Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Theatrical release poster

***Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse*** is a 2018 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. 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 Morales, alongside the voices of Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Vélez, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, and Liev Schreiber. Inspired by the *Amazing Spider-Man* story arc "Spider-Verse", while also taking inspiration from the Ultimate Marvel comics "The Death of Spider-Man" and *Spider-Men* that served as Miles Morales' debut, the film's story follows Miles as he becomes the new Spider-Man and joins other Spider-People from various parallel universes to save his universe from 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. The film grossed $384.3 million worldwide against a $90 million budget and received critical acclaim. The film won Best Animated Feature at the 91st Academy Awards—being the first non-Disney/Pixar film to win the award since *Rango* (2011) and was similarly successful at the 76th Golden Globe Awards, the 72nd British Academy Film Awards, and the 46th Annie Awards.

A sequel, *Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,* was released in 2023, and received similar acclaim from critics. A third film, *Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse*, is set to be released in March 2024, while a spin-off film focused on female Spider-related characters is also in development, with a television series being considered.

## 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 collider built by Kingpin, who hopes to access parallel universes to bring back his late wife and son, whose deaths he blames on Spider-Man. Miles watches as Spider-Man attempts to disable the collider while fighting Fisk's henchmen, Green Goblin and the Prowler.

Spider-Man saves Miles, but Green Goblin shoves Spider-Man into the collider, causing an explosion that kills Goblin and wounds Spider-Man. Spider-Man gives Miles a USB flash drive designed to disable the collider, warning that the machine could destroy the city if reactivated. After watching in horror as Fisk kills Spider-Man, Miles flees with Prowler in pursuit, eventually getting away from him. As the city mourns Spider-Man's death, Miles tries to honor his legacy and become the new Spider-Man. While trying out his newfound abilities, he inadvertently damages the drive. At Spider-Man's grave, Miles meets Peter B. Parker, an older and worn-down version of Spider-Man from another dimension. Upon meeting him, Miles discovers his ability to emit bio-electric bursts called "venom-blasts".

Peter reluctantly agrees to train Miles in exchange for help stealing data to create a new drive. They infiltrate Fisk's research facility, and Miles discovers he has the power to turn invisible. They are confronted by mad scientist Olivia Octavius, who discovers 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 saved by Gwen Stacy, a Spider-Woman from another dimension. They then visit the deceased Spider-Man'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 after questioning and testing him, they tell him that he lacks experience.

Distraught, Miles retreats to Aaron's home, where he discovers Aaron is the Prowler. Miles returns to May's house, where Peni has completed the new drive; he is followed by Fisk, Prowler, Octavius, Scorpion, and Tombstone. In the ensuing brawl, Miles reveals his identity to Aaron just as Aaron corners him. Unwilling to kill his own nephew, Aaron spares Miles, but is fatally shot by Fisk. Miles flees with Aaron, who tells him to keep going before dying. Jefferson arrives on the scene and Miles escapes, leading Jefferson to mistake Spider-Man as Aaron's murderer. The heroes regroup with a devastated Miles at his 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 Miles does not want to speak to him, apologizes for his mistakes and inspires Miles. Miles then manages to control his powers, escapes his restraints, and creates his own Spider-Man suit with May's help. He joins the heroes, defeating Fisk's enforcers and using the new drive to send them home. Fisk fights Miles, attracting the attention of Jefferson, who realizes that Spider-Man isn't the menace he saw him as. Jefferson encourages Miles, who subdues Fisk with his venom-blast and throws him at the kill switch, causing the collider to explode and saving the city. Fisk and his henchmen are arrested for their crimes and Jefferson recognizes the new Spider-Man as a hero while receiving evidence of Fisk's murders of Peter and Aaron.

Miles embraces the responsibilities of his new life, while the heroes return to their lives in their own dimensions. Later, Gwen finds a way to contact Miles from her own dimension. In another dimension, Miguel O'Hara, also known as Spider-Man 2099, travels to Earth-67 and argues with its 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 radioactive 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 African-American and Puerto-Rican 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."
* 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. In onscreen comic books while explaining her origin story, she is referred to as "Spider-Gwen".
* Mahershala Ali as Aaron Davis / Prowler: Miles' uncle, who moonlights as a masked enforcer for Wilson Fisk while keeping it a secret from his family. He is rebellious, causing him to be looked at poorly by Jefferson.
* Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis:
Miles' African-American 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 Vélez as Rio Morales: Miles' Puerto-Rican mother, a nurse.
* Zoë Kravitz as Mary Jane "MJ" Parker: Peter Parker's wife in Miles' universe and Peter B. Parker's former 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 copilots 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 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 Doctor Olivia "Liv" Octavius: The head scientist and CEO of Alchemax, and a scientific adviser to Wilson Fisk. The character uses highly advanced tentacles and is featured in much of the marketing for Alchemax, even being seen in a documentary by Miles in school.
* Liev Schreiber as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin:
A crime lord and the leader of Alchemax in Miles' dimension. His ultimate motive is to resurrect his dead wife and son, who died in a car crash escaping from him.

In addition to the six main versions of Spider-Man present in the film, Chris Pine is featured as a 26-year-old, blond-haired blue-eyed version of Peter Parker's Spider-Man native to Miles' dimension. Though he offers to mentor Miles, he is killed by Fisk 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 Parker.

Additional voices for the film include: Lake Bell as Vanessa Fisk, Kingpin's wife, Jorma Taccone as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, a genetically enhanced mercenary working for Kingpin, Marvin "Krondon" Jones III as Tombstone, Kingpin's silent and heavily armed bodyguard, Joaquín Cosío as Scorpion, a Mexican cyborg with prosthetic legs and a tail, 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. A young Matt Murdock from Gwen's dimension appears in an "Easter egg" cameo during Morales' final train fight scene as an alternate universe adopted son of Kingpin.

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 appears on a background TV screen, which is displaying a scene from the episode "Anthropology 101" of *Community* in which Glover's character, Troy Barnes, wears Spider-Man pajamas. This scene, a reference to an unsuccessful Twitter campaign suggesting Glover be cast in the lead role of *The Amazing Spider-Man*, was cited by Miles Morales' creator, Brian Michael Bendis, as influencing the design and portrayal of the character. Glover had previously voiced a version of Miles Morales in the *Ultimate Spider-Man* animated series, and played Aaron Davis in *Spider-Man: Homecoming*.

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 the similar character Ned Leeds. Pixar animator Peter Sohn was cast as Ganke before the character's dialogue was cut from the final film; Sohn would later voice the character in the sequel, *Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse*.