Get ready to jump back into the Spider-Verse. Following the success of 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse, which took home Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, a sequel is currently in development.
Though the superhero industry (and honestly the entire film industry as a whole) is being dominated by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that hasn’t stopped others from throwing their hats into the ring. One of the biggest examples of this is Sony, who has owned the rights to one of Marvel’s most popular characters, Spider-Man, ever since the original 2002 film. Primarily they’ve been focusing on their own villain universe, currently featuring the first two Venom films, Morbius (2022), and more solo films for Kraven the Hunter (2023) and El Muerto (2024) in the pipeline. However, there is one other significant film from Sony that nobody really saw coming, and it went on to make Marvel history as the first Marvel Comics adaptation to receive a coveted Academy Award. That film was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), which beat out Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) and Incredibles 2 (2018) for the Best Animated Feature Oscar in a historic upset.
That’s for good reason, as Into the Spider-Verse is almost universally considered to be a masterful animated big-screen debut for fan-favorite comics character, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore). With the high-quality ingredients of an innovative art style, fleshed-out characters, an emotionally compelling narrative, and more, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse isn’t just a great Spider-Man film, it’s arguably the greatest Spider-Man film ever made. Now fans will be able to return to the Spider-Verse with Miles and friends with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), the second installment of what is now a planned trilogy.
Titled Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the project was announced in November 2019, with animation work beginning in June 2020.
The Trailer
The first trailer gives us our first look at the return to this incredible animated multiverse, albeit with some outdated information. The teaser picks up right where the last film left off, with Miles listening to the hit song from Into the Spider-Verse “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee. His relaxation is interrupted by the return of Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) through yet another inter-dimensional portal. Miles is flustered and surprised to see his crush from another dimension after their last adventure, and Gwen doesn’t elaborate on how or why she’s back, instead inviting “New York’s One and Only Spider-Man” on a swing through the city.
Suddenly, we see Miles in his own Spider-suit falling into new dimensions, again each with its own distinct art style. As he is quite literally falling through the multiverse, he’s interrupted by Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac), who debuted in the end credits tease of Into the Spider-Verse. Unlike the other Spider-Men that Miles has met, this one seems to be a bit more hostile, getting into a fight before the teaser cuts to a title card. That title card is slightly outdated, no longer having the “Part One” subtitle despite a third film being confirmed and on the way. Its release date shown at the very end of the two-and-a-half-minute-long trailer is also no longer accurate.
The second trailer follows a similar structure, with a majority of it serving as a recap for Miles’ story so far as he has an emotional heart-to-heart with his mother. It doesn’t take long to see the mind-bending world of the Spider-verse show up, as in addition to the return of Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) and the introduction of Spider-Woman (Issa Rae), we also get to see a facility housing dozens upon dozens of Spider-Man variants, ranging from deep cut comic references like the Amazing Bag-Man to more recent fan favorites like the versions of Peter and Miles from Spider-Man PS4. Though it doesn’t seem that all of these Spider-Men are allies, as Miles gets into a fight with not just the many variants, but also the potential leader of the group, Spider-Man 2099.
The Plot
When Sony confirmed the sequel’s title, it also released the first official synopsis for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which reads:
“Miles Morales returns for an epic adventure that will transport Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man across the Multiverse to join forces with Gwen Stacy and a new team of Spider-People to face off with a villain more powerful than anything they have ever encountered.”
We recently learned from director Kemp Powers (Soul) who that powerful villain is, and it’s a somewhat surprising pick. Instead of one of the usual suspects like Green Goblin or Doc Ock, this will be a more obscure B-lister by the name of The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), whose ability to seamlessly access the multiverse will make him a powerful threat. We also know that there will be a vast variety of characters that will be present. Writers and producers (and the creative duo behind The LEGO Movie) Phil Lord and Christopher Miller confirmed that there will be a whopping total of 240 characters and the story takes place across six universes, setting up an ambitious undertaking to rival even that of something as large scale as Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse cast
Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld are reprising their roles as Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, respectively, and they won’t be the only stars from the first movie to return for the sequel.
As the teaser trailer confirmed, Oscar Isaac will be back as Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099, following his appearance in the first movie’s post-credits scene.
Luna Lauren Vélez has also confirmed she’ll be back as Miles’s mother Rio. Brian Tyree Henry will be back as Miles’s father Jefferson Davis, while Jake Johnson revealed in July 2021 that he’s returning as Miles’s mentor Peter B Parker.
Issa Rae is in the sequel as Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman. Jason Schwartzman will voice the Spot, a villain whose body is covered in inter-dimensional portals.
It was also confirmed in November 2022 that Daniel Kaluuya will be voicing Hobart ‘Hobie’ Brown, aka Spider-Punk, in the sequel. Shea Whigham and Jorma Taccone will voice George Stacy and the Vulture, respectively.
It was previously teased that Kathryn Hahn could be back as Doc Ock in a bigger role. However, she has yet to be added to any cast lists or announcements.
Not returning, so it would seem, are John Mulaney as Spider-Ham, Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker, and Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir, the latter of whom expressed disappointment at not being in the sequel.
Cage Screen Rant: “I don’t know what’s going on with that. No one’s spoken to me about that. Ask them. I don’t know. I really don’t. I wish they would.”
This considered, Spider-Ham, Peni Parker, and Spider-Man Noir may appear in the third film, as Lord and Miller teased: “Miles will reunite with some old friends and meet… a lot of new ones.”
Who Is Making Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse?
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have become two of the biggest and most respected names in feature animation, having had major roles in The LEGO Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021), and more. They return to write and produce Across the Spider-Verse, and though they initially set out to do something on the same scale as the last film, the sequel has since evolved and grown to consist of the largest crew for an animated film ever assembled. The film will feature a new trio of directors to lead this massive undertaking, each experienced in the industry with Joaquim Dos Santos (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson (Star Wars: Clone Wars). Also joining Lord and Miller in the writing department is someone with experience with writing for the Marvel multiverse, Dave Callaham (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings).
We don’t have time to list all one thousand-plus members of the crew, but to name a couple of the creative leads, we have returning Into the Spider-Verse composer Daniel Pemberton (Steve Jobs), editor Mike Andrews (Shrek 2), production designer Kevin Aymeric (Arcane) and Patrick O’Keefe (Fragile), art director Araiz Khalid (Ms. Marvel), and costume designer Brooklyn El-Omar (Raya and the Last Dragon).
What Is the Release Date of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was one of the many films to get hit by a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, moving from its original date of April 8, 2022, to October 7, 2022. That’s the date seen in the above trailer, but the film has since seen another significant delay since then. Now the film is officially set for release on June 2, 2023. Hopefully, we won’t see another delay, but if it means getting a sequel that lives up to the sky-high heights of the original, we’ll gladly wait.
