Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse changed the way a lot of Spidey fans view our favorite characters. For many of us, the Spider-family was made of distinct elements and you loved Miles Morales and Peter Parker separately. But then the movie let us see a world where Peter B. Parker and Miles Morales worked together with Gwen Stacy as a cohesive unit to take on Wilson Fisk and Doc Ock and everything changed. So the excitement for the subsequent sequels to the animated film is extremely high.
We’ve now gotten new information about a certain villain joining the fold in the next two movies and he’s not one of the big bads we’ve come to expect from a Spider-Man film. There were a lot of quick villain introductions in Into the Spider-Verse so heading into the next film, it seems as if we can expect at least one constant villain to terrorize our Spidey family.
In a new interview with Total Film, director Kemp Powers revealed the villain of the upcoming Spider-Verse movies will be Dr. Johnathon Ohn. On paper, the villain known as Spot probably seems very boring but when you’re dealing with something like the spider-verse and all these characters in different dimensions then he’s pretty cool. He’ll be played by Jason Schwartzman in the films and we got a bit of an insight from Powers about why Spot is the right villain for Across the Spider-Verse and Beyond the Spider-Verse.
“The Spot is an interesting villain because he seems like a joke, but when you really look at his powers, there’s incredible potential,” said Powers. “His ability to open portals across dimensions sets him up perfectly for the Spider-Verse,” Powers said while then confirming that he is also the villain in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse​​​​​​. “He’s the villain of the next two films… and let’s just say that The Spot and Miles are connected in surprising ways.”
Who is Dr. Johnathon Ohn?
So Quentin Beck’s roommate is coming for the Spider-Verse. Mysterio just won’t leave us alone. Spot, his villain name, comes from the fact that well … he’s spotted. Ohn got his powers when he fell into a black hole that he created and it took him to a different dimension. He was working with Fisk and trying to create this technology but afraid of losing his one chance at his own personal success. Ohn jumped into the black hole during a power shortage his creation caused.
When he reemerged from the dimension that he went into, he was covered in spots—hence the name. The spots give him the ability to jump between dimensions and that’s an alright power no matter what, but when you start messing with the multiverse, it does come in handy.
He’s also not only just a Spider-Man villain. Because Spider-Man is based in New York, there are some other heroes who share foes.
The continuing shared villains of New York
One of the fascinating things about Spot is that he’s both Spider-Man and Daredevil’s villain, much like Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in the first Into the Spider-Verse movie. I don’t necessarily think that this means we might get a Daredevil crossover because the Sony/Marvel contracts are not something I even want to think about with this. But it would be fun if we got to see some other New York heroes who share Spidey’s villains come into play.
Fisk is the big one but Spot is also a shared villain and there are others that could still happen in the future of the series. Point is, if they keep using villains that also hang out in Hell’s Kitchen, I’d love to figure out a way to see a crossover with the Spidey team and the Defenders at some point.
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Spot is an interesting villain because he is uniquely adaptable to the heroes we met in the first movie and can cause chaos throughout the next two movies and I’m excited to see what Jason Schwartzman brings to the role. I’m just…excited for the future of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and beyond.
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
Published: Dec 13, 2022 12:43 pm