form a team that can try and save Miles. This ending has fans waiting for the epic finale in the third movie of the trilogy, “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse,” set to release in March of 2024.
This movie will perhaps showcase Miles fighting against his alternate self in the form of the Prowler and will feature their clashing ideologies as its main theme. By showcasing the team of Spider-Men led by Gwen to save Miles, the movie also might also showcase that even a character as headstrong and resilient as Spider-Man also needs help at times.
Ishan Varshney is an Arts & Entertainment Intern for the spring 2023 quarter. He can be reached at ivarshne@uci.edu.