Spider-man: Doing Justice Across the Spiderverse

If you haven't watched the movie, please don't read this article. There are spoilers ahead. I truly don't wish to spoil this movie for you. So, I request you to go watch the next show, or stream it (if it is out of theatres) and then come back. This movies is truly worth it. So, go, now please and come back soon.

When Spider-man: Across the Spiderverse was announced, I was a little excited. I loved the art style and storyline of the first movie and the fact that it dealt with the multiverse, got me excited even more so. Plus the first movie did justice to the Spiderverse and the whole concept of the multiverse (I am looking at you Dr. Strange. Your multiverse execution truly got me mad). With my experience with marvel and in general, Hollywood, as such, I avoided all the trailers leading up to this movie. I even berated my friends for playing it out loud in my vicinity when the second trailer came out. Avoiding spoilers for the movie was very important to me and I entered the theatres with a clear mind.

I am serious if you are still reading this and haven't watched the movie, please stop and come back. This article will still be here.

So, with the clear perspective, I booked the tickets for the movie and planned it for a family night. Right from the start, the movie had me excited with its multiverse of logos. Sony and Marvel know how to execute in style. Just now I found that even the trailers feature the same opening sequence of logos and I am really glad I hadn't had it spoiled for me.

Don't watch the trailer below if you haven't watched the movie. Seriously I cannot help you beyond this point.

Below are a few of my thoughts and highlights of moments across the movie.

Flipping the Script

I loved how they flipped he script by getting Gwen Stacy to do the opening, instead of Miles. They hit two birds with one stone, by giving us an update on her and then showing another universe. A distinct thing I remember about her world was the art style and how I felt it to be off. It was totally different from the art style of the first movie and I was worried for a bit that the movie was going in a different direction (I am still not over the trauma of the Black Swordsman arc of Berserk). But later I found that this was to distinguish between Gwen's universe and Miles'.

We see a bit of Gwen's world. It gets clear that because her father thinks Spiderwoman is responsible for Peter's death, she ends up feeling alone before being introduced to the crack in the multiverse with vulture and members of the Spider Society. They have the ability to travel between dimensions and are working to keep the timeline intact. So, Gwen gets eager to join and after a bit of resistance, is allowed to.

Let's meet Miles

Then we are introduced to Miles. It looks like a few years have passed since the first movie and he has grown comfortable in the shoes of the Spider-man. The movie doesn't play around with multiple villains and right off the bat, we are introduced what looks like a grunt, but may turn out to be a main villain. More on that later.

We find Miles, like Peter in the other Spider-man movies, finding a hard time juggling between his school work and his Spider-man duties. He even ends up going late to his parents celebratory dinner in true superhero style. Things get even more complicated when Gwen comes to visit him.

Establishing the villain

Leaning on one of the tropes of superhero movies, this movie also introduces the main antagonist, Spot, as a minor villain, who gets dismissed by Spider-man and then swears to come back stronger and more powerful so that he can be taken seriously.

Spot was a scientist, who ended up like this as a result of the reactor exploding in the first movie, another one of the collateral damage. Considering that he has a spot on his face, is not taken seriously by his colleagues, which is strange considering he has the powers to create portals. I was surprised they did not hold onto him for scientific experiments, but I guess they wanted to make ridicule a part of this villain's origin story.

It seems like Spot is bullied into becoming the villain he is after not one of his friends take him seriously and he just gets pushed over the edge, when Miles also does the same. What starts out as a in passing side quest encounter, turns into the reason for Gwen to visit this universe, when Spot discovers his true powers to travel across universes.

Gwen and Miles

I hate it when Hollywood creates fake tension in sequels between couples, who have their happily ever after at the end of the first movie, and suddenly find themselves in the middle of a stupid argument the second time around. I love how this movie picks up Miles and Gwen's relationship right where they left it in the first movie.

When Miles and Gwen meet and proceed to hang out, you know the love is there, you can see how close they are, and how much they missed each other. Why, Gwen even risks her mission on this Earth to spend time with Miles. Oh, you can see how much she wishes Miles can join her to be a part of the dimension traveling squad, but there seems to be some reason why this can't happen (or it would have happened already. Oooo, I loved the tension of not knowing).

It is so much fun to celebrate simple love and companionship. Of course, this comes at a cost and here the price is with Spot getting more power and gaining the ability to jump to another dimension. This puts Gwen in a tight spot and now she has to report back to the boss.

What is Spider Society?

The Spider Society was created by Miguel O'Hara of Earth-928 (a futuristic and cool looking Earth) following the near-collapse of the multiverse during the events of first movie.

This group of inter-dimensional Spider-people were working to keep the timeline intact. Why is this so reminiscent of the TVA and the sacred timeline? However, in this case, it is the timelines of the each of the respective universes and the canon events that play out in it. Considering the events of the first movie, it seems Miles ripped a hole in the multi-verse by pulling in the other Spider-people and now the Spider Society is working to fix the fallout from it.

This post-credits scene makes a lot of sense.

Equipped with Multi dimensional travel, the Spider-people worked to keep the canon events happen. Prominent among the Spider Society is Hobie Brown, aka Spider-Punk and the returning Peter Parker, who now has a baby daughter, Mayday.

The Spider Society find that Spot is headed to Earth-50101 and then a familiar tune plays. This is Indian music, my mind says to me and then we get to see an alternate version of Manhattan.

Mumbattan

A version of Manhattan, where somehow the Indians have settled in. You get the traffic of Mumbai with its autos and crowded streets and protecting them all is their very own Spider-man, Pavitr Prabhakar. I wonder why he is not speaking in Hindi, which surely be more logical, than the terrible Indian accent that he put on.

And what is up with that hairstyle?! I have not seen it fashionable anywhere in India. Perhaps they were going for something original (conflicting to what they show). But I really did like his outfit. Still I wondered how the hair comes out of the mask. Does he wear it at the bottom of the face only? Does it have a hole on top? Ok, suspending disbelief, I liked the use of his bracelets for the spider webs. On a side note, I do hope we get to play with his outfit and tools in the upcoming Spider-man 2 PS5 game.

While Mumbattan held conflicting emotions in my head, I was glad to have a superhero from my extended locality, who looked so cool.

Peter's baby

Another person, who I found cool, was baby Mayday. She seemed like the coolest baby, coming to my top 5 list, which include Con Baby, from Raya and the Last Dragon, and Kotaro, from Gakuen Babysitters.

It was cool to see Peter have a happy ending with Mary Jane, esp. after how depressed he was in the last movie. I almost forgot that he ended up making up with her when he got back to his universe. So happy for them and the fact that they gave us Mayday Parker.

The Oldest Dilemma

Things don't work out so great in Mumbattan and we end up back in Spider Society. We also find that Miles has prevented a cannon event from happening, which will cause problems in the timeline. The very reason why Miguel found the Spider Society. Miguel berates Miles on his blunders and it is then we learn of the impact of the multiversal events that Miles had been a part of triggering in the first movie, of how he took the place of Spider-man in his Earth, of how he was not meant to become Spider-man.

I was amazed at how they were able to connect the story so cohesively. Was the Spiderverse movie always planned to be a trilogy or are these folks great at retconning their story? Either way, it all made sense on why the events played out as they are.

Miles finds out that his father soon to be captain will also die. Miles cannot accept this and fights to get back to his Earth to prevent this from happening. Miguel puts out the most important question to him.

You have a choice between saving one person and saving every world. What would you do?

Humans are illogical beings. We are driven by emotion. Tell me you wouldn't destroy universes to save your loved one. This is the very dilemma that is posited to Joel in Last of Us (and you know how it turned out). So, in this case, Miles also chooses to change his destiny.

Miles and the other Miles

Miles makes his way back to his own Earth, but if you were paying attention you would have noticed that something is different. Miles ends up in Earth 42 instead of his Earth 1610. Every Earth has one Spider-man and because this Earth's spider ended up in another universe, we are presented with a bleak chaotic Brooklyn.

And for the biggest reveal, we find that Miles of Earth 42 has taken the mantle of the Prowler.

Hot damn! What a note to end on!

There is a sequel

At one point, I began to feel the length of the movie. I expected the movie to end at the next turn, but it went on to establish a new thread. This made me realise that there is not enough time for them to resolve all the plot points and that many of these setups were going to be resolved in the next movie.

When I was booking tickets, I saw there were two listings for Spider-man movies:

• Spider-man: Across the Spiderverse
• Spider-man: Beyond the Spiderverse

The release date for the latter was given as 2024. I dismissed it then, making sure I was booking tickets for the right movie. But now, I realised that it was the final movie in this trilogy (I think its a trilogy).

On an even higher note, we get to see Spider-people from the first movie and a few from this assemble along with Gwen to head to rescue Miles from Earth-42. OMG! OMG! I can't wait for 2024.

Closing Thoughts

I had a lot of fun watching this movie, as did my sister. My parents, on the otehr hand, were confused as to what was happening. They did end up enjoying the movie for its art style. I did tease them that there was sequel and that they have to be ready to join us for that too.

I would like to appreciate this movie greatly for holding together logically under scrutiny as the events of this movie tie in well to the events of the first. The fallout from the reactor exploding to the hole in the multiverse all tie in well, esp. when they explained that the spider that bit Miles was not from his Earth, thereby creating ripples across universes. These ripples lead to the events of this movie, where they even show how other Earths were affected.

Marvel should take a cue from the creators of this movie series and create more cohesive plotlines, not the dumpster fires they usually end up developing (Antman: Quantumania is still in head).

In true style of the series, the movie doesn't take itself too seriously and balances humor with the serious nature of events.

In the end, it turned out to be a fun family night and in true form, Spider-man kept us entertained with its visuals and world building. I cannot wait to see the next movie and see how it all turns out in the end.

So, what do you think? Did you like Spider-man: Across the Spiderverse? Share your thoughts with me. As always, open to have a chat on all things fantasy.