Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Theatrical release poster

***Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse*** is a 2023 American computer-animated superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Miles Morales / Spider-Man, produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Marvel Entertainment, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The sequel to *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* (2018), it is set in a shared multiverse of alternate universes called the Spider-Verse. The film is directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson (in Dos Santos and Thompson's feature directorial debuts), from a screenplay written by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller (who both also produce) and David Callaham. Shameik Moore voices Miles, starring alongside Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Karan Soni, Daniel Kaluuya, and Oscar Isaac. In the film, Miles goes on an adventure with Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman across the multiverse where he meets a team of Spider-People known as the Spider-Society, led by Miguel O'Hara / Spider-Man 2099, but comes into conflict with them over handling a new threat.

Sony began developing a sequel to *Into the Spider-Verse* before its 2018 release, with the writing and directing team attached. It was set to focus on the relationship between Moore's Miles and Steinfeld's Gwen. The sequel was officially announced in November 2019 and animation work began in June 2020, with a different visual style for each of the six universes visited by the characters. With a runtime of 140 minutes, it is the longest animated film ever produced by an American studio.

*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse* premiered at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles, California on May 30, 2023, and was released in the United States on June 2, having been delayed from an original April 2022 date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like its predecessor, the film received critical acclaim and was a box office success, grossing $663 million against a production budget of $100 million at the worldwide box office, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2023. The third and final film in the trilogy, *Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse*, is scheduled to be released on March 29, 2024, while a female-focused spin-off film, *Spider-Woman*, is in development.

## Plot

On Earth-65, Gwen Stacy lives with her father, police captain George, who is unaware that she is Spider-Woman. Years prior, Gwen accidentally caused the death of her best friend Peter Parker while he was mindlessly rampaging as the Lizard, and the police have been hunting her ever since. One night, Gwen encounters a version of the Vulture from an Italian Renaissance-themed alternate universe. Spider-People Miguel O'Hara and Jessica Drew arrive using portal-generating watches and help Gwen subdue the Vulture. Gwen reveals her identity to George; distraught by the revelation, he attempts to arrest her. Miguel begrudgingly grants Gwen membership into his Spider-Society and she escapes through a portal with him and Jess.

In Brooklyn on Earth-1610, sixteen months after the Alchemax collider's destruction, Miles Morales misses Gwen and clashes with his parents. As Spider-Man, Miles encounters the Spot, an Alchemax scientist whose body was infused with portals after the collider explosion. The Spot blames Miles for his condition and reveals that, while originally testing the collider, he transported a spider from Earth-42 that later bit Miles. Later on, the Spot travels into a void, where he learns to travel to other universes containing colliders to empower himself further.

Gwen travels to Earth-1610 and reconnects with Miles while secretly tracking the Spot. Miles, invisible, watches Gwen trace the Spot to Earth-50101 before Jess calls Gwen, instructing her to cut off contact with Miles. Miles follows Gwen through a portal to Earth-50101, and they team up with Spider-Men Pavitr Prabhakar and Hobie Brown against the Spot, who absorbs the power of that world's collider. Before the Spot escapes, he and Miles share a vision of his future attack that includes Miles' father Jeff. As the collider collapses, Miles saves Police Inspector Singh, the father of Pavitr's girlfriend, but the dimension begins falling apart from a disrupted "canon event". Members of the Spider-Society arrive to assess the damage, while Miles, Gwen, and Hobie are sent to the Society's headquarters in Nueva York on Earth-928, where hundreds of Spider-People reside in a massive complex.

The three meet with Miguel and are joined by Peter B. Parker and his infant daughter Mayday. Miguel explains to Miles that each of the Spider-People's stories entail "canon events", such as the death of a police captain close to Spider-Man, and that straying from those events threatens reality. Miguel admits that he tried to replace a deceased version of himself from another universe who had a happy family, only for that universe to collapse.

Miles realizes that the Spot murdering Jeff, who will be promoted to police captain in two days, is a canon event. Miguel imprisons Miles to prevent him from saving Jeff, but Hobie helps Miles break loose before using a portal to quit the Society. Miguel orders all other members of the Society to stop Miles. Miguel eventually corners Miles and tells him that he was never supposed to become Spider-Man since the spider that bit him came from Earth-42, which consequently has no Spider-Man. Miles flees and supposedly returns to his home dimension with the help of Margo Kess / Spider-Byte. Considering Gwen a liability, Miguel forcibly sends her home. On Earth-65, Gwen reconciles with George, who has resigned as police captain. He then gives her a portal watch Hobie left for her, and Gwen decides to use it to find and help Miles.

Miles returns to his apartment and reveals to his mother that he is Spider-Man, whom she does not recognize. Miles realizes that he is on Earth-42, a world where his deceased uncle Aaron Davis is alive while Jeff is dead. Miguel, Jess, and Ben Reilly / Scarlet Spider travel to Earth-1610 searching for Miles. Gwen arrives through her own portal, which she sends Ben through. She then speaks with Miles' parents and promises to bring him home, while Jess spies on their conversation. Aaron restrains Miles, and it is revealed Earth-42's Miles has become the Prowler.

As the Spot returns to Earth-1610 and begins his attack, Gwen assembles a team to find Miles, consisting of Peter B., Mayday, Pavitr, Hobie, Margo, Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker, and Spider-Ham.

## Voice cast

* Shameik Moore as Miles Morales / Spider-Man: A teenager of African-American and Puerto-Rican descent who took over as the Spider-Man of Earth-1610 after the death of his reality's Peter Parker.
* Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman: A version of Gwen Stacy who is the Spider-Woman of Earth-65, where she is a wanted fugitive since accidentally killing her reality's Peter Parker who had turned into the Lizard.
* Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson "Jeff" Morales: Miles' African-American father and a police officer, who was recently promoted to captain.
* Luna Lauren Vélez as Rio Morales: Miles' Puerto-Rican mother, a nurse. Vélez also plays an alternate version of Rio from Earth-42.
* Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man: An older Spider-Man from Earth-616 who was a mentor to Miles. Parker now has a daughter named Mayday with Mary Jane Watson.
* Jason Schwartzman as Dr. Johnathan Ohnn / The Spot:
A former scientist from Alchemax-turned-supervillain after an accident, whose body is now covered by interdimensional portals that allow him to travel through space and different universes. The Spot wasn't originally the film's main villain, but was suggested by producer Avi Arad. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller at first dismissed the idea, but after talking more about his powers, they made him the antagonist.
* Issa Rae as Jess Drew / Spider-Woman: A pregnant African-American Spider-Woman from Earth-404 who is O'Hara's right-hand and rides a motorcycle. Unlike most Spider-People, Drew does not maintain a secret identity.
* Karan Soni as Pavitr Prabhakar / Spider-Man India: An Indian version of Spider-Man from Earth-50101 who lives in Mumbattan (a portmanteau of Mumbai and Manhattan).
* Shea Whigham as George Stacy: Gwen's father and a police captain.
* Greta Lee as Lyla: Miguel and the Spider Society's AI assistant.
* Daniel Kaluuya as Hobie Brown / Spider-Punk: A Black British, punk rock version of Spider-Man from Earth-138 who uses his guitar as his main weapon.
* Mahershala Ali as Aaron Davis: the Earth-42 version of Miles' deceased uncle. Ali previously voiced the Earth-1610 version of Aaron in the first film.
* Oscar Isaac as Miguel O'Hara / Spider-Man 2099:
A "ninja vampire" Spider-Man of Irish and Mexican descent from Earth-928 set in the year 2099, who is the leader of the Spider-Society, a group of Spider-People from alternate universes tasked with protecting the multiverse. Isaac described Miguel as "the one Spider-Man that doesn't have a sense of humor".

Jorma Taccone voices Adriano Toomes / Vulture, an Italian vulture-themed supervillain from a Renaissance-inspired universe, as well as Peter Parker / Spider-Man from the 1967 animated series, which he reprises from the post-credits of *Into the Spider-Verse*. Jharrel Jerome voices Miles G. Morales / Prowler of Earth-42.

Additional iterations of Spider-Man appearing in the film as members of the Spider-Society, with speaking roles, include: Andy Samberg as Ben Reilly / Scarlet Spider; Amandla Stenberg as Margo Kess / Spider-Byte, a Spider-Woman from a virtual reality; Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker / SP//dr; Taran Killam as Patrick O'Hara / Web-Slinger and his horse Widow; Nic Novicki as Lego Spider-Man, Josh Keaton as Peter Parker / Spectacular Spider-Man from the television series *The Spectacular Spider-Man* (2008–2009), Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker / Insomniac Spider-Man from the *Marvel's Spider-Man* video game series by Insomniac Games; Mike Rianda as Spider-Therapist; Sofia Barclay as Malala Windsor / Spider-UK, an original incarnation who wears a hijab; Danielle Perez as Charlotte Webber / Sun-Spider, who is in a wheelchair; and Metro Boomin, who composed music for the film, as Metro Spider-Man.

Melissa Sturm voices Mary Jane "MJ" Parker, Peter B. Parker's wife and Mayday's mother; Rachel Dratch voices Ms. Weber, a counselor at Miles's school; and Ziggy Marley voices Lenny, a Jamaican shop owner. Pixar animator and filmmaker Peter Sohn provides the voice for Miles' best friend and roommate Ganke Lee after his dialogue was cut from *Into the Spider-Verse*. Elizabeth Perkins voices the Aunt May of Gwen's Earth-65; Atsuko Okatsuka voices Yuri Watanabe, a police colleague of Captain Stacy; Ayo Edebiri and Nicole Delaney voice Gwen's bandmates Glory and MJ; and Jack Quaid voices the Earth-65 Peter Parker who died after transforming into the Lizard. J. K. Simmons reprises his role as J. Jonah Jameson, voicing various versions of the character.

Live-action roles are also featured in the film, with Donald Glover appearing as an alternate version of Aaron Davis / Prowler, reprising his role from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film *Spider-Man: Homecoming* (2017). Peggy Lu reprises her role as convenience store owner Mrs. Chen from the Sony's Spider-Man Universe, identified as Earth-688. Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield appear in their roles as Peter Parker / Spider-Man from previous *Spider-Man* films through archival footage, as well as Cliff Robertson and Martin Sheen as two Ben Parker and Denis Leary as George Stacy. Archival audio of Alfred Molina's Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus is used for an alternate version of the character with a comic book-accurate design.