When the superhero “Spider-Man” is referenced in the film industry, people immediately think of either Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, or Tom Holland from the live-action film trilogies. The real Spider-Man series that deserves the spotlight is Sony Pictures animated “Spider-Verse” series. Unlike the live action films that only focus on one particular Spider-Man, this series centers around numerous Spider-Mans from multiple universes, with rebellious teenager and fellow Spider-Man, Miles Morales, being the eyes and ears through it all. 

The series started in 2018 with the film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” and now five years later, the sequel, titled “Across the Spider-Verse,” has hit theaters and is knocking audiences out of their seats. 

Plot:

A year after the events of the first film, Miles Morales is struggling to maintain balance between his family life and his life as Spider-Man. Everything goes haywire when a new villain from another universe, Spot, threatens to kill Miles and ruin his life just as Miles ruined his by turning him into a white monster with black dots. Pairing together with his former friend Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman, Miles travels throughout the multiverse in pursuit of Spot and winds up coming across an entire Spider-Man society, led by Miguel O’Hara/ Spider-Man 2099. In the Spider Society, Miles learns hard truths about the multiverse and what his future holds, and must decide between keeping the universe in balance or preventing those events from happening due to the emotional distress they will have on him.

Reception:

What made “Into the Spider-Verse” so incredible was its intelligent story, emotional tone and breath-taking animation. “Across the Spider-Verse” succeeds in replicating this, mostly with the animation as various animation styles were used for various Spider-Mans to represent their universe. There were even live-action universes and LEGO universes to be seen here. The film also hit hard with its dark and emotional tone, as we see the tragic stories that both Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy face with Gwen’s father trying to arrest her and Miles’s parents belittling him for never being there on account of him being Spider-Man. The film cleverley mixes this in with beautifully animated and wild action sequences along with some clever humor in the process.  

The only flaw that could be said about this movie was the ending, which ended with a massive cliffhanger. Though the plot wasn’t too reliant on set-up over story, some could argue that this film was only a set-up for the third film in the series, “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse,” guaranteed to be a cash-grab after this film. 

Overall:

The trequel, “Beyond the Spider-Verse” will be released in 2024. When that happens, audiences should prioritize seeing it as soon as possible.