What Makes Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse So Extraordinary

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse are the first two films in the Spider-Verse trilogy, and even though that trilogy is not yet finished, both films are already regarded by some as their favorite Spider-Man movies. I have been on a journey to dive deep into each of the mainstream Spider-Man movies, and after recently covering all nine live-action films, it would be disrespectful of me not to cover these two Spider-Verse films as well. So here we are, digging into what makes these two films so great, why they resonate with people so deeply, and how they stand out compared to the live-action films.

The Rocky Road to Into the Spider-Verse's Production

In November of 2014, shortly after it was announced that Sony wanted to put Spider-Man in the MCU, it was also announced that Sony was not going to punt on its own plans for the character. Sony co-chairman Amy Pascal approached directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller to see if they had interest in making an animated Spider-Man movie. Both were interested, on the condition that Miles Morales would be the protagonist and that the film would be based on Dan Slott's 2014 Spider-Verse comic. Pascal agreed and production got underway.

At Comic-Con 2015 it was announced the film would release in December of 2018 and would be completely independent from the live-action movies, with Bob Persichetti and Peter Ramsey co-directing and Rodney Rothman writing alongside Lord. The writing process was not smooth. Throughout 2015 and 2016 there were plenty of rewrites, and at times Sony felt the direction was too similar to the live-action films. In one version the film centered on the romance between Miles and Gwen Stacy, and while Gwen remained a big part of the film, that romance was no longer the central focus once the final script was locked.

In spring of 2017, Shameik Moore was cast as Miles Morales alongside Liev Schreiber, Mahershala Ali, and Brian Tyree Henry. Tobey Maguire was originally considered for Peter Parker, but that idea was scrapped to avoid confusion and the role went to Chris Pine instead. Over a year later, in summer of 2018, Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, John Mulaney, Nicolas Cage, and Kimiko Glenn rounded out the cast.

Building an Animation Style That Reads Like a Comic Book

What is arguably more impressive than the writing is the animation, and I want to address it once here rather than separately for both films because it is excellent in both. Lord and Miller wanted the films to feel like reading a comic book rather than a standard animated movie, and that focus bleeds through nearly every image. The amount of detail in nearly every sequence is astonishing, and I do not think an animated movie has ever had as much expression as these ones. Especially at the time, one of the biggest criticisms of the MCU films was how uninteresting they looked visually, and the Spider-Verse films took the complete opposite approach.

During the initial development of the first movie, only one animator was working on it. That number eventually grew to 60, and when it was clear that was not enough it grew to 142, with the highest count ever reported reaching 177 animators. I am not familiar with all the nuances of animation technique, so all I will say is that the final product is beautiful, and it is arguably the best animation I have ever seen. When the first trailer released in June of 2018, fans were immediately impressed, the animation was completed that October, and the movie released in theaters on December 14, 2018.

Miles Morales Learns to Leave His Comfort Zone

What makes Into the Spider-Verse so excellent is not just its central character and his arc, but the way the supporting characters reinforce that arc, which is what takes the movie from good to great. The movie opens with a day in Miles' life built entirely around contrast: comfortable in his bedroom working on his art, uncomfortable with his parents, comfortable out on the streets with his neighborhood, and completely uncomfortable in his new preppy school. This is a movie about a kid growing up and learning to leave his comfort zones.

A central figure for Miles is his dad, Jeff. They clearly love each other, but they do not entirely mesh, because Jeff sees greatness in Miles and wants to put him in a position to achieve it, which makes Miles very uncomfortable. Miles just wants to be a 14 or 15 year old kid, and that pressure drives a wedge between them, to the point that Miles even tries to flunk out of school, though the teachers can tell and it does not work. That pushes Miles toward the one person with no expectations of him, his uncle Aaron, who lets him pursue passions his father does not approve of. It is in the tunnels with Aaron that Miles gets bitten and everything changes.

I loved the decision not to glamorize Miles' new powers. In the other movies it is treated as pretty awesome, which to be fair it is, but here his new senses only exacerbate his insecurities: why is everyone looking at him, why is everyone talking about him, why is his hand stuck to the hair of the girl he is crushing on. There is a sad but important moment where Miles wants to call his dad about it, then hangs up because he does not feel comfortable telling him.

Spider-Man's Death Piles Impossible Expectations on Miles

Exploring his new powers leads Miles back into the tunnels, where he finds the super collider, the real Spider-Man, and Kingpin. Here is the one person who understands what Miles is going through, and he is killed. With his dying words, Spider-Man asks Miles to destroy the super collider, telling him the whole world is at stake, and Miles is left alone.

Rewatching this after Homecoming and Far From Home made me realize how much better this movie handled expectations than those two did. A big part of Peter's story in those films is living in a world with other superheroes and the expectations that come from Iron Man, and while I do not hate how those movies explored that, I think Into the Spider-Verse does it significantly better. The way Miles struggles feels a lot more realistic and relatable, and the weight only compounds throughout the movie. What drives storytelling is tension, and this is what anchors most of the film.

Far From Home does explore how Tony's death impacted Peter, but it is pretty much glossed over, whereas I love how this movie explores the fallout of the death of Spider-Man himself. To make matters worse, his dad's expectations directly contradict Spider-Man's, since Jeff does not even like Spider-Man. Miles has more pressure on him than ever, no comfort zones left, cannot even swing from buildings yet, and he accidentally breaks the key that could help him, more evidence in his own head that he is not ready.

Peter B. Parker Becomes Miles' Reluctant, Perfect Mentor

Just as Miles is ready to give up, another Spider-Man appears out of nowhere, exactly what Miles needs. Except this Spider-Man is a mess: Peter B. Parker has gone through a divorce, gained weight, cries all day, and no longer does anything productive as Spider-Man. He wants nothing to do with Miles and straight up tells him not to be Spider-Man and to go back to a normal life, which is exactly what Miles does not need. Of all the Spider-Man movies, Peter B. Parker is the best supporting character, and I would argue it is not even close, because he and Miles are so perfect for each other in how they help one another grow.

The source of Peter B's struggles is that MJ left him because he was not ready to have kids. The movie makes the distinction that Peter B is scared of having kids, not that he does not want one, and there is nothing wrong with not wanting kids, but there is something less than ideal about being so scared of it that you blow up your entire life. That insecurity spreads into every part of his life until he has no confidence in anything he does, and then a kid shows up needing his help.

The two are forced to work together, entering the secret labs where Miles discovers more of his powers while Peter B teaches him the Spider-Man basics. I love that by the end of the sequence both get a small win: Miles begins to learn what it means to be Spider-Man, and Peter B begins to see the value of being a parent through him. Maybe they are more ready than they thought, but both still have a long way to go, especially once Miles learns the other new spider people, including the girl he was crushing on, will die if they are not sent home in time, and that the collider must be destroyed or the multiverse tears apart.

Miles Hits Bottom Before His Father Gives Him the Confidence to Jump

Since Miles has no death clock over his head, it is the logical choice for him to send everyone home and destroy the collider himself, expectations he clearly is not ready for. He tries going to Uncle Aaron again, only to learn Aaron is the Prowler, the villain who has been chasing him all movie. This leads to the fight at Aunt May's house where Aaron dies sparing Miles, leaving Miles feeling responsible for the death of the closest person in his life. The other spider-people, trying to comfort him, instead validate his insecurities by telling him he is not ready and asking him to stay behind while Peter B. stays to destroy the collider and die in his place.

This is the low point of the story: nobody believes in Miles. While multiverses and spider-people are fantastical, the idea that stressful things just happen in your life that are out of your control is totally relatable, which is what makes Spider-Man movies able to evoke such realistic feelings from fantastical scenarios. Then Jeff shows up. Remember, it was also Jeff's brother who died, and it had been established that Jeff and Aaron grew apart because of how differently they saw the world, with Jeff seeing greatness in Aaron that Aaron was not using for good, and Aaron dying before they could make up.

Fearing his relationship with Miles could end the same way, Jeff reassures Miles that yes, he has high expectations for him, but that Miles will be great at anything he does because that is who Miles Morales is. Usually I do not like when a character's whole arc turns on one conversation, because it is often too easy and unrealistic, but because the movie does the legwork to build up to it, it works here. Miles has never lacked pressure, only confidence, and these words finally give him the confidence to take the leap of faith Peter B spoke of, both literally and metaphorically. Miles stepping off that building in his new suit and swinging through New York is nothing short of magical, and rewatching it reminded me of that feeling.

Miles saves the day, destroying the collider, and even the other spider-people can now tell he is ready because he is. He also reassures Peter B, who had planned to stay behind and die, really because he was too scared to go back to his own universe and face MJ or fatherhood. Miles tells him, as Peter B once told him, "You won't know. It's a leap of faith," and Peter B leaves for his dimension reassured. I love that Miles gets to help Peter B go on the same arc he just completed. Earlier in the movie the original Peter says something like, "Spider-Man always gets back up. Spider-Man always comes back," and sure enough, Spider-Man does come back, this time through Miles. As Stan Lee once said, "Anyone can be behind the mask," and this film exemplifies that message perfectly.

Into the Spider-Verse's Reception and the Rushed Path to a Sequel

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a great movie and a near-perfect Spider-Man movie to me. I do not love the villain, and I actually think he is pretty weak, but Miles and his arc are something special. The film scored 97% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 93% audience score, an 8.4 out of 10 on IMDb, and grossed 394 million dollars at the box office on a budget of just 90 million, a solid financial win for Sony.

In November of 2018, a month before release, Sony had already begun work on a sequel because of the buzz surrounding the first film, though for some reason I could not find, it was not officially announced until November of 2019. Lord and Miller returned as producers, and the film was given a release date of October 7, 2022. Before anything was written it was said the movie would be about family and the struggle of being both Spider-Man and a son. Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson joined Joaquim Dos Santos as co-directors, with Lord, Miller, and Dave Callahan writing.

In December of 2021, nearly three years after the first film, Lord and Miller revealed the sequel had grown too large for one movie and would be split into two parts, Across the Spider-Verse and Beyond the Spider-Verse, worked on simultaneously. That pushed Across to June of 2023 and gave Beyond a release date of March 2024.

Reports of a Difficult Production Behind Across the Spider-Verse

To no one's surprise, Across the Spider-Verse was going to take things further, with a lot more spider people and a handful of new locations, quite the animation challenge. But this cannot be discussed without the controversies around the working conditions. It was reported that many animators faced difficulties due to the demands from the creators, and apparently constant revisions caused over 100 artists to leave the project before completion, with it also said there was no way Beyond the Spider-Verse would be finished in time for its March 2024 date. Sony denied these allegations, but I am more inclined to believe the individual workers rather than the big corporation.

In May of 2023, director Kemp Powers said the film would end on a cliffhanger, something the writers felt confident doing since both Across and Beyond had already been greenlit by Sony. Production wrapped on May 20, 2023, just 13 days before release. At 140 minutes, the film ran 23 minutes longer than the first movie, making it the longest animated movie produced by an American company. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse released in theaters on June 2, 2023.

Gwen Stacy's Search for Belonging Opens Across the Spider-Verse

Across the Spider-Verse is another marvel to me, and even though it is only the first half of a larger story, I would argue it is better than Into the Spider-Verse. It is bigger in every way, more characters, more locations, more at stake, yet it feels more personal, because the impact of the ending depends entirely on your feelings for these characters rather than the fate of the multiverse. That is impressive for a movie about the multiverse. It reminds me a lot of No Way Home, another film with not much plot because so much is built toward the ending hitting as hard as possible, and I would argue even more is at stake here because this one ends on a cliffhanger.

The ending hinges on two things: the importance of Miles saving his father, and the importance of Gwen's decision to help him, and the entire two hours and twenty minutes are devoted to making both of those moments work. The movie opens with a 20 minute prologue on Gwen's life that reaffirms her development from the first film. She is lonely, she is Spider-Woman but has no friends, the death of Peter has clearly impacted her, and she feels distant from her father, a cop who is after Spider-Woman.

While the first movie was about expectations, this one is about belonging, and shifting the main supporting character from Peter B to Gwen was smart, because Gwen struggles with belonging just as much as Miles does, while Peter B had already found all the belonging he needed. After fighting the Vulture, Gwen finally opens up to her father about who she is, and the conversation does not go the way she needs it to. Heartbroken, she takes the spider-people up on their offer to join their Spider Society, which she already sees as family from the first movie, and leaves with no intention of returning home.

Miles Discovers the Spider Society's Devastating Truths

We then find Miles doing better than Gwen, confident as Spider-Man that he can handle the villain of the week, but underneath he is struggling to balance being Spider-Man with being Miles, fearful of how his family would react if he told them the truth. In a way, it plays as an allegory for teenagers opening up to parents about anything, whether that is a hobby, a passion, or their sexuality, and I love how unique that is compared to the other films.

His mother Rio is far more developed here, focused on making sure Miles knows no one should ever tell him he does not belong, and his father Jeff gets more screen time too, still not on the same wavelength as his son, even funnily talking to Spider-Man about his struggles with Miles. I love what these scenes do for Jeff, because the ending hinges on caring whether he might die, and they show he is not a perfect father but a genuinely good man trying hard to build that relationship, which the other Spider-Man movies rarely give room for since Peter usually has no father and Uncle Ben always dies early.

Despite their best intentions, Rio and Jeff's efforts drive Miles away, especially after his dream of going to Princeton is met with hostility that we know comes from love but Miles does not yet understand. When Gwen shows up and tells him about the Spider Society, Miles is so excited he follows her through the portal without saying goodbye to his mom or dad, something that matters later.

Surrounded by hundreds if not thousands of spider people in Nueva York, Miles learns three devastating truths all at once. First, the Spider Society is not about saving people, it is about making sure canon events happen no matter how devastating. Second, his father's death is a canon event, set to happen in two days, and Gwen's father will die too, something she has already accepted, a horrifying realization for Miles. Third, Miles learns he is an anomaly, since the spider that bit him came from a different universe, meaning he was never supposed to become Spider-Man and does not belong in the Society. Miguel rejects and belittles him, the turning point of the film.

Jeff's Impending Death and the Hitchcock Bomb Theory

I love the backstory given to Miguel here too, because it is clear he is not a villain, just the antagonist. He went to an alternate world, had a family, and that family died because of him, and I would be traumatized as well. What is presented is essentially a multiversal trolley problem: Jeff must die or the entire universe must die. Miles refuses to accept it, tired of being told what to do and how his story is supposed to go, remembering the promise to his mom that he would stand up for himself, a promise that now applies to the Spider Society too. In the chase sequence that follows, visually breathtaking, Miles says, "Everyone keeps telling me how my story is supposed to go. Nah, I'mma do my own thing," rejecting Miguel and heading home to tell his parents the truth and stop his father from dying.

Anchoring the second half of the movie on Jeff's impending death was an excellent choice, not just because of how it relates to Miles' story but because of the tension it creates. In nearly every Spider-Man movie someone close to Spider-Man dies, including Aaron in the first Spider-Verse film, so this should feel expected, but it works because of the time spent making us like Jeff and because we already know it is coming. This reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's bomb theory, which I have referenced before: a bomb going off with no warning is a surprise, but telling the audience a bomb is under the table and ticking down creates tension instead. Here, Jeff's death is the bomb and Miles' knowledge of it is the timer, and the film ending before that timer hits zero is a powerful choice.

Gwen's Reconciliation and the Cliffhanger Ending

Meanwhile, Gwen gets sent back to her world for her mistakes and confronts her father, something that terrifies her, except what happens is beautiful: Captain Stacy resigns as captain because he loves his daughter so much. That moment is crucial to Gwen's decision to go after Miles, since his dedication to saving his father is what motivated her to give her own father another chance, and in return she wants to return the favor. Miles also opened her eyes to the flaws of the Spider Society, and since it accepted her from the start it is easy to see why she would be more forgiving of it, but through Miles she now sees what being a spider person is actually supposed to mean, refocusing her moral compass.

Gwen also learns a way to save Jeff: since Captain Stacy resigned, he is no longer affected by the canon event because he is no longer captain, giving hope that what is coming can be changed, and the question of whether she can get that news to Miles in time creates real tension. Miles finally musters the courage to tell his parents the truth, confident it will bring them closer, only to find this is a different Rio Morales in a universe where his father is already dead. He needs to save his own father in time and leave this dimension, but is captured by an alternate Uncle Aaron and an alternate Miles Morales.

I love the decision to end the movie right here, because despite this being the second film in a multiversal story, it is the first time we see another Miles Morales, and the possibility that he might be a villain is intriguing. It cuts to black on one of the best endings to a comic book movie I have seen, and one of the best sequels in recent memory. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse scored 95% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 95% audience score, an 8.5 out of 10 on IMDb, and grossed 690 million dollars on a budget of 150 million, another financial success for Sony.

Beyond the Spider-Verse Remains Years Away

As anyone could probably guess, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse did not meet its March 2024 release date. Over two years later, the movie still has not been released, and at the moment it is scheduled for June 18, 2027, so hopefully we can talk about it then. Until that happens, we are left with two great films that represent Spider-Man so well.

So what did you think about the two Spider-Verse films?