Across the Spider-Verse (2023) Film Review

Sony Pictures

ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

The following Review contains SPOILERS for pretty much all things Spider-Man

Starring Shameik Moore (Miles Morales / Spider-Man), Hailee Steinfeld (Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman), Brian Tyree Henry / Officer Jefferson Morales, Luna Lauren Velez (Rio Morales), Jason Schwartzman (Johnathon Ohnn / The Spot), Issa Rae (Jess Drew / Spider-Woman), Karan Soni (Pavitr Prabhakar / Spider-Man India), Shea Whigham (George Stacy), Daniel Kaluuya (Hobie Brown – Spider-Punk), Jake Johnson (Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man), Mahershala Ali (Earth-42 Aaron Davis), and Oscar Isaac as Miguel Ohara / Spider-Man 2099)

Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson

Produced by Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Christina Steinberg

Written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller with Dave Callaham

Music by Danniel Pemberton

Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing

Run Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes

World Premier: May 30, 2023, in Los Angeles, California

Opening Weekend Box Office: $120 million (North America)

Worldwide Box Office: $689 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

Sony Pictures / Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company

Fun Spider-Verse Facts

Sony Pictures acquired the film and licensing rights to Spider-Man in the Spring of 1999, along with all Marvel characters that had their origins in Spider-Man comic book stories, including Spider-Man’s acclaimed rogue’s gallery. Marvel sold these rights in an effort to stay afloat as they filed for bankruptcy. Under the arrangement, Marvel Studios would assist Sony in a production role that would give them a say in the script-writing process, the hiring of directors, and in casting throughout the production of Sony’s first three Spider-Man films from 2002-2007.

In the meantime, on September 6, 2005, Marvel Enterprises became Marvel Entertainment; a reflection of the company’s new initiative to finance its own motion pictures through Marvel Studios. Two Spider-Man films had been made by Sony and Marvel Entertainment at the time of the announcement: 2002’s Spider-Man and 2004’s Spider-Man 2. A third film (Spider-Man 3) was already in active development at the time of this announcement. Marvel Studios would work in conjunction with Sony on Spider-Man 3, honoring the terms of their initial agreement, and Spider-Man 3 would be released in the Spring of 2007. In the meantime, Kevin Feige (Spring of 2007) would be promoted to President of Marvel Studios and production on Marvel Studios’ first independent film Iron Man would commence just prior to the release of Spider-Man 3.

Beyond Spider-Man 3, the working agreement between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures as it had once been ceased to exist as the Marvel Studios team concentrated on the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe while Sony’s team did their own thing. Former Marvel Studios President and co-founder Avi Arad (who announced his formal resignation from Marvel Studios in the Spring of 2006) remained a part of Sony’s team, and a decision was made to reboot the Spider-Man franchise, culminating in the release of The Amazing Spider-Man (starring Andrew Garfield) in 2012, and a sequel titled The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014.

On February 9, 2015, following a crippling e-mail hack and the critical failure of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures reached an agreement to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with 2016’s Captain America: Civil War after which Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures would co-produce a new Spider-Man film, which would serve as another reboot. In the Summer of 2015, Tom Holland was cast to portray Peter Parker / Spider-Man within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

From 2016-2019, Tom Holland appeared as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in 5 Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures projects including Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Spider-Man: Far From Home would emerge as the highest-grossing Spider-Man solo film of all-time at the time, bringing in $1.1 billion worldwide.

The five live-action films that featured Spider-Man from 2016-2019 generated more than $7 billion worldwide. If you include 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse, that number crosses the $8 billion mark. This success inspired Sony to begin developing a new live-action Spider-Man Universe, albeit without Spider-Man in it. The project set in this new Cinematic world was 2018’s Venom starring Tom Hardy. Venom was another financial hit, pulling in $856 million for Sony and the Universe that Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock / Venom occupied would eventually grow to include Morbius the Living Vampire, portrayed by Jared Leto in the 2022 film Morbius. 

Sony Pictures / The Walt Disney Company

On August 21, 2019, Sony Pictures withdrew Spider-Man from the Marvel Cinematic Universe after failing to extend their agreement with Marvel Studios. The two sides ultimately reached a new agreement on September 27, 2019. It was widely believed that as part of the new deal, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe would become part of the MCU as a series of Alternate Realities / Parallel Universes that comprise the MCU Multiverse, and that is exactly what happened on October 1, 2021, with the release of Sony Pictures’ Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which saw Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock / Venom get transported from his home Universe into the MCU 616-Universe. In the meantime, on April 21, 2021, Sony Pictures and The Walt Disney Company (which acquired Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios with it 2009) reached a groundbreaking deal to bring all of Sony’s Spider-Man films to the Disney+ streaming service where they would exist alongside other Marvel Cinematic Universe films for viewing by Disney+ subscribers.

In the 2021 Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures co-production Spider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel Studios’ yet-to-be titled Multiverse Saga was kicked into high gear when the events of that film saw Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man (from the three Spider-Man films that were released from 2002-2007) and Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man (from the 2012-2014 The Amazing Spider-Man films) enter the MCU and share the screen with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man due to a Multiversal breach triggered by an errant magical spell that was cast by Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Stephen Strange, which involved Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. Within the structure of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Maguire’s Parker and Garfield’s Parker existed as Multiversal Variants to Holland’s Parker. Along with the two Spider-Men and Eddie Brock / Venom, other characters from Sony’s Spider-Man Universe such as Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin (Spider-Man), Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus (Spider-Man 2), Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman (Spider-Man 3), Rhys Ifans’ Lizard (The Amazing Spider-Man), and Jamie Fox’s Electro crossed over into the MCU as well. The end of Spider-Man: No Way Home saw the Multiversal Visitors returned to their respective Universes, with each of the villains being cured by the three Spider-Men. Meanwhile, Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes / The Vulture (a centerpiece of Spider-Man: Homecoming) was mysteriously transported from the MCU 616-Universe into the same Universe inhabited by Jared Leto’s Mobius and Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock / Venom. Spider-Man: No Way Home ultimately amassed a triumphant $1.9 billion worldwide, becoming the highest grossing Spider-Man solo film of all-time, the highest grossing film in the history of Sony Pictures, the third-highest grossing Marvel Studios production (behind Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which both featured Spider-Man), and the highest-grossing film of 2021.

While the concept of the MCU Multiverse was formally established in Marvel Studios’ Loki Disney+ series, the concept of the Spider-Verse was introduced cinematically in 2018, with the release of Sony’s Into the Spider-Verse. The Multiversal breach that brought several Spider-Man characters into the world inhabited by Miles Morales was caused by The Kingpin of Crime through his efforts to use a Particle Accelerator to open portals into other Universes where he hoped to find replacements for the family that he lost. Miles Morales and his team of Multiversal Spider-Beings team-up in an effort to both get the Multiversal Visitors back home and stop The Kingpin from accomplishing his scheme and destroying Miles’ Universe. The widespread critical acclaim generated by Into the Spider-Verse is believed to have inspired Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures’ decision to thoroughly explore the concept of the Multiverse in their next Spider-Verse film, which of course became Spider-Man: No Way Home. Meanwhile, a sequel to Into the Spider-Verse was green-lit by Sony before Into the Spider-Verse was even released due to the positive buzz surrounding the project. That sequel ultimately became Across the Spider-Verse.

For those keeping score at home, the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home and its canonization of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe also canonized Into the Spider-Verse, as the voice of actor Cliff Robinson (who portrayed Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben in 2002’s Spider-Man) could be heard during a flashback sequence in the film, and since 2002’s Spider-Man is MCU canon via the Multiverse, so too is Into the Spider-Verse due to its utilization of archived audio from that film. Across the Spider-Verse put an exclamation point on all of that with several references to Spider-Man’s Cinematic history. Among them are appearances by both Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man via archived footage, JK Simmons reprises his role as J. Jonah Jameson whom he has portrayed in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy as well as within the MCU on Earth-616 in Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Spot visits the Universe that is inhabited by Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock / Venom (designated as Earth-688 and shown in live action when he encounters Ms. Chen, with Peggy Lu reprising her role from both Venom films), a live action Prowler is seen portrayed by Donald Glover, who portrayed Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and a what seems to be a blatant reference to the MCU 616-Universe and the events seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home by Miguel Ohara when he exclaims “Don’t get me started on Doctor Strange and that little nerd back on Earth-199999 (the comic book designation for the Marvel Cinematic Universe).   

Sony Pictures

The star of Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse is of course, Miles Morales / Spider-Man. Miles was created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli for Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Universe, debuting in Ultimate Fallout # 4 in 2011. The Ultimate Universe was launched by Marvel in the year 2000 and was done so in an effort to put a more modern take on their classic characters that could appeal to new readers who might have felt that the notion of 40-years of continuity was too overwhelming. Ultimate Spider-Man was first published in the Fall of 2000 and was an instant hit. Miles Morales debuted in Ultimate Fallout # 4 in the Summer of 2011, and would go on to become Spider-Man after his Universe’s Peter Parker was killed by The Green Goblin. Miles’ Universe is designated as Earth-1610 in both the comics and the Spider-Verse film. Sharing the starring role with Miles this time around is Gwen Stacy (created by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez and making her comic book debut in 2015). Across the Spider-Verse takes viewers to Gwen’s world and explores her origin and her complicated relationship with her father more thoroughly than the first film did. Gwen’s Universe is designated as Earth-65.

Several other Spider-Man Variants appear in Across the Spider-Verse; far too many for me to list in fact, but some of the more notable Variants are Jess Drew (a new take on comic book character Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman that was created specifically for the film), Spider-Punk (created by Dan Slott and Olivier Coipel and debuting in 2015), and Spider-Man India (created by Jeevan J. Kang, Suresh Seetharaman, and Sharad Devarajan). Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse are loosely based on the Marvel Comics Spider-Verse Event Series which ran from 2014-2015, written by Dan Slott.

Across the Spider-Verse features several cast members that have appeared within the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other Marvel Studios films including Hailee Steinfeld (Kate Bishop in Hawkeye), Mahershala Ali (Blade in Eternals), Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos in Eternals), Daniel Kaluuya (W’Kabi in Black Panther), and Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight and all of his personalities in Moon Knight).

Across the Spider-Verse features six different animation styles, as strong effort was made to make the worlds that various characters portrayed to look and feel as different from one another as possible.

At the time that I am writing this review, Across the Spider-Verse reigns as the third best-reviewed production based on a Marvel property on Rotten Tomatoes boasting a 96% Approval Rating which is behind only Into the Spider-Verse (97%) and Marvel Studios’ 2022 Disney+ series Ms. Marvel (98%).

Across the Spider-Verse currently stands as the sixth-highest grossing film of the year as I am typing this, with the film falling behind Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three, but outperforming Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania

Sony Pictures

My Across the Spider-Verse Review

Across the Spider-Verse is a sort of perfect sequel to the animated masterpiece that was Into the Spider-Verse. As I wrote in my review for that film, this sequel also serves as a love story to Spider-Man, to comic books, and to comic book readers themselves. When I saw Into the Spider-Verse, I felt that it was the most uniquely beautiful motion picture that I had ever seen, yet this sequel is somehow even more beautiful, unabashedly existing as a sort of living comic book with massive care and attention dedicated to each and every scene and to each and every character. The colors, the movements, the backgrounds, the animation, the thought balloons and word bubbles and action descriptors, all of comes together in the same ways that the first film did, only this time around, the stakes are significantly higher! I read and enjoy comic books because the art, the stories, and the characters come together in such a way that I’m taken to another world. Comics make me laugh, they make me cry, and at times, they admittedly make me roll my eyes, but above all else, they entertain me, and they inspire me, and the same exact thing can be said about Across the Spider-Verse, which is why I so very much love this film!

Across the Spider-Verse catches up with Gwen Stacy on Earth-65. We explore her life and her drama as she wrestles with having played a part in the death of her best friend (Peter Parker after became The Lizard), loneliness, and her father’s obsession with catching her superhero alter ego. Going to Gwen’s world was visually breathtaking and emotionally draining! A fight with a Vulture from another Universe culminates in Gwen meeting some other Spider-Beings and coming out as Spider-Woman to her police dad. He reacts cruelly, addressing her with a mixture of sadness and disgust and threatening to arrest her, but before he can, she gets whisked away into the Multiverse and joins the Spider Society, an extradimensional group of Spider-Beings led by Miguel O’Hara that work to ensure the stability of the Multiverse. It’s made clear very quickly that the events of the Into the Spider-Verse film left the Multiverse quite unstable, with various entities glitching out of their home Universes into foreign ones. Such was the case with The Vulture.

Meanwhile, on Earth-616, Miles Morales is enjoying life as Spider-Man, despite having to juggle his responsibilities as a hero with his duty as a student and son. Miles soon encounters a new supervillain known as The Spot. We eventually learn that he is a former scientist that worked at Alchemax (and had a bagel thrown at him by Miles) that found himself transformed into a monstrosity when his body fused with portals upon the explosion of the Particle Accelerator. The Spot can open portals in space and move his body through them. It’s kind of funny at first visually, and the initial dynamic between The Spot and Miles is fun, but eventually it will all get much more serious. Part of this comes with the revelation that the spider that bit Miles had been transported from another Dimension into Earth-1610. This makes Miles an anomaly.

Soon, Gwen Stacy reconnects with Miles on Earth-1610. She has missed him and he’s pretty much obsessed with her, and the chemistry between the characters is really special. Gwen’s visit with Miles was not approved by the Spider Society, as her lone mission was looking into the activities of The Spot. She is ordered to leave quite abruptly, and Miles finds himself unable to resist the notion of following her through the portal that had yet to close behind her. They end up on Earth-50101 where they team up with Spider-Punk and Spider-Man India against The Spot. During the brawl, Miles shares a vision with The Spot in which he sees the death of Police Inspector Singh of Earth-50101. This provokes Miles to save Singh, but after he does, Earth-50101 begins to disintegrate. The Spider Society arrives to take charge of the situation and Miles is whisked away to Earth-928 and the Headquarters of the Spider Society.

There a few things to get to here in terms of plot and narrative. Earth-50101 began to disintegrate because the death of Singh was a “canon” event, meaning it was not only supposed to happen, but it has to happen. These same kinds of rules were laid out in Marvel Studios’ What If …? where they were referred to as “Absolute Points.” Regardless of what they’re called the simple truth is, these are events that cannot be changed or else the Universe they take place in will unravel and the stability of the Multiverse itself will be threatened.

Sony Pictures

The Spider Society sequence is loaded with cameos and easter eggs pertaining to other Variants of Spider-Man from cartoons, to comics, to video games. It’s wonderful and it’s fun. but the nature of the scene changes drastically as it goes on when Miles discovers that every Spider-Being across the Multiverse has to suffer certain losses and that his next loss is destined to come in the form of his father’s death at the hands of The Spot. Miles is unable to bring himself to cope with this, and in his panic, he furthermore learns that him becoming a Spider-Being was a Multiversal Annamolly. It was never supposed to happen, as the spider that bit him was from another Universe. Miguel O’Hara tries to imprison Miles in order to prevent him from saving his father, but Miles breaks free, and a chase ensues. Miles fights off Miguel and successfully flees Earth-928, but in a huge swerve, we discover along with Miles that he has not gone home. He has gone to Earth-42, the Universe from which the spider that bit him came, and here, a Variant of himself is The Prowler!

It’s quite the moment, and its one that cleverly follows Miles coming out to what turned out to be a Variant of his mother as Spider-Man. Meanwhile, Gwen Stacy reunites with her dad and makes amends with him (wonderful sequence) and she returns to Earth-1610 in search of Miles, only to discover that he isn’t there. After conversing with Miles’ parents. Gwen assembles a new team of Spider-Beings to oppose Miguel Ohara and his troops. Her allies include Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker, Spider-Ham, and Peter B. Parker (with his child May Day).

In the meantime, The Spot is raiding other Universes to grow stronger and to emerge as a serious threat to not just Miles’ family, but to the Multiverse itself.

There’s so much to unpack and praise here! I loved every scene with Miles and his parents and every scene with Miles and Gwen. The complications of dealing with predetermined events that are “supposed to happen” are themes we’ve seen brilliantly explored in the Doctor Strange episode of What If …? and in the Loki series, yet it never feels tired or overused. This is a situation unique to Miles Morales and his story, and his will to fight against all odds and against all destiny’s drives the third act of this film and leaves us hanging on a major cliff hanger as we await Beyond the Spider-Verse and consume the rest of the MCU Multiverse Saga.

Again, Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse are both MCU adjacent via the Multiverse. I think the easiest way to categorize these films so that they can work narratively is to simply view all of these Alternate Universes as parts of the greater whole that is the MCU Multiverse. The MCU 616-Universe is its OWN THING from Iron Man in 2008, to The Marvels this November, and the 616-Universe USED TO exist as a controlled Flow of Time overseen by He Who Remains and policed by the Time Variance Authority. There was once a great Multiversal War that pit Universe vs Universe and Variants of He Who Remains (Kang) against each other. He Who Remains ended that Multiversal War and isolated a series of timelines, whose Flow of Time would not lead to the birth of any kind of the warring Variants of Himself, the likes of which He previously conquered. Those Universes comprised his Sacred Timeline and He Who Remains and the TVA saw to it that no Branched Timelines arose from off the Sacred Timeline. However, the Second Season of Loki saw the Temporal Loom that kept the Sacred Timeline functional get destroyed and that, combined with the death of He Who Remains exposed the Sacred Timeline, and it, and all of its Branches were reshaped by a Variant of the Asgardian God of Mischief Loki, who in doing so, at long last found his Glorious Purpose and ascended to Godhood. The 616-Universe was now allowed to Brach as it would with the TVA (who once policed the Sacred Timeline) now existing to hunt and prune Variants of He Who Remains across the Multiverse. So, the way that I see it, the MCU 616-Universe can now crossover with other Universes due to the death of He Who Remains and Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse (like the aforementioned live action Spider-Man films) occur in these other Universes that comprise the vast MCU Multiverse.

Sony Pictures

Highlights of Across the Spider-Verse:

Gwen Stacy

Miles Morales

The Exploration of Complicated Family Relationships

The look and style of Gwen’s World

Heart

Humor

Gwen’s Drumming

Music

Catching up with Peter B. Parker

Spider-Punk

Spider-Man India

Animation and Illustration Throughout

Sony Pictures

Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:

Following Into the Spider-Verse, Across the Spider-Verse further explores a subsection of a Universe of characters that were formally introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, such as Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man, who are directly shown via archived footage in Across the Spider-Verse. The world inhabited by Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock / Venom is also shown during the film (and Eddie crossed over to the MCU briefly in Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home), in addition to a Variant of Donald Glover’s Aaron Davis, as seen in Spider-Man: Homecoming. The possibility of animated worlds existing within the MCU Multiverse was confirmed in 2022’s Marvel Studios film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness when Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Steven Strange and Xochitl Gome’s America Chavez briefly inhabit one and transform into animated entities during the sequence in which they tumbled through the Multiverse en route to Earth-838. Across the Spider-Verse made it clear meanwhile that live-action worlds, traditional cartoon worlds, and even Lego worlds also comprise the Multiverse.