Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

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***Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse*** is a 2018 American computer-animated superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Miles Morales, produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Marvel. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the first animated film in the *Spider-Man* franchise. Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman (in Persichetti and Rothman's feature directorial debuts) from a screenplay by Phil Lord and Rothman, it stars Shameik Moore as Miles Morales / Spider-Man, alongside the voices of Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Velez, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, and Liev Schreiber. Set in a shared multiverse called the "Spider-Verse", the film's story follows Miles Morales as he becomes the new Spider-Man and joins other Spider-People from various parallel universes to save New York City from the Kingpin.

Plans for an animated Spider-Man film by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were leaked in 2014 and announced in April 2015. Persichetti, Ramsey and Rothman joined over the next two years, with Moore and Schreiber cast in April 2017. Lord and Miller wanted the film to have a unique style, combining computer animation with traditional hand-drawn comic book techniques inspired by the work of Miles Morales co-creator Sara Pichelli. The film required up to 140 animators, the largest crew used by Sony Pictures Animation on a feature film. The film is dedicated to the memories of the creators of Spider-Man, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, who both died in 2018.

*Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* premiered at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles on December 1, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 14, in Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, and 4DX formats. The film grossed over $375 million worldwide against a $90 million budget. It received acclaim from critics, who praised its animation, characters, story, voice acting, and humor. The film won Best Animated Feature at the 91st Academy Awards, and was similarly successful at the 46th Annie Awards and the 76th Golden Globe Awards. It is the first non-Disney/Pixar film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature since *Rango* (2011), as well as the first non-Disney/Pixar film since *Happy Feet* (2006) to win that award when a Disney/Pixar film was also in contention. Two sequels, *Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One)* and *Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part Two)*, are set to be released on October 7, 2022 and an unknown date in 2023 respectively. A spin-off film is also in development.

## Plot

New York City teenager Miles Morales struggles to live up to the expectations of his father, police officer Jefferson Davis, who sees Spider-Man as a menace. Miles adjusts to prep school, and visits his uncle Aaron Davis, who takes him to an abandoned subway station to paint graffiti. Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider and gains spider-like abilities similar to Spider-Man.

Returning to the station, Miles discovers a "Super-Collider" built by Kingpin, who hopes to access parallel universes to bring back his dead wife and son, whose deaths he blames on Spider-Man. Miles watches as Spider-Man attempts to disable the collider while fighting Kingpin's enforcers, Green Goblin and Prowler. Spider-Man saves Miles, but Green Goblin shoves Spider-Man into the collider, causing an explosion that kills Green Goblin and severely wounds Spider-Man. He gives Miles a USB flash drive to disable the collider, warning that the machine could destroy the city if reactivated. Watching in horror as Kingpin kills Spider-Man, Miles flees from Prowler.

As the city mourns Spider-Man's death, Miles tries to honor his legacy and become the city's new superhero. Trying out his newfound abilities, he damages the USB drive. At Spider-Man's grave, Miles meets Peter B. Parker, an older, worn-down version of Spider-Man from another dimension. Upon meeting him, Miles discovers his ability to emit a bio-electric "venom" blast. Peter reluctantly agrees to train Miles in exchange for help stealing data to create a new drive. They infiltrate Kingpin's research facility, and Miles discovers he has the power to turn invisible. They are confronted by scientist Olivia Octavius, who determines that Peter will die from cellular decay if he remains in their dimension.

Chased through the laboratory and surrounding forest by Octavius, Miles and Peter are rescued by Gwen Stacy, a Spider-Woman from another dimension. They find Peter's aunt, May Parker, who is sheltering more Spider-people from other dimensions – Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker, and Spider-Ham – who are also deteriorating. Miles offers to disable the collider so the others can return home, but they tell him he lacks experience. Distraught, Miles retreats to Aaron's home, where he discovers Aaron is Prowler. Miles returns to May's house, where Peni has completed the new drive; he is followed by Kingpin, Prowler, Octavius, Scorpion, and Tombstone. In the ensuing brawl, Miles is captured by Aaron and unmasks himself. Unwilling to kill his own nephew, Aaron spares Miles, only to be fatally shot by Kingpin. Miles flees with Aaron, who tells him to keep going before dying. Jefferson arrives on the scene and Miles escapes, leading his father to believe Spider-Man killed Aaron.

The heroes regroup at Miles' dorm room. Peter restrains Miles to ensure his safety and leaves with the others, choosing to sacrifice himself by staying behind and deactivating the collider. Jefferson arrives outside Miles' door and, assuming he does not want to speak to him, apologizes for his mistakes. Miles masters his powers and goes to May to acquire web-shooters and repaint one of Peter's suits. He joins the heroes, defeating Kingpin's enforcers and using the USB drive to send them home. Kingpin fights Miles, attracting the attention of Jefferson, who realizes Spider-Man is not the enemy and encourages him. Miles paralyzes Kingpin with his venom blast and throws him at the kill switch, destroying the collider.

Kingpin and his enforcers are arrested and Jefferson recognizes Spider-Man as a hero while getting evidence that Kingpin killed Aaron and Peter Parker. Miles embraces the responsibilities of his new life. Back in their home dimensions, the heroes return to their lives; Peter prepares to fix his relationship with Mary Jane, and Gwen finds a way to contact Miles across dimensions.

In another dimension, Miguel O'Hara travels to a 1967 New York City and argues with that universe's Spider-Man.

## Cast

* Shameik Moore as Miles Morales / Spider-Man: an intelligent and rebellious teenager of African-American and Puerto Rican descent, who is imbued with spider-like abilities after being bitten by a mutated spider and eventually takes up the mantle of the masked vigilante Spider-Man. Producers Lord and Miller described the character as unique among Spider-Men because of his Brooklyn upbringing, his Puerto Rican and African-American background, and the fact that his family is still alive, with that family dynamic being central to the film's story.
* Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man: Miles' reluctant mentor, a disheveled, jaded and brown-haired 38-year-old counterpart of the hero from another dimension. He is intended to be an amalgamation of all pop culture Spider-Man adaptations and interpretations. Lord and Miller envisioned him to be like *The Karate Kid*'s Mr. Miyagi, if "Mr. Miyagi doesn't know anything," which they thought was a "really neat color to put onto Peter that we hadn't seen before."
* Chris Pine as Peter Parker / Spider-Man: The 26-year-old, blond-haired blue-eyed version native to Miles' dimension. Though he offers to mentor Miles, he is killed by Kingpin after the activation of the collider before he can do so. This version of Parker was intended to be "as competent a Spider-Man as possible," and combines elements from previous Spider-Man portrayals, but with slight differences to indicate that he is from a different universe than the others. According to Parker's eulogy, he was a graduate student and married to Mary Jane Watson.
* Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman: a dimension-displaced counterpart of Gwen Stacy with spider-like abilities, who takes up the alias of "Wanda" (mistaken as "Gwanda") while at Miles' school.
* Mahershala Ali as Aaron Davis / Prowler: Miles' uncle, who moonlights as an enforcer for Wilson Fisk.
* Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis: Miles' father, a police officer, who disapproves of Spider-Man's vigilante actions. At the age of 35, Henry had said he was too young to portray a father of a teenager, but agreed to the role after learning that Miles Morales was the only black, Latino Spider-Man.
* Lily Tomlin as May Parker: Peter's aunt, who is dead in Peter B. Parker's universe, and provides refuge for the other Spider-People in Miles' universe.
* Luna Lauren Velez as Rio Morales: Miles' mother, a nurse.
* Zoë Kravitz as Mary Jane Watson: Peter Parker's widowed wife in Miles' universe and Peter B. Parker's ex-wife in his universe.
* John Mulaney as Peter Porker / Spider-Ham: an alternate talking animal version of Spider-Man from an anthropomorphic universe, who was once a spider, bitten by a radioactive pig.
* Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker / SP//dr: a young Japanese-American girl from an alternative anime-like universe who co-pilots a biomechanical suit with a radioactive spider that she shares a telepathic link with. The filmmakers initially considered using Silk as their Asian-American Spider-Man, but eventually settled on Peni because of her more distinctive power set compared to the other Spider-People. Peni's designs went through a few iterations as her initial design was particularly "iffy." Production designer Justin Thompson considered Lord and Miller's desire to use an anime design and came up with the idea to portray her in an art style similar to *Sailor Moon*.
* Nicolas Cage as Peter Parker / Spider-Man Noir: a dark and monochromatic alternate version of Peter Parker from a 1930s universe. Cage, who previously worked with Marvel as Johnny Blaze in the *Ghost Rider* film series, based his character on the films of Humphrey Bogart, and the voices of actors from that era such as James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson.
* Kathryn Hahn as Olivia Octavius / Doctor Octopus: Head scientist and CEO of Alchemax, and scientific adviser to Wilson Fisk.
* Liev Schreiber as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin: A crime lord and the benefactor of Alchemax in Miles' dimension.

Additional voices for the film include: Lake Bell as Vanessa Fisk, Jorma Taccone as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, Marvin "Krondon" Jones III as Tombstone, Joaquín Cosío as Scorpion, and Post Malone (who contributed to the film's soundtrack) as a bystander in Brooklyn. An archival recording of Cliff Robertson from *Spider-Man 2* was used for a flashback scene involving the character Ben Parker. Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee appears in a posthumous cameo, as a character named Stan who sells a Spider-Man costume to Morales. Lord and Miller said it was important to give Lee a bigger moment in the film rather than just a passing cameo, because he was "so integral to the spirit of this movie," and the role was "extra meaningful" following Lee's death in November 2018. Lee's character also has several brief "Easter egg" cameos throughout the film, such as when he walks over Miles and Peter B. when they are lying on the streets of New York City.

Cameos during the film's post-credits include: Oscar Isaac as Miguel O'Hara / Spider-Man 2099, an alternative version of Spider-Man from the Marvel 2099 imprint, Greta Lee as O'Hara's AI assistant Lyla (respectively credited as "Interesting Person #1" and "Interesting Person #2"), and Jorma Taccone as the Peter Parker / Spider-Man from the 1967 TV series (replacing Paul Soles, with the character being credited as "Last Dude"). Donald Glover also appears in a background TV screen as Troy Barnes from *Community* in Spider-Man pajamas.

Miles Morales's best friend and roommate Ganke Lee appears. The character originally had a bigger role, but was rewritten due to *Spider-Man: Homecoming* having a similar character named Ned Leeds. Pixar animator Peter Sohn was cast as Ganke before the character's dialogue was cut from the final film; the filmmakers have since said that Ganke will speak in later films.