The (un)Subtle Genius of Across the Spider-Verse 

This review made me realize that part of the reason why Gwen was so willing to believe Miguel was that if he was right, then her Peter was cosmically fated to die and therefore she didn't need to feel guilty about how he did

Can I just say how much I love The Spot as a villain? He's granted nigh-unparalleled cosmic power, the ability to see and go anywhere in creation, and he's just... a petty asshole. He tries to break into an ATM. He's pissy about how being a henchman was a bad career path, and about how Miles chucked a bagel at his head once. He whines about Miles not taking him seriously. And his end goal is just... petty vengeance. He's the *ultimate* anti-Spiderman. With Great Power comes Great Petulance.

Hobie is the first positively-portrayed anarchist character I've ever seen in popular media. He's just so fucking cool and 100% my favorite character in the whole movie, who stole the whole show the instant he showed up. And that's wild, because Jess' introduction was literally "hey, look at this lady, she's the coolest person on the planet" before she manages to kneecap herself by being a jerk. I just need way more Hobie, and second the demand for just Hobie and Gwen being buds and chilling in Hobie's punk universe.

I didn't think that anything could top the "heroic defining moment" better than the first movie's leap of faith sequence, but Across the Spiderverse did it with Miles outnumbered and overwhelmed on a train speeding to the moon, and the line: "Nah, Imma gonna do my own thing...!"

Hobie is so chaotic he literally shifts between being animated on 1s, 2s, and 3s. That's dedication

I love how, by the end, Gwen also broke a canon event. Her dad quit being a cop, so Cpt Stacy won't die, breaking the canon.

I love how Peni had like only 1 line and a few seconds of screen-time in the new movie and yet the internet absolutely lost their shit over that one scene

The Intervention Scene is so goddamn excellent. The fact that you can tell that the writing staff is just as frustrated with comic book stories, but especially Spider-Man stories and the turns they keep taking feels me with so much vindication. It got across (at least) 3 powerful messages to writers in such a short time: - You don't need status quo's and strict adherence to established canon to make a good, memorable story. - Being a hero may mean dealing with the fact that you *cannot* save everyone, but *that is no excuse to refuse to try save anyone*. - And for the love of GOD let your heroes feel a sense of levity for being heroes.

The animation and score made the Spot a legit cosmic horror and I can't get over that

Such a great movie the only bad thing is that it ended. People are not tired of superhero movies, they are tired or bad ones

What really gets me when George Stacy admits he quit the force is that it really breathes life into him, he’s not just a character with a tragic fate ahead of him, he’s his own person who makes his own decisions. The same way I love the detail that Rio is bad at giving speeches and is prone to oversharing while giving one, isn’t that so cool that all these characters feel like real people with real choices and real traits? Furthermore, the movie has a very strong subtext about generational trauma, as many films the past few years have, lol. Miles looks at this older generation of spider people, who as you so eloquently put it, are trying to marry their suffering and trauma to their purpose, to the point wherein it seems impossible to disconnect the two. Miles literally says “nah, imma do it my own way”, which is such a beautiful thing to hear, a kid looking at his elders and seeing them for who they are and knowing that he can become something different, maybe even something better. We don’t have to suffer to find purpose, we can do good without having bad be done to us. I could also just go on about the racial aspect, Rio tearfully talking to Miles about how in some places people won’t protect him the way his family does, and how he can’t allow those people to tell him he doesn’t belong, and how he takes that with him regardless of whether it’s about being Afro-Latino or it’s about being Spider-Man, but I don’t want to clog your comments with an essay, so I’ll just end it off with a thank you for such an awesome video.

It's criminal to leave out that, during the entire chase scene, Peter B. Parker is the ONLY one that actually keeps up with Miles because he's the only one actually willing to listen to him and talk things out. And while Gwen certainly cares about Miles, she can't fully commit to hearing him out because she herself is too conflicted about her own situation, leaving it to Peter, the grown up, that already got over himself enough to actually CARE about Miles' pain, no strings attached.

21:00 It's never touched on in the movie, but I feel like Hobie worked with Miguel, not because he didn't object to Miguel's ideas, but because he knew exactly how messed up the whole Spider Society is as a concept and stuck around to keep an eye on them. Dude's all about rebelling against Authoritarianism and Miguel's extreme adherence to 'canon' is just another shade of it, and the minute he saw that Miles was the one that could start undoing it, he does what he can to motivate him and ducks out when the rest of the Society try to stop him.

I like the metatext that while Miguel may be correct in a big picture sense, all of the other Spider-People (except for Miles) are ignoring the core principle of what it means to be Spider-Man: If you can help, you should help. Or "With great power, there must also come great responsibility". And Miles truly embodying it, and saying that that's more important to Spider-Man's character than his life being defined by tragedy...would make most comic writers want to tear themselves in half like Rumpelstiltskin.

As both an artist and a horror fan, I absolutely *adore* the design of the Spot, as well as the writing behind him. At the beginning of the movie he's total comic relief and his design plays into that; his torso is a bit too short and his limbs are a bit too long, giving him an awkward sort of look that enhances the comedy. But then when the writing starts to take him more seriously as a genuinely terrifying threat, the traits that made him awkward like the too-long limbs start contributing to the horror and the feeling of Wrongness about him and starts becoming genuinely disturbing! Absolute top tier villain design and writing imo.

I felt like the canon event problem was aimed less at fans who don't accept Miles, and more at Marvel Editorial who can't accept Peter's life being anything more that tragedy after tragedy, because if Spider-Man isn't suffering constantly it doesn't count for some reason

This proves that Spider-Man just works better in animation. There’s a flexibility that the medium allows that is just perfect for capturing the inherent ridiculous nature of the character whilst giving him the level of stylisation he deserves

One small thing I think this movie has a leg up on compared to "Into the Spiderverse" is an increased diversity of the way in which the various Spider-People use their webs. Like don't get me wrong- the first movie was a lot of fun. But the majority of variants used their webslingers in roughly the same way as each other (even Peni and her Mech in the few times we see webbing used it mostly manifests in roughly the same way). But in this movie there's a lot of variety on that front. In the year of development Miles and Gwen have developed a style that has them practically dancing through the air as they swing. Jess Drew uses hers in-conjunction with her motorcycle to really get around and also hit opponents really hard without putting herself or her kid at-risk. Miguel's are super sci-fi lasers that are shown to have grappling-like abilities and a few other tricks to help him play into his "brick shithouse" factor. Also Sun-Spider, who faithfully adapts the comic-book version's implementation of webshooting crutches, which just looks cool by virtue of no other person in the film trying to do the same. And of course there's Pavitr. Who mixes in the more standard webshooters with a pair of armbands and a super agile body to give us some of the coolest and most acrobatic-looking action from a Spider-Man so far. Like pretty much all his action in his home Dimension show Pav off as a fun and cool incarnation that's super different from everyone else by virtue of that one little difference.

Ok so I saw the movie earlier today and I have some analysis about Hobie that I'm sure someone has done already but I want to write it out myself. Spoilers ahead Ok so Hobie was all set to betray Miguel the moment he realized that Miles might be in trouble. The first thing to tell us this is that Hobie actively congratulates Miles when he stopped the cannon event from happening. Presumably every Spider-person who the event isn't for gets an alert when one is about to happen to keep them from interfering, this includes Hobie. He *knows* Miles just broke the rules in a major way and he's *estatic* about it. If I remember right, he's the only person who actually congratulates him on the rescue (Other than Pavitr of course). Next, when Miguel orders all of them to come to the Spider-Lobby (I don't think it had an official name and if it did I forgot it) Hobie puts his arm around Miles then says "I don't follow orders and neither does he". I initially read this as Hobie trying to keep Miles safe from Miguel, in a "We'll run right now if we have to kind of way" but the more I think about it, I don't think this is the case. I think Hobie believed that Miles knew he was breaking a cannon event and that's why he tacked on "and neither does he" at the end. Once Hobie realizes that Miles is ecstatic to go to the Spider-Lobby, he starts to second guess himself. He asks Gwen how much Miles knows, discovers he knows basically nothing and on the spot switches to talking Miles out of joining. Telling him to make his own watch and that he wouldn't like being in this group. When Miles asks why Hobie is even there, he's says he's there to look out for his drummer. What he doesn't say is that he's doing that by trying to help Miles. Through this whole conversation, he is stealing bits and pieces of equipment from the lab, and it's implied he uses those pieces later on to make a new watch for Gwen to use. From at least that point, probably earlier, he knows that Miles isn't going to sit quietly while his dad dies, and Gwen is eventually going to want to help him. Which is why he delivers the watch to Gwen instead of trying to go straight to Miles. Later on, when Miles is getting angry about all the other Spider-People telling him to let his dad die, Hobie eggs him on. This is not just something he does impulsively. He realized early on when Miles talked about his parents that all he needed was a few nudges to go against Miguel's system. When Miles started showing signs of discontent, he decided to pick that moment to egg him on because that was the most effective time to. Then, Miles gets trapped in the energy prison. Hobie helps him get out of it, but the way this is done is genius. He holds up his hands and mouths "palms". To *everyone else* this would look like he was trying to just calm Miles down. If they just see his hands, it looks like a "calm down" gesture, if they read his lips, "calm" and "palm" are pronounced similarly enough that seeing him mouth one word, they'd assume in that instance he's saying "calm" as in "calm down". This in turn does two things: It gives Miles the element of surprise, and it doesn't make it look like Hobie helped. Those two things give *both* of them time, Miles get a few stunned seconds of a head start, and nobody chases or tracks down Hobie meaning he has time to make the new watches. He even throws away his current watch because he knows it can be tracked and Miguel might go after him after realizing he didn't help try to catch Miles. Basically Hobie is an incredibly intelligent character and they were able to demonstrate this really well in the short amount of time he actually got on screen.

Some of the jokes in this movie are fantastic as well. The Leap of Faith callback, Spot in general, the Chai tea moment... ESPECIALLY anything Spider-Man India says. "Here's the traffic, the traffic, the traffic... and the museum where the British stole all our stuff!"

Yeah Miguel basically did just accidentally create a Spider-Cult that appeals to all Spider-People because of all the patterns of tragedy. A sort of psychological vent for the stress and tragedy of Spider-Man. I think there's also shades of Generational Trauma involved.

Seeing Peter B. deciding to stick with/help Miles, and defy the idea that "Spider-Man needs tragedy", I whole-heartedly believe that the original Peter from Miles' universe would not go along with Miguel's operation for a second. That Peter didn't hesitate to reach out is hand (however briefly) and affirm Miles could and should wear the mask.

I love the detail of Spot being drawn like a sketch doll at first and then a full on doodle abomination later

I adore the subtle nuance of The Spot so much. He, like Miles in the eyes of the Spider Society, starts off as somewhat of a joke, someone who’s “not worthy of standing among the greats”. But both of them have an immense amount of potential and become powerful threats to their opps in their own ways. They’re following the same arc, just, The Spot’s is the evil version of Miles’. What’s even cooler to me than that alone tho, is that the only Spider-Man The Spot cares about getting respect from is Miles. It feels like even more of a dunk on everyone who refuses to consider Miles as Spider-Man. The Spot is about to go from a random villain-of-the-week to a villain so huge that he’s putting reality itself in jeopardy across all universes, and yet, the only Spider-Man _he_ cares about is Miles. He even knows of the existence of Blonde Peter, the first Spider-Man in his verse, and yet he still calls Miles Spider-Man, not any other kind of derivative title that implies he’s not an original. The strongest villain in Spider-Versal history respects Miles as Spider-Man, and I’m sure the way Miles responds in BTSV will force everyone else (his side of the screen, anyway) to do the same. It’s just so freaking cool to me and I’m so excited to see where The Spot’s character and dynamic with Miles goes in the next movie.

You won't get a line as good as "it's a metaphor for capitalism" out of any other movie, that much's for sure!

I love that this series directly tackles my biggest gripe with Amazing Spider-Man 2, Away from Home and No Way Home: for the love of God, Spider-Man does not need a ton of depressing things to happen to him to be an awesome hero with awesome story. Please, please, please let this trilogy prove once and for all that these so-called cannon events need not be integral to Spider-Man’s heroism.

During the scene after Gwen went home, the shadows that the raindrops running down the window cast on the walls made it look like the paint of the world was dripping. That little detail almost gave me a heart attack because I love attention to animation detail.

I think my favorite realization that I had instantly in the theater as the scene was playing, was that Peter B. Parker wants his kid to turn out like Miles because Miles is so dedicated to his family. specifically, when Miles learns his dad is slated to die, he doesn't consider accepting it for even a second. Miles loves his parents too much to let that happen... he's a good kid. and so are Gwen, and Hobie, and Pavitr... they're good kids who love people, and want to save everyone. and with each other's help, they might be able to accomplish that better than they would've alone. it seems like isolation is an affliction battled by every spider person at some point... but this multi-dimensional power has introduced all of them to the perfect method of soothing that issue. it'd be a horrible shame to have the ability to make these connections, only to feel powerless to help each other when it matters most.

I was pleasantly surprised that Hobie/Spider-Punk can actually back up his words AND is Miles' only ally from the start Too often do I see these types of characters portrayed as either hypocrites, useless contrarians, or outright villains, presumably out of fear of the audience agreeing with them, so the fact that Hobie being a rebel that fights back against an explicitly fascist regime and advocates against the status quo is framed as a _positive_ thing made me so happy

Love that Hobie never just said "Hey Miles and gwen, just do this..." before giving them the travel device and instead let them try things their way while acting as a safety net for them. He's a great embodiment of several running ideas: letting people skip punishments if it's goi9ng to do more harm than good, trusting the kids to make their own mistakes and learn from them and the general rejection of being a slave to canon. I also enjoy that while an antagonist they don't make Miguel a full villain. His motivation might be self serving but is never truly malicious, at least as I understand it. he's sincere in his BS, not honestly knowingly trying to inflict misery on people for some nefarious goal. That said, the vampire bit has a lot to answer...

Also correction at 20:58; During the "Canon Event" explanation scene, when Miles is asking the different spider people in the room if they had the ASM:90 Event, the death of a close police captain, Miles asks Hobie who responds "yeah, what of it" in a kind of broodish angsty manner. So I'm pretty sure there was at least one cop Spider-punk cared deeply about, and whose death was enough to serve as a canon event.

Also, there was something funny but low-key heartbreaking in the blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene at the Spot's old lab with the spider in a case and the note with :( on it.

i think Miguel intended to ONLY recruit spidermen that experienced the loss which is why he was reluctant on recruiting Gwen but had peter-B(and penny) so as part of the recruitment spiel he could tell them that it was a cannon event and it was always going to happen and therefore not their fault so they can relieve some of the guilt by enforcing the "cannon" which is super cult-ish of course he miscalculated when it came to Spider Punk who i personally think only joined to better understand what was happening and how to effectively disrupt it. I also assumed that Nior just told Miguel to stick an egg in his shoe and beat it cause it fits with the whole grizzled-detective vibe to notice when peacekeepers are starting to get drunk on the Kool-Aid

I actually disagree about The Spot. The way he's blown off is a good illustration on how things are escalating because the spider folk are all caught up in their drama instead of uniting their energies directly. We still see The Spot's development happening as he comes to figure out himself and his powers a lot more, and I actually find him VERY interesting as a window into how a pretty normal dude that got weird powers actually GETS to the building horror that he's becoming. It's very excellent setup for him being the primary antagonist and with multiverses as the main theme, he perfectly embodies the idea of the butterfly effect. I think the fact that he's understated is exactly right for conveying in the next storyline that he shouldn't have been neglected and blown off - the audience is also inclined to not take him seriously until things are ramping up and we as the audience start seeing that oh fuck, he's getting some actually very fucked up and scary powers. Plus taking some of the time here keeps him from feeling out of place in the next movie - a lot of movies tend to suffer with "the villain of this film" formula. Marvel movies have to spend time introducing each villain all over again for each sequel movie, which leaves many of them feeling a bit repetitive or tired or just lacking depth. This way, instead, The Spot is not only a direct consequence of the first movie, he's a growing threat we get introduced to earlier on and even offered crumbs of sympathy for (through humor). It would be so easy for a big bad to just look like a boring scribbly Dr Manhattan and have only two hours to develop the whole arc, but this way he's already at the peak of his roller coaster before the drop happens. Ties in amazingly with the cliffhanger I think.

Gwen's struggle is interpersonal in this movie while Miles' story is intrapersonal is I think the best way to describe the contrast. Miles is trying figure out his place and his path in his life, Gwen is trying to learn to trust and open up to others.

The Spot is thematically tight with the film: he is a character who, having lost everything, fights to create his own story and narrative. He works to become Miles’ arch nemesis, not because he is destined to be that, but because that is what he wants his story to be. He is Miguel’s view of the Spiderverse as being run on cosmic fate, bound to Miles’ view of self-determination. The Spot insisted that he and Miles shared a great destiny, and then made it real.

tbh the Spot already has a lot of thematic relevance. He's a mirror to miles himself, both not being taken seriously, having apparently no place to belong in the grander picture and having to grow in power and self-confidence to MAKE everyone take them seriously. He's literally shaped like the outline self-portrait of Miles in the first movie.

superheros have always had a strong parallel with the queer community (having a "secret" that your loved ones cant know about, "coming out" to them with your real identity, etc.), and my favourite way ATSV played with that is the whole "canon event" conversation. Miguel (and other Spideys) believe that you can only be a "true" Spiderman after experiencing a tragedy--losing Uncle Ben, watching a captain die, whatever. Similarly, a lot of queer people believe that our connecting trait is our suffering--how we feel alienated from cis/straight people, getting disowned, hiding our love lives. and thats true in some ways! but Miles (and some queer folks) ask: do we have to suffer to be real? cant we be connected by our shared joy? he is spiderman, and i am queer, with or without our trauma

I honestly loved how this move still built on Miles' character and showed that he was still the protagonist of this trilogy while also making this movie very much Gwen focused

I really liked how a lot of the things Miles gets blamed for he either didn't directly do or were directly caused by someone else. Like the original spider moved to his dimension (actually nearly all the problems) is actually caused by Spot. It lends a lot of potential to the whole "canon" basically just being a coping mechanism. Paveeter's dimension having a black hole was decently likely only caused by Spot. Man I'm excited to see the sequel

Spider-Gwen's dimension made my jaw drop. Just, like, how do you make a location look THAT good? You could pause the movie at any given moment and it would be a painting.

The movie made a lot of effort to help drive home just how unique Spider-Gwen is, with her comments about how Gwens always fall for Spider-man and they also meet a tragic death, and later on when her father quits the force it further solidifies how unique her circumstances are from the majority of other Spiders' canon events. When Miguel was saying Miles was the first anomaly, it makes sense to some degree, but his life is a lot more in-line with the other Spiders than Gwen. I think in Beyond the Spiderverse, we'll either find out that Gwen is just as much an anomaly as Miles is, or gets Miguel to stand down because her life is proof that not all Spiders' canons are the same.

The ending was the icing on the cake. It so immaculately written that it can just confidently come to a screeching halt and say “see you in 9 months!” It’s bold and audacious and I love it.

Heartbreaking when Miguel explained how a Police Captain had to die to Miles and you just see all these Spider People slowly walk in and fill the background. Especially when Miles asks around if they're ok with this and he sees Penni come in with a sad look on her face.

My boyfriend and I just kinda sat in silence in the now-lit theater, even after the credits had finished rolling, still trying to process what we had just seen. The writing, the animation, the music, the story... it was... * helpless flappy hand motions * Yeah.

Not a single bad moment in the movie. Every frame was a gift. Went to watch it with a friend and when it ended in that cliffhanger we looked at each other in absolute despair, and she immediately pulled out her phone to look at a release date for the next one! A goddamn masterpiece of animation and storytelling.

Ironically, Into the Spider-Verse was a bigger story, in the sense that its stakes were higher. It was a city-ending (if not world-ending) threat from Kingpin's attempts to rip apart reality to recover his family. But it was more focused in scope, on the city in question. Across the Spider-Verse is a bigger-scope narrative, spanning multiple dimensions and touching on more Spider-People's stories with more depth than their introductions (which is all most of them got in the first movie), but is ultimately a smaller, more personal story: it is about Gwen and her father, and the stakes are about Miles and his father. Incidentally, I suspect that Miguel is just plain wrong. The canon breaks correlate only with two instances of universal collapse that we know of: his second family's, and the hole in the world in Mumbattan. But we know that the hole in the world in Mumbattan is a result of the Spot's activities, and would have happened whether Spider-Man (India)'s girlfriend's father lived or died. Miguel sees the coincidence of the broken canon and the act of the Spot as causal: Miles saving the chief of police _caused_ the hole, despite there being no causal link. Similarly, he views the collapse of his adopted universe as being a result of him choosing to be a part of it, but there's no causal link we're shown, _and we know from Multiverse of Madness that there was somebody who was taking universe-collapsing actions._ I suspect it was his bad luck that the Scarlet Witch precipitated his adopted universe's collapse when he was seeking the same thing Kingpin and Scarlet Witch were, but he'd found a way to do it without (directly) harming anything (if he harmed anything at all). I suspect Beyond the Spider-Verse will reveal that the stations of canon are only as important as they are to those who endure them, not critical lynchpins of universes. This would tie in very well with the themes of Across the Spider-Verse, particularly those of "making your own story" and growing up through agency rather than through letting life happen to you.

I love how the spot isn't just some forgettable, throw-away villain to move the plot along. i genuinely enjoyed whenever he was on screen, and his progression of becoming even more threatening and powerful was scary but intriguing.

Literally just watched this movie last night. You can clearly tell that the scriptwriters/directors had a passion for and knew what they were doing. Plethora of meme references, genuinely just fun scenes and cool effects. I will say though, I don't think anything will ever trump the dive from the first movie for me.

This movie not only surpasses the original in every way, but it also feels its a meta commentary on the nature of Spider-Man comics and the comic book industry as a whole. The very fact that Miguel is obsessed with ensuring that moments that are literally called "canon events" feels like its taking a jab at how comic publishers/ editors believe that certain status quos must always be maintained along with believing that the only way a hero can grow as a character is by having someone in that hero life die. Yet Miles serves as the audience surrogate who believes that such thinking is inherently flawed. This don't have to be set in stone, and a hero can grow without needing to kill someone in their life. This is more relevant then ever considering how Kamala death in the current Amazing Spider-Man run is complete bullshit.

I loved the ending where we find out that Earth-42 Miles is the Prowler. Back in Into the Spider-Verse we see Miles’s spider-sense turns from green and purple to red and blue. It goes from Prowler colors to Spider-Man colors. This suggests that Miles was originally on the path of Earth-42 Miles. He was set to become the Prowler’s protege as opposed to Spider-Man whereas 42 Miles was supposed to become Spider-Man. That’s such a brilliant way of playing into the theme of Miles’s story of feeling like his path is laid out for him, but he just wants no expectations. Bendis talked about giving Jefferson and Aaron a criminal past to have Miles question what his life story would be. Whether he was destined to walk in his father and uncle’s shoes. Such a subtle detail that becomes so obvious on a rewatch. It shows that 1610 Miles was heading down the path that 42 Miles is on, but his path was diverted as he got an opportunity to become Spider-Man. That’s probably what would have happened to 42 Miles as we saw the spider was about to bite Miles before being transported to 1610. Miles hit the lottery for school as he drew the number 42 to end up at Brooklyn Visions Academy and hit the lottery in life as the 42 spider bit him and started his path to becoming a superhero. I love that these films show that people aren’t just born evil. They are a product of their environment and their circumstances. Miles was given the opportunity of a lifetime that many people just like him don’t get. And what better way to show that than by actually making an alternate universe version of him the Prowler? Such a good narrative decision. This makes me even more excited for Beyond!

I think there is no way that Rio from E-42 didn’t notice the very obvious discrepancies between her son and spider miles. My theory is that she was just trying to match his energy and stall until Aaron go home and when she handed him that "Grocery List" (why would they be getting groceries? It was already solidly night time) it read "There is something wrong! This is not miles!"

You're 1000% right on the Spider-people fanservice end. There's a lot of little jokes and stuff in the Spider Society that I liked - Peter ParkedCar made me laugh so hard I got weird looks in the theater - but I absolutely marked out when Sun-Spider showed up and actually got a line.

I read an article recently about how ATSV acknowledges the backlash that Spider-people like Miles have faced just by existing as a new take on an old hero. I gotta say, I agree wholeheartedly. Miles’s origin story in ITSV may be wildly different than the many versions of Peter, but it still shows what struggles he faced and how much he earns the title of Spider-Man. ITSV tells us how anyone can be Spider-Man by giving Miles multiple more experienced spiders to imprint onto him and allow him to eventually develop into his own style, ATSV further pushes that narrative by introducing characters that challenge the notion that Miles can’t be different, for the sake of the multiverse.

I adored watching the Spot go from just barely learning his powers, to becoming an actual terrifying threat. It kind of mirrored Miles' personal growth in the previous movie where he was rolling across buildings and crashing into birds at first. I would love to see you do one of those "what's in a scene" breakdowns for some of the more touchy feely parts of the movie, the quiet moments between Miles and Gwen or Miles and his parents. There was a lot to love about the use of colors, lighting, and background framing in that cinematography. After all that stuff about how Miles wasn't supposed to be Spiderman, and that he'll never be one of them, I wonder if the next sequel will bring back all that stuff about how "anyone can wear the mask and be spiderman" thing again. Also, I LOVE that at the end while Miles is tied up to a punching bag against prowler-Miles and Aaron, he's about to do that "always watch the hands" thing Spiderman taught him in the first movie.

The thing you said about Hobie not caring about any cops is actually not quite true. In the scene where they talk about the "cop that's close to you death" happened to certain spider people, Hobie acts defensive and says "what of it?" implying there was a cop he was close to that he lost

Into the spiderverse showcased that animation isn't reality, and can fly so much further if it doesn't imitate it. But across the spiderverse shows how animation can show perspective and literally illustrate a character's inner thoughts and feelings about the world around them. Gwens world is most obvious, changing colour based on her mood, but it applies to all of the universes. Mumbattan is incredibly vibrant and colourful, with simple shapes and muted lines to show Pavitr's optimistic and naive perspective on his world. Nueva York is a huge, utopian, solar punk paradise on the surface, not looking too different from Miles' one, showing the apparent safety, only to be a darker, more claustrophobic, cyberpunk dystopia beneath the surface, not too dissimilar from Miguel. Even Earth-42, when we first see it is raining, with a dark green and red colour pallet, showing how something seems off about it. I can't wait to see how the sequel will portray the new universes.

When this movie comes out on Blueray. I want someone to make a video specifically about counting every single unique Spider-man and maybe a fact or two about each one if they have their own comic. I want to know this entire Spiderverse.

I love how they handled Spot, at first hes nothing but a gag character with little control over his powers but as soon as he gets a goal and the resolve to see it through we're reminded that he was a scientist for a reason, hes incredible smart and knows exactly what to do to make himself a threat and he succeeds while also showcasing extreme proficiency with his powers

ATSV is an ode to “you can’t save everybody but you have to try.” And what an ode it is. I haven’t been this psyched for a trilogy end since RotK.

My favourite Spider Cameo was Canadian Spiderwoman, the one with the hockey stick. Apparently they just made her like that because Patrick O'Keefe, the production designer, wanted to do a hockey sports representation in the film because he's Canadian.

One of my absolute favorite things about spiderman in.general and more specifically MILES is he constantly told over and over that you CANT save everyone. No matter how hard you try some lives will slip through the cracks and you have to accept that as apart of BEING spiderman. And what i love so much about miles is that pretty much his response is "That sure as shit doesn't mean we stop trying. "

I love that the movie not only builds off the first movie, it recontextualizes aspects of it without overly relying on the first film. It's its own movie and it tells its own story. But the way it makes the first movie even better on rewatch is just something so genius and so rare I almost never see movies willing to do it. I'll use an example you used. How this film basically shows what would have happened if the Kingpin had won in the first movie really elevates the stakes of the first movie. This film is filled with little things like that.

I loooooooved how Spot evolved from villain of the week into a genuine menace. It is handled so well and all his lines are delivered so perfectly. His nonchalance slowly grows a tinge of menace to it, and eventually culminates in this *casual* malice that is legitimately unsettling. To be honest, he's barely in the movie. But every frame he is in builds on his character to the point where the quality of his development more than makes up for the low quantity of it.

I couldn't stop crying and laughing in joy during that chase scene. It was the greatest scene I've ever experienced in a theater. So glad I saw it in theaters

For me, the central theme in both this and Into the Spiderverse is that Miles is the only Spiderperson with a family, and that that informs who he is, and why he's different. Like, yes, Peter has Aunt May, and she's great, but Across the Spiderverse really hammers home that *every other Spiderperson* feels like they're doing this alone. They all feel that they have to carry their burdens by themselves, because every time they come to depend on someone, they lose that person. The message of Across the Spiderverse that I found so powerful is that Miles isn't a better, stronger Spiderman because he's just magically a better person: he's the only one with the strength to say "screw that, I'm going to try save everyone" because he's the only Spiderman with the foundational love and support of a safe family who are constantly telling him that they're in his corner no matter what. That if he stumbles, someone is going to be there to catch him. This film thoroughly comes down on the idea that people can be strong in a vacuum. It's basically shitting on the idea of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps." Poor and disadvantaged people don't put themselves out on a limb, don't try new and difficult things, because they know if that limb breaks, there's nothing to catch them. So they, in the movie's metaphor, "accept fate". They play it safe. If you know that ANY failure could be the failure that ends you(or your universe), of course you play it safe. Gwen's dad is hardly approving when she reveals herself, and she's already felt like she was completely alone. Miguel feels like he's completely alone. It's not until Gwen receives real support from her father, real acceptance, that she makes the decision to fight back. It's not Miles that drives that change, though he did inspire it -- the turning point is getting the love and support of her father, the feeling of *safety*, that allows her to take the risk of fighting fate. Miles rejects the entire notion of Spider fate, not because he's inherently better, or stronger, or more rebellious, or understands things better -- it's that his parents have given him the kind of support that *grows* that kind of confidence, and *that* is what is missing from every other Spiderperson. Every other Spiderperson thinks that they are an island, that they have to carry every burden alone, that the weight of the world falls to them -- so they can't risk failure. Miles alone has the strong foundation that allows him to make those risk-taking decisions. Abstracted to metaphor, the central message of the film is that people need social support, that social safety nets is what allows people to go out on a limb, to try something different and new, to be daring, inventive, or courageous. It's easy to be a groundbreaker when you have millions to fall back on if it doesn't work out. It's a lot harder when you know that any tiny financial mistake might cause you and your family to end up homeless. I love that message. That idea that Miles isn't just special in and of himself. He's different because he's been given the love and safety that *every single person*, spider or otherwise, deserves.

I interpreted Hobie's feelings about his police captain differently. To me, his response to Miles asking if that had happened to him read as a deflection. It felt like a defensive response to avoid opening up about something he wanted to keep private.

I actually think we did get a lot of good thematic stuff for the spot in this movie, even if there’s still plenty of room to develop him further. Miles treating the spot like a joke for the opening act of the movie while the spot takes their “rivalry” seriously is played for laughs, but it also really effectively sets up how miles’ life is distracting him from his spider man responsibilities, and vice versa, which is one of the major themes of the film. The spot’s villain arc is all about miles not taking things seriously enough as spider man, and him being played for laughs doesn’t detract from that theme, it adds to it. It’s sort of the same theme Miguel’s character is about- being a Serious Spider Man- just taken from a very different angle.

Gwen’s universe was so beautiful I cried every time we went to it. “Across the Spiderverse is a triumph of color, storytelling, and music.” Was what I said on my Discord after seeing it, and I stand by that.

Holy shit this movie was GOOD! I just finished it and came home, and it shattered any expectations i had. There was a scene where genki was talking to miles while playing video game, and he was playing insomnianc's spiderman! I loved this movie so much.

The first one felt like a love letter to the character, and this one feels like a love letter to the mythos.

Into the Spider-Verse introduces you to this really cool world and characters. But Across the Spider-Verse absolutely makes you fall in love with Miles and Gwen. Also, Daniel Pemberton's theme for Spider-Gwen is sublime.

A little thing I haven't noticed anyone mention yet is how Miguel mirrors Miles in how they weren't SUPPOSED to be Spider-Man. Miguel's anger seems incredibly personal. At first one might assume it's because of what happened to him due to his multiverse meddling, and that's definitely part of it, but if we look at their origins, it makes more sense as to why he's so visceral in the way he talks down to Miles. He clearly sees much of himself in Miles and it angers him to see Miles trying to make the same mistakes he made. Miguel has seen hundreds and thousands of other Spider-Men that were all chosen by the radioactive spider (in most cases anyway) to become heroes. Miguel's powers were a mistake stemming from a science experiment gone wrong. No one chose him. He was trying to cure himself of an addiction by rewriting his DNA and one of his colleagues used it as a chance to sabotage him and messed with it to include spider DNA. Those powers aren't even the exact same as the other Spider people. He was just given that name because he fit the mold. You could argue Miguel is even more of an outcast than Miles, given that there was at least a version of Miles that was supposed to get bitten, albeit the wrong version, and that Miles has the Spider-sense that is almost this familial link between the spider people that Miguel doesn't share. Anyways just wanted to drop that in here on the topic of how amazing this movie is.

I love that Hobie turns pink whenever he interacts with Mile's, it's adorable.

My parents are cops, I almost walked that same path. I realized what they didn't, that the idea that putting on the badge so someone who shouldn't wouldn't was a flawed idea. When Gwen's dad said he quit, and the totality of this film vis a vis my relationship with my folks hit me I just kinda cried. Because I love my parents, and I don't love their profession. And seeing how raw the emotions were between Gwen and her dad, the complexity that was there. It felt like the film was talking to me, about being the change. I dunno if films can be perfect 10s, but this movie gets at things personal to me that others don't understand and I have a feeling it's doing that for the better to a lot of people who aren't like me at all. And I think a film that can make so many types of people feel a hyper concentrated dose of loved experience in a few hours is at least worthy for consideration of the term perfect as can be.

Miguel really makes for a good non-villain antagonist. You get why he feels the way he does, but at the same time you can believe he's wrong. Personally, I think he wrong because I don't believe you NEED tragedy to be a hero, you just have to want to do what right. Bad things can happen, but trying anyway is what matters.

Spiderverse is great at making d-list heroes into terrifying threats. Kingpin, Prowler and now Spot, is just amazing. I love spiderverse, my favorite set of spider movies and I doubt Beyond will disappoint. Edit: I mean specifically in power compared to spiderman. not influence or anything like that.

This was a Gwen Stacy movie and it was perfect, it didn't sidelined Mile's story for her, but she opened the movie and she gave it a closure. The ending is still ticking in my head, the unknown, the dread, the fear and the determination on Gwen and the two Miles, was chilling

I'm in love with The Spot. Accurate to lore, he was just a dweeby scientist stuck with a genuinely horrifying and potentially ridiculous ability who decided his first act of villainy would be to fight spiderman - and the way his silhouette is drawn really drives that point home. At first, the gangly, misshapen form seems like a cartoonishly depicted nerd/scientist, but as he progresses through his fights with the spidermen and becomes more confident and more frightening, it stops looking like a weird human and more like intentionally inhuman, up to the point when he becomes the horrifying thing at the end. His silhouette hasn't changed the whole time, but our interpretation of it shifts

One thing about both of these movies is how unbelievably underrated Jeff’s voice actor is. His performance in both movies has been so beautifully emotional and he doesn’t get anywhere near enough credit.

thank you!!! im so tired of people saying this movie is incomplete, it starts the movie with gwen, and ends with gwen. she carried a lot of weight in the movie and im glad that is getting recognized. i fucking adore this movie and i cannot wait till this comes out on blu-ray.

I don't think Hobie has electric powers, he's just really perceptive and could logic out that "more surface area could lead to further disruption".

I realized several hours after the movie that Hobie deliberately helped Miles get away and save his Dad by giving him the information he was going to need to do it and it just made me love him so much more.

Also, since this video is from a mostly anime centered channel, I would like to point out that in the movie's Neutral Spanish dub many of the Spider-People have voiced some interesting anime characters: - Miles (Emilio Teviño): Denji from Chainsaw Man and Akira from Devilman Crybaby - Gwen (Alondra Hidalgo): Hinata Hyuga, Jolyne Cujoh, Rem from Re:Zero - Peter B. Parker (Miguel Ángel Ruiz): Sena Kobayakawa from Eyeshield 21 and Hathaway Noa from Gundam Hathaway - Pavitr Prabhakar (Tommy Rojas): the narraton in Jojo - Peni Parker (Alejandra Delint): Asuna from SAO, Gou Matsuoka in Free!, Sai in Hikaru no Go

Calling Into the Spider-Verse the "Ultimate" Spider-Man movie is also factually correct. Miles is from the Ultimate Marvel Universe

Interesting note about Miguel's whole take- if breaking Cannon is supposed to end that universe then shouldn't Mile's earth be disentegrating already? Its been what- a full year since he got bit, yet he's still goin strong? Like yes, Pavitr's universe started getting sucked into a spot-hole, but that was cuz' of spot-it didn't look like the same thing that happened to Miguel's replacement universe. Honestly there's just a ton of holes in Migeul's ideas here- i think its absolutely true that he's being led by grief into assuming things that just aren't true.

The Scarlett Spider dunking was so funny I nearly choked. Didn't expect that kind of deep cut to be so upfront.

the way “anyone can wear the mask” is getting to a whole new level with Miles’ powers being an accident on an even grander scale than the normal Spider-Person origin story is just so fuckign good i am going to sleep for a year so that i can wake up and see beyond

I just want to say how nice it is to see a writing team actually do their homework about the characters that they need to portray on screen. I doubt I'm the only one to ever get hyped for a series/movie just to find out the creative team only cared about that sweet sweet name/brand recognition and thus gave the characters, all of established canon, and the fan base two giant middle fingers and a sucks to be you.

I just love how everything is written. From Miles and Gwens relationship, to Miles decision to go against Miguel causing them to really think about what is right was so well done. Miles going home and Gwen pressing Miguel about if he actually knows what happens when the canon is broken, to Peter B realizing that every spidey doesnt need tragedy. The visuals in this movie are phenomenal, the shot of Gwen rotating under the building and the huge ultra wide shot of them sitting underneath the building together was absolutely beautiful. Im also so glad that they didnt make Hobie a love triangle and that hes actually one of the best written characters in the movie, and that ending was insane and im just so unbelievably excited for BTSV

I think the highest praise I can give to this movie is that before I saw it, Into the Spiderverse was one of my favorite movies of all time and that after seeing it, into the Spiderverse feels so reserved and held back in comparison in every way (though still of course an amazing movie) Every aspect to me felt like an improvement. The character writing, the story premise, and ESPECIALLY the animation. This movie was so fantastic and it really felt like ITSV walked so this movie could web swing. I especially really loved the characters in this movie. They nailed The Spot and his whole vibe as a character who’s kinda a goofy buffoon but still has a TERRIFYING power, Miguel as this tragic antagonist who is animated and voiced so well that he constantly feels brutal and vicious, Hobie who I think can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said, Gwen who was REALLY cool to see a bit more of her character and really get to explore her in ways the first movie didn’t have much time to do, and ESPECIALLY Miles. I absolutely adored how Miles was portrayed in this movie and how it displayed his growth as starting out as this kid who didn’t think he had what it takes to be the real Spider-Man to this movie where he’s grown up so much and is fully confident in his worthiness to be Spider-Man and is determined to be the one who writes his own story. This movie really elevated Miles from being a character I already loved a lot to becoming one of my all time GOATS

Just watched this on theaters yesterday and first of all as an animation nerd the urge to pause and rewind a movie was at its strongest, and the story and style had me so hooked that I let out a loudest sigh when it ended in the cliffhanger and I have to now wait for a second part. What a time to be alive.

Obviously, you had to end the video on "anyone can wear the mask" but I think it's fascinating how that core theme from the first movie clashes with Miguel's outlook on what being Spider-Man is and means. If Miles being Spider-Man was a mistake because he got bitten by a spider that wasn't from his universe, then not *everyone* can wear the mask. That idea gets even more twisty and fascinating when you look at Miguel O'Hara in the comics and how he wasn't even bitten by a spider (his DNA was fused with spider DNA, it's why he has the fangs- which are venomous, by the way). Also, I think there's a strong case for Gwen's story as a metaphor for being LGBT and transness specifically (beyond just the color schemes and trans flags present in Gwen's universe). When she said "Are you really that afraid of me?" my heart cracked a bit (and it doesn't help that I've seen that scene so many times while delivering food to theatres); it's how her dad has this cognitive dissonance of Spider-Woman as a dangerous criminal and Gwen as, well, his daughter who he loves.

17:50 that element is what excites me about this movie and the potential for Beyond. The story seems like it’s all about interrogating why our mythologizing of Spider-Man (and superheroes in general) must be so rooted in suffering and loss, and right now I’m placing my bets on Beyond coming through with a no holds barred, Everybody Lives Happy Ending in refutation to that idea.

The Spot has always been my favorite under-rated Spidey villain, and I was absolutely giddy to see him done justice in this movie. When my wife looked at me when it was over and said, "He's honestly like some kind of terrifying eldritch abomination, but also a complete goober," I knew that they'd nailed everything I love about the idea!

One thing i want to point out, is very implied that Pavitr was in the same wagon as Miles, he was told about the society but not about the canon events, he doesn't seem to be worried after his captain is saved like Gwen was and is probably the reason why he's at the end of the movie in Miles side, because he was lied by Miguel and knowing that the other spiderpeople there that knew it was gonna happen wanted for someone close to him to die is what made him leave and join Miles and the others.

People need to remember this trilogy was supposed to be two movies. Across the Spider-Verse was supposed to be the ending of the story, but they had to split the story into two parts. It was announced that the sequel to ITSV had to be two parts, then eventually they gave the two parts their names, Across and Beyond the Spider-Verse. Those two movies are effectively one movie cut in half, that’s why theres less than a year between their release dates. If you go into ATSV knowing its part one of two, you can properly enjoy it for what it is, the first half of a four hour movie.

I get this sense that the biggest struggle for all these spider-people/entities is that when they keep their identity hidden it's usually because they are the only ones in their universe that can do what they can do, so even if they do share their identity with others it puts those people at risk. But when you have the help of a whole spider society that understand what each other are going through and and have comparable powers to each other it becomes a lot easier for them to not be alone in their struggles and thus not having to do everything on their own.... Which is what usually inevitably leads them to a breaking point that they aren't powerful enough to save everyone they care about.

If the first movie was following Peter B Parker’s character arc And this current movie was about Gwen Stacy spider-woman’s character arch I think the next one will be about Miguel O’Hara’s character arch The connecting key being having met Miles, their life kind of take a turn for the better or at least he inspires them that things can be better, they can try to be better Miguel, to me, is a very sad character. All the spider people at least have each other to find some comfort in the misery. They all have things in common, getting bit by a spider, spider sense, sticking to walls etc… But Miguel, even surrounded by all these spider people, is still incredibly alone. He doesn’t have spider sense, he can’t cling to walls, the movie even goes out of its way to show he doesn’t have organic looking web like the others. He has claws that if he doesn’t keep in check can literally tear through a person like a hot knife through butter. He even isn’t quippy like the other spiders. He is made to feel like this big brute, a monster, a villain. He has taken his pain and bottled it up and uses his work to distract himself so he doesn’t have to live in that pain or at least gives a purpose to the pain. But he is taking his self hatred and projecting it onto Miles, which isn’t good. Miguel and Spot have a thread in common they take their choice in life, their mistake, their self pain, and they blame Miles for it. Which isn’t fair to Miles. Miguel and Spot don’t want to take the blame for their own mistakes, which I think is a very relatable feeling. We all never want to be at fault, it’s so much easier and hurts way less to blame someone else for all the bad that happens. For Miguel to grow he has to realize his mistakes are his own and he has to change himself inwardly to do some good outwardly. He has to hope/believe in others and that things don’t have to be the way they are. You just have to try. He has locked away his heart and forgot what it actually means to be spider-man. I think Miles is the key, to help remind himself of that.

There are sequences and frames in this that will stick in my head forever. Specifically the flipping of the city scape, the conversations with Gwen and her Dad in her dimension, and Miles and his mom in his. It doesn't matter which of these three movies will be the best. They will all be studied when it comes to art, music, culture and even just healthy communication in relationships! Each in their own extensive way. The amount of love in these films for its characters and the stories they tell is something else. Not a single person gave less than 100% and it shines even brighter for it.