How the Nueva York Chase Scene Pays Off Every Theme in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse feels like one of those comic book films that stands as a milestone in the entire genre. After that seminal first film it seemed like it couldn't be topped, but this movie massively improves on it in every single area. The chase scene through Nueva York at the midpoint of the movie is where all of that comes together, and it is the moment I want to break down here, from the build up to it, to what happens in the scene itself, to how it delivers on the themes set up in the earliest moments of the film.

I have to admit that on my first watch I thought the First Act of the film was a bit slow. There is a major turning point in the movie where everything hits the fan and it turns up to eleven, and in retrospect those early scenes are made even better by what happens in that turning point. It brings the entire movie together to cement its main themes.

Miles Morales Is Being Pushed to Follow Someone Else's Story From the Opening Scenes

After the intro with Gwen, we join Miles roughly one year on from the events of the first film. Being Spider-Man has taken a toll on his life, and he is missing lessons at school, his parents, parties, and is never really present. A defining scene mirrors one from the first movie in which his teacher is trying to map out what he is going to be. The first film had him working on a Great Expectations paper, whereas here he is handed a blank piece of paper. The teacher wants him to tell his own story and define who he is, rather than have everyone else push it on him.

We learn that Miles wants to attend Princeton, but his parents want him to stay home. He points out to his father that his father got to make his own choice, including going into business with his uncle Aaron, so Miles feels he should have that same right. Princeton is where he believes he can study and explore the multiverse further. Everyone around him is trying to get him to do what they want him to do, and that exact pressure is mirrored once he reaches the Spider Society later in the film.

The Spider Society and Miguel O'Hara Mirror That Same Pressure to Conform

After arriving at the Spider Society headquarters, Miles gets a tour of the area and meets its leader, Miguel O'Hara. Miguel is dealing with the fact that he lost his surrogate family through destroying an alternate reality, and he is now bearing the weight of the world, all worlds, on his shoulders. He is bitter, angry, and making difficult decisions in order to do what he sees as right. That comes at a cost: certain canon events mean that people around every Spider-Man and Spider-Woman variant have to die. These canon moments define the character, and with Miles being someone whose whole arc is about needing to find his own path, it works on an extra level.

Miguel works as a perfect opposite to Miles, showing how choosing the wrong path can eat away at a person's soul. Even though he reassures himself that they are the good guys, he can tell that he does not fully believe it, and he knows it is not a black and white issue. The Spot, by contrast, is very black and white in how he views everything, and thematically it works well to have these two serve as the movie's antagonists. Miguel is another pushy adult trying to tell Miles what his story should be, just as the teacher wanted him to define himself. Miguel and the other Spider-people want to enforce what should be canon, almost like a mob, giving the impression that this is the personification of peer pressure, with all of them having accepted that horrendous things have to happen because that is what the rules are.

Miles Breaks a Spider-Man Convention That Goes Back to Amazing Spider-Man Number 90

Miles refuses to back down and accept the fate handed to him, which involves the death of his father. We are told that every Spider-Man has to have a close police captain who dies in the line of duty trying to save someone else, something seen throughout every iteration of the character all the way back to Amazing Spider-Man number 90, when Captain Stacy was killed while saving a child from falling rubble. Since then it has gone on to be adapted in different versions of the character, with Andrew Garfield's variant even taking the spotlight in his own film.

Gwen has accepted that her dad has to die too, but Miles's actions actually end up saving him for her. By the end of the film her dad decides to give up his badge, meaning he will not die in the line of duty. Not only has Miles saved him, he has also saved this archetype from repeating the disastrous consequences it had in the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse universe. It still shows Miles going against the grain by saving the police captain archetype, which is clearly being set up with his own father throughout the film.

Miles Was Never Meant to Exist, Which Is Exactly Why Miguel Sees Him as a Threat

Miles being this anomaly extends to the plot itself. We discover that Miles was actually never meant to be, and that the spider from Earth 42 came through Kingpin's collider. The Spider-Man at the start of Into the Spider-Verse was not meant to die, and this only happened because Miles got in the way. Miguel views Miles as someone who should not exist, making him an anomaly not only in autonomy but in his very origins.

The Chase Begins With Miguel Lecturing Miles on Keeping Everything the Same

That takes us properly into the scene in which Miles refuses to let his dad die. Told almost like a lecture, Miguel explains how important it is that things stay the same, that events play out how they have a hundred times before. Miles goes against this, and it very much represents the purpose of the character in general. Miles was brought into the comics to change things up, and his introduction in the Ultimate Universe was done to make that book stand out, with Peter Parker dying and being replaced by Miles. It was a bold move by Brian Michael Bendis, who could have easily stuck to the status quo but instead took a chance. There was backlash at the time, but Bendis stuck to his guns, and Miles is now an extremely popular character.

I also appreciate how even the themes of this film nod to that overall creation. Miles is going against the grain and refusing to conform, and I do not think it is any coincidence that Spider-Punk is the person he sides with, someone who represents not doing what society tells him to. Spider-Punk and Miguel work almost like the angel and devil on Miles's shoulder, giving him the choice of who to follow.

The Chase Itself Throws Nearly Every Spider-Verse Variant at Miles

The scene itself is just so cool. The escape from the Spot, and everything that follows, blew me away, and even though I knew this chase scene was coming from the trailers, it did not prepare me for what I saw. Everything is thrown at him, and when the spider cats attack I thought that was as crazy as things were going to get, until a T-Rex swings in and it just gets crazier the more things go on. Miles becomes Public Enemy Number One with thousands of Spider-people rushing him as he barely makes it through by the skin of his teeth.

Among the variants chasing him are the Bagman going for him, a chibi Spider-Man in one corner, a Western one attempting an impromptu draw, and one in a wheelchair dropping crutch jokes, before we hit a 1960s version. It is one of those scenes that feels like it needs a hundred rewatches to catch everything, and it shows how rich the Spider-Man mythology has become. Seeing all these variants celebrated on screen like this feels like something else.

Peter B. Parker's Sacrifice Leads Into the Train Ride Toward the Stratosphere

The chase ramps up further, and we get a bit of a breather when Miles is pulled aside by Peter B. Parker, who tells him that he was the reason he wanted to have a child. You can see how much of a positive impact Miles has had on him: a man once told he is a terrible mentor, yet Miles has turned out pretty good in the grand scheme of things. We then realize Peter B. has been used as a way to track Miles, and he has to leave through some spinning cylinders to get away. The spider dropping off while Miles slips through could represent how he has managed to pass by, rather than being dropped into the pop cultural history that Peter B. represents.

The chase comes to a head when Miles makes his way onto a train traveling upwards into the stratosphere. Told by Miguel that he is not really a Spider-Man, Miles responds with the line that has opened Spider-Man comics for years: "I am Miles Morales. I was bitten by a radioactive spider." Miguel writes him off, calling him just a kid who does not know what he is doing, and Miles is held on his back and seemingly bitten. But Miles reveals he actually does know what he is doing, and that he has led all the Spider-people away deliberately so he can return to the base. At this point we get an incredible monologue that builds on everything set up earlier and shows why Miles is such an incredible character.

The Leap of Faith Confirms Miles Is Writing His Own Story, On Screen and in Comics History

Miles jumps off the train, taking a metaphorical leap of faith that builds off the back of the first film. He finally realizes he is going to be his own person and create his own story, rather than being dictated to or becoming just another Spider-Man variant. Miles is becoming his own man, something that has played out in the real world too. He could have easily become just another stock take on the character, but he has elevated himself much further beyond that, finally getting the respect he deserves and showing why he should be viewed as a valid character in his own right.

That is why this chase scene works on so many levels, in the film and in the character's real world history, and it is why I think the scene is a perfect payoff for everything the movie set up.

What else did you take from this scene, and how do you think it holds up against the rest of the film?