Editor's note: The following article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
The Big Picture
- Across the Spider-Verse is worth the five-year wait, delivering emotional depth, character growth, and a spectacular superhero extravaganza.
- Miles inadvertently created his own nemesis in the first movie, and now he must confront the consequences and stop The Spot from becoming a danger to Spider-People everywhere.
- Miles is the original anomaly in the Spider Society and risks erasing an entire timeline as he tries to change his fate and save his father, with the help of Gwen Stacy and a team of friendly Spider-People.
It took five years for a sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but the wait was well worth it. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is everything we want from a Spider-Man story, as the film puts emotional struggle and character growth at its core while delivering a spectacular superhero extravaganza. However, since Across the Spider-Verse is the first part of a story that'll wrap with Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, many loose threads are left hanging when the credits roll. In addition, Across the Spider-Verse is not afraid to explore alternate dimensions and timelines, featuring a cast of dozens of Spider-People, all with critical roles to play. There's a lot to unpack, so let's break down the ending of Across the Spider-Verse and discuss what it means for Beyond the Spider-Verse.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Animation
Superhero
Action
Adventure
Miles Morales catapults across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero.
- Release Date
- June 2, 2023
- Director
- Joaquim Dos Santos , Kemp Powers , Justin K. Thompson
- Cast
- Shameik Moore , Hailee Steinfeld , Oscar Isaac , Jake Johnson
Miles' Multiverse Nemesis
Into the Spider-Verse sees Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) gaining superpowers when a radioactive spider bites him. After that, Peter Parker dies in Miles' timeline while trying to save the boy from dying in a particle collider explosion. As a result, Miles must step up and become Spider-Man, saving the whole Multiverse by stopping Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin (voiced by Liev Schreiber), from shattering the barrier between worlds. It's a thrilling adventure that features many Spider-People from other dimensions, including Gwen Stacy (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld). But as Across the Spider-Verse shows, the danger was not over once the Kingpin was taken down. That's because Miles inadvertently created his nemesis in Into the Spider-Verse.
While researching Multiverse travel for Fisk, a scientist called Dr. Jonathan Ohnn (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) transports a radioactive spider to Miles' timeline. While Miles inhabits the dimension known as Earth-1610, the spider that bit him comes from Earth-42. So, in a sense, Dr. Jonathan created Miles' Spider-Man. Similarly, by exploding Fisk's particle collider, Miles has transformed Dr. Jonathan's body, turning him into the supervillain The Spot. The Spot can use portals to travel through space and decides his sad origin story turns him into Spider-Man's nemesis. Unfortunately, Miles is too busy with his life to give the villain the attention he wants. As a result, The Spot crosses the Multiverse while trying to increase his powers, slowly becoming capable of jumping between dimensions. By doing this, The Spot becomes a danger to Spider-People everywhere, which is why the villain becomes a top priority for the Spider Society, a Multiverse team of Spider-People dedicated to fighting time-space anomalies.
Miles Morales is the Original Anomaly
After Gwen is tasked with surveilling The Spot, Miles gets entangled in a journey across the Spider-Verse to stop the villain. At every step of the way, Miles is told he doesn't belong in the Spider Society, contrary to all his friends. The reason is that Miles is the original anomaly that unleashed all the Multiverse villains the Spider Society is now trying to stop. The spider from Earth-42 was supposed to bite that dimension's Peter Parker. Instead, it got transported to Miles' timeline, turning him into a hero. Because of that, Earth-42 doesn't have a Spider-Man, and fate has tried to correct Miles' timeline by killing his Peter Parker Variant. In addition, Miles' actions led to the creation of The Spot. So, it's safe to say the Spider Society is not too fond of the young hero.
To make matters worse, the Multiverse works to define the canon moments of every Spider-Person's life. Every version of Spider-Man goes through the same key events, including losing a loved person that'll push them to become a hero. Another key event in every Spider-Person's journey is when a close police captain sacrifices their life during a big confrontation between the hero and his nemesis. In Miles' case, fate determines his father Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyree Henry) will die while saving a child, as the hero fights The Spot. It's a future Miles wants to stop at any cost, which puts him at odds with the Spider Society. By altering canon events, Miles risks erasing an entire timeline. So, the Spider Society's leader, Miguel O'Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099 (voiced by Oscar Isaac), decides to imprison Miles until his father dies, preserving the Multiverse.
Miles is tired of people telling him how his story should unfold, so he escapes the Spider Society's forces and uses one of the high-tech teleporters in their base to return to his reality. There's only one issue: the machine scans the target's DNA to send them to the right timeline. But since Miles was bitten by a DNA-altering spider from Earth-42, he's sent to that dimension instead.
The Grim Reality of Earth-42
In Earth-42, Miles witnesses the chaos caused by the absence of a Spider-Person. New York is in shambles, with the Sinister Six controlling the streets while the police forces cannot fight back. In addition, Miles' father is dead. However, his Uncle Aaron (voiced by Mahershala Ali) is alive. At first, Miles is happy to meet his uncle again. However, when the criminal knocks Miles down and takes him to his apartment, Miles realizes that without Spider-Man, the Prowler has become more powerful than he ever was. What's worse, in Earth-42, Miles dons the Prowler's suit while Uncle Aaron acts as his sidekick.
Across the Spider-Verse ends as the two Miles Variants face each other. The Prowler Miles is curious about different dimensions and seems unwilling to let the Spider-Man Miles go. At the same time, Spider-Man Miles is ready to fight his way out of captivity because he knows the Spot is coming for his father on Earth-1610. The stakes couldn't be higher for Beyond the Spider-Verse. Luckily for Miles, he won't have to fight alone.
Gwen Stacy to the Rescue
At the beginning of Across the Spider-Verse, we learn that Gwen caused the death of her version of Peter Parker, who becomes her reality's Lizard. Since tragedies always come in pair, Peter's death is witnessed by Gwen's father, a police captain who swears to hunt down Spider-Woman. After a Renaissance Variant of the Vulture attacks Gwen's dimension, Spider-Woman receives an unexpected backup from the Spider Society. Amid the chaos, Gwen’s father discovers her secret identity and still decides to arrest her. Because of that, Gwen escapes into the Multiverse and joins the Spider Society.
As a member of the Spider Society, Gwen is informed of Miles' status as the original anomaly. She also learns about canon moments and realizes her father is destined to die while she fights a supervillain. Unwilling to face her father or cause his death, Gwen stays away from her dimension. However, after she fails to stop Miles, Miguel kicks Gwen out of the Spider Society and sends her back home.
In her dimension, Gwen learns her father had a change of heart and decided to support her. Furthermore, Gwen's father quits the force, knowing his job as a police officer puts him on a collision course with Spider-Woman. At this moment, Gwen realizes that Miguel might be wrong and that changing canon moments is possible. So, Gwen decides to go after Miles and protect him from the Spider Society. That’s possible because, while she lost access to the Spider Society's technology, Gwen was gifted a Multiverse teleport by Hobie, aka Spider-Punk (voiced by Daniel Kaluuya).
Gwen doesn't take long to realize that Miles is not in his original dimension due to his spider DNA. So, Gwen decides to assemble a team of friendly Spider-People to scour the Multiverse, find Miles, and help him save his father. This team includes all the Spider-People from Into the Spider-Verse, such as Peter B. Parker (voiced by Jake Johnson), Spider Noir (voiced by Nicolas Cage), Peni Parker (voiced by Kimiko Glenn), and Spider-Ham (voiced by John Mulaney). Gwen also finds allies in Pavitr Prabhakar (voiced by Karan Soni), Hobie, and Spyder-Byte (voiced by Amandla Stenberg). A Spider-War is coming, and Gwen's team is ready to tip the scales of the conflict in Miles' favor.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
