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 from a screenplay by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller who both also produce, and David Callaham. Shameik Moore voices Miles, starring alongside Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Vélez, Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Karan Soni, Shea Whigham, Greta Lee, Daniel Kaluuya, Mahershala Ali 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 in the form of the Spot.

Sony began developing a sequel to *Into the Spider-Verse* prior to 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.

*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse* premiered at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles, California on May 30, 2023, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 2, having been delayed from its original April 2022 theatrical release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first film from Sony Pictures Animation to be released in theaters worldwide since *The Angry Birds Movie 2* in August 2019. Like its predecessor, the film received positive reviews. It set several box office records and was a box office success, grossing $690.5 million at the worldwide box office, surpassing its predecessor and becoming the third-highest-grossing film of the year domestically in the United States, the highest-grossing film produced by Sony Pictures Animation, and the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2023. The film won Best Animated Film at the National Board of Review, and the American Film Institute also selected it as one of the top 10 films of 2023. Among its numerous accolades, it was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, including Best Animated Feature.

The third installment in the trilogy, *Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse*, and a female-focused spin-off film, *Spider-Woman*, are both in development; *Spider-Woman*'s release date is set for June 2025.

## Plot

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

In Brooklyn on Earth-1610, sixteen months after the Alchemax collider's destruction, Miles Morales encounters the Spot, an Alchemax scientist whose body was infused with portals during the collider explosion. The Spot blames Miles for causing his condition and reveals that, while testing the collider, he had transported a spider from another dimension, Earth-42, which bit Miles and turned him into Spider-Man. The Spot then accidentally transports himself into a void, where he travels to other universes containing Alchemax colliders to empower himself further.

Gwen travels to Earth-1610 and reconnects with Miles while secretly tracking the Spot. Miles secretly follows her through a portal to Earth-50101, and they team up with local Spider-Man Pavitr Prabhakar, and later Hobie Brown, against the Spot, who absorbs the power of that world's collider. The Spot and Miles share a vision of the Spot's future attacks that include the deaths of Police Inspector Singh (the father of Pavitr's girlfriend) and Miles' father Jeff. As the collider collapses, Miles saves Singh, but Earth-50101 begins falling apart from its disrupted "canon event" before members of the Spider-Society arrive to contain the damage. Miles, Gwen, and Hobie are sent to the Society's headquarters on Earth-928, where hundreds of Spider-People reside in a massive complex.

Miles, Gwen, and Hobie meet with Miguel and reunite with Peter B. Parker and his infant daughter Mayday. Miguel explains to Miles that each of the Spider-People's stories throughout the multiverse entails "canon events", such as the death of a police captain close to Spider-Man, the death of an uncle figure to Spider-Man, and other string of events that define a Spider-Man; and straying from these events threatens reality and may cause that universe to collapse, and if that universe collapses, then the entire multiverse will eventually collapse as well. Miguel reveals he witnessed the collapse of another universe firsthand when attempting to replace a deceased version of himself from that universe.

Miles realizes that the Spot murdering Jeff, who is set to 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 quitting the Spider-Society. As Miles flees through the complex, Miguel orders the Spider-Society to capture him. Miguel corners Miles and tells him that he is the original anomaly; the spider that bit him came from Earth-42, resulting in Earth-42 having no Spider-Man, and that if the spider had not bitten Miles, Earth 1610’s Peter Parker would have stopped the collider and survived, and the Spot would never have existed.

Miles overpowers Miguel and flees to what he believes to be his home dimension. Considering Gwen a liability, a furious Miguel ejects her from the Society and forcibly sends her back to Earth-65. Once there, Gwen learns that George has resigned from his job as police captain, proving that it is possible for canon events to be safely averted. The two reconcile and George gives her a portal watch left by Hobie.

To his shock, Miles realizes that he is on Earth-42, the home of the spider that bit him, rather than his own dimension. In this world, his uncle Aaron Davis is alive while his father Jeff is dead, and, because Spider-Man does not exist, New York City is riddled with unchecked crime. As the Spider-Society searches for Miles, Gwen travels to Earth-1610 and speaks with Miles' parents, promising to find him and bring him home. Aaron restrains Miles, and it is revealed Earth-42's Miles has become the Prowler.

As the Spot begins his multiversal attack, Gwen assembles a team to find Miles, consisting of Peter B., Mayday, Pavitr, Hobie, Margo Kess, Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker, and Spider-Ham, while Miles prepares to escape.

## 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 / Ghost Spider: 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 Jeff Morales (né Davis): Miles' African-American father and a police officer, who was recently promoted to captain. The character's last name was changed from Davis in the first film to Morales in this film.
* 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-616B who was a mentor to Miles. He is now married to Mary Jane "MJ" Parker and has a daughter named Mayday.
* Jason Schwartzman as Johnathon 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 was not 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 woman 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 uses a yo-yo as his main weapon and 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 African-American 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 Tumino / 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 Peter Parker / 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 Ezekiel Sims / Spider-Therapist; Sofia Barclay as Malala Windsor / Spider-UK, an original incarnation who wears a hijab; Danielle Perez as Charlotte Webber / Sun-Spider, who uses 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 C. Weber, a counselor at Miles' 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, Antonia Lentini, and Nicole Delaney voice Gwen's bandmates Glory, Betty 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 (SSU), 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 their versions of Ben Parker and Denis Leary as George Stacy. Archival audio of Alfred Molina's Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus from *Spider-Man: No Way Home* is used for an alternate version of the character with a comic book-accurate design.