‘Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse’: Everything We Know So Far
After the cliffhanger ending of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, fans are looking ahead to Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. The film will essentially serve as a Part II to Across the Spider-Verse and will be the third installment in the franchise. After Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse hit theaters in 2018, there was initially only one sequel confirmed. However, by late 2021, creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller revealed that, due to the scale of their story, they were breaking the sequel up into two separate parts.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was actually the title chosen for the second film in the franchise. After the sequel was split, though, Across the Spider-Verse was unveiled as the title for the first sequel, while Beyond the Spider-Verse got pushed to the third film. Many hoped the film being split into two parts early on would result in less of a wait between films this time around. After facing delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse didn’t arrive in theaters until nearly five years after its predecessor. However, with Beyond the Spider-Verse being announced back in 2021, it was initially poised for a fairly speedy release date.
Here’s everything we know so far about Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse release date
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was initially slated for release on March 29, 2024, less than one year after Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s debut. However, on July 29, 2023, Sony delayed the film indefinitely due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Sony is the first major studio to begin delaying films in the face of the dual strike. While most of their films got pushed back to later dates, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was the only one to lose a release date entirely. As mentioned above, fans already have experience with wait times between films, but considering that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ended on a cliffhanger, the wait may be a little more difficult this time around.
This wasn’t entirely unexpected, as there had already been some suspicion among fans that Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse would not make its anticipated release date. The directors have been hesitant to discuss the film’s progress, choosing instead to focus on Across the Spider-Verse‘s success—understandably so. Meanwhile, Hailee Steinfeld surprised fans when she confirmed that she hasn’t even begun recording lines yet for the sequel. Plus, fans noticed the official Spider-Verse Twitter account removed the film’s release date from its bio.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse cast
Considering that Beyond the Spider-Verse continues the story of Across the Spider-Verse, we are expecting all of the film’s major characters to return for the sequel. Among those almost certain to return are:
Shameik Moore as Miles Morales
Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy
Oscar Isaac as Miguel O’Hara
Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker
Jason Schwartzman as The Spot
Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson “Jeff” Morales
Luna Lauren Vélez as Rio Morales
Issa Rae as Jessica Drew
Mahershala Ali as Aaron Davis variant
Jharrel Jerome as Miles Morales variant
All of these characters are central to completing the sequel’s storylines. Additionally, even though they didn’t have major roles in Across the Spider-Verse, it is expected that Daniel Kaluuya will return as Hobie Brown (a.k.a. Spider-Punk), as well as Karan Soni as Pavitr Prabhakar, given their characters’ high popularity and presence in the Spider-Society. A few other minor characters who could potentially return are Greta Lee as Lyla (Miguel’s A.I. assistant), Zoë Kravitz as Mary Jane Parker (Peter B. Parker’s wife), and Amandla Stenberg’s Margo Kess.
While Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse did introduce a lot of Spider-Man variants, it is difficult to say which ones may return. Even if some of the variants return, like Ben Reilly (Andy Samberg) or Insomniac Spider-Man (Yuri Lowenthal), the film doesn’t necessarily require the voice actors to return as the animated characters can have non-speaking roles or speak through the use of archival audio recordings.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse plot
As said above, Beyond the Spider-Verse will complete the story started in Across the Spider-Verse. This means it will further address the multiversal threat of the Spot. Despite initially appearing as a low-grade villain, the Spot turns out to be quite formidable when he finds a way to travel to different worlds and begins absorbing each world’s Alchemax colliders to further enhance his powers. By the end of this film, his sights were set on Miles’ world (Earth-1610) with the intention of destroying it.
Meanwhile, Miles had a vision that his father would die in the Spot’s attack while saving a small child. While Miles intended to save his father, he accidentally ended up trapped on Earth-42 while trying to get home. Hence, the film will likely reveal if Miles’ world and his father were able to be saved. Unfortunately, with Miguel believing that Morales’ father’s death is a “canon event,” Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse may include some tragic deaths.
Additionally, on Earth-42, Miles found himself attacked by an alternate version of his Uncle, Aaron Davis, and an alternate Miles who took up The Prowler mantle. Fortunately, Gwen assembled a team of Spider-People to go save Miles. However, Miguel and his Spider-Society are also hunting Miles with the intention of keeping him from changing the timeline and potentially causing a disaster by saving his father. So, Morales’ situation looks fairly grim as he has the Spot, the Prowler, and several members of the Spider-Society opposing him from all sides.
It’s also unknown how it will impact Miles to see himself as the Prowler and see who/what he was potentially meant to become before he became the anomaly Spider-Man. This may make Miles’ fight to write his own story and turn his back on the timeline even more difficult. Meanwhile, he’ll have a nearly impossible decision to make if he can’t find a way to save both his world and his father.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will be quite an intriguing and potentially tragic exploration of fate vs. free will, and the stakes will be higher than ever with multiple lives and worlds in need of saving.
(featured image: Sony Pictures Animation)
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