Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a movie that many consider to be among the best Spider-Man films of all time, right up there alongside the best of his live-action adventures—and maybe even better, in some fans’ eyes. That means that we’ve all been eagerly awaiting the continuation of Miles Morales’ interdimensional adventures, which we started getting small tidbits of information for shortly after the first movie’s release, in 2019.
The first movie saw Miles Morales take on the mantle of Spider-Man after the Peter Parker of his world died, and he received some mentorship from an alternate universe version of the hero, as well as some assistance from even more multiversal incarnations of Spider-Man—and Gwen Stacy—thanks to Wilson Fisk’s dangerous interdimensional quest for the family he’d lost.
With the door to the spider-verse opened up, the possibilities for the sequel are pretty much endless, and it looks like the sequel is hiding even more Easter eggs, cameos, characters, and actors than the original!
Who are the cast and characters of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse?
Returning will be Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), along with new heroes from across the Spider-Verse, like Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) and Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman (Issa Rae). Scarlet Spider is also expected to appear, as well as Spider-Punk.
Academy Award winner Daniel Kaluuya will voice the character of Hobart “Hobie” Brown, also known as Spider-Punk. Spider-Punk first appeared in 2015 from writer Dan Slott and artist Olivier Coipel. Spider-Punk is the Earth-138 version of Spider-Man, a homeless youth who gains his powers from an irradiated spider because of President Norman Osborn’s toxic waste dumping. He becomes a punk-rock-inspired Spider-Man and fights for the working class. We love to see it.
On April 27, 2023, The Lonely Island Instagram account broke the news that Andy Samberg is among the cast of Across the Spider-Verse, along with Jorma Taccone, who will play the Vulture. It’s currently unknown who Samberg will play, but Across the Spider-Verse co-director Joaquim Dos Santos teased a top secret voice for Ben Reilly, a.k.a. the Scarlet Spider, in an interview with Total Film magazine shortly before Lonely Island’s post, so that’s one of the possibilities floating around online.
Still, it could really be anyone, considering Dos Santos also discussed a lot of secrecy around which characters and actors will appear in the film, saying, “Not even the actors know! Everyone is sworn to secrecy, and they record alone, so most of them are discovering with the public who is in the film they’ve been making. Their reactions have been pretty hilarious.”
Watch the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer
Without giving much away about the plot (thank goodness), the trailer is mainly Miles’s mom, Rio Morales, telling Miles that she wants him to protect the little boy inside of him. That he belongs and is loved no matter what. Yes, he does get chanced by a bunch of other Spider-folks, but the heart of the trailer is that monologue from Rio. It is beautiful and a really great reminder of the kind of talks Black and Brown kids get as they get older and move forward in the world. It’s subtle and universal enough that everyone can get something out of it, but also a very specific experience for some people.
When the trailer debuted, it was the most the public had seen of the film in a long time. Directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson shared 15 minutes of the long-awaited Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse at an Annecy International Animation Festival presentation in June, 2022. There, we finally got a look at the film’s big bad: The Spot.
Who is the villain of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse?
“For those who are not hardcore canon nerds, The Spot is one of the deepest cuts in Spider-Man’s rogue gallery,” said co-director Powers, as reported by Variety. “But he has a super-power that really excited our entire team: His entire body is covered in little interdimensional portals that can send him anywhere he wants to go.”
“We thought it would be really cool if the portals felt like living ink that had spilled or splattered on the comic artist’s drawing,” Powers continued. “His very simple power provided endless exciting challenges and permutations for our team.” Jason Schwartzman will voice The Spot.
So who is The Spot? Created by writer Al Milgrom and artist Herb Trimpe, The Spot was a scientist working for the Kingpin named Dr. Jonathan Ohnn. Ohnn wanted to mimic the transportation powers of the superhero Cloak (from Cloak and Dagger). He succeeded in creating a solid black circular portal, and that became his access to “The Spotworld.” With his abilities, he can control and manipulate the warps to almost any degree he wishes. He’s like a living game of portal.
What is the release date for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse?
With the first movie in the Spider-Verse franchise releasing all the way back in 2018, fans have certainly had a long wait for the next instalment in Miles’ story. Now that we’ve gotten some peeks and a trailer, it’s drawing closer than ever before, but we will finally see how it comes together on June 2, 2023.
(via Variety, image: Sony Pictures Animation)
