Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a 2018 American computer-animated superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Miles Morales / Spider-Man, produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Marvel, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the first animated feature film in the Spider-Man franchise,[4][5] and is set in a shared multiverse called the "Spider-Verse", which has alternate universes.[a] The film was directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman from a screenplay by Phil Lord and Rothman, and stars Shameik Moore as Morales, alongside Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Velez, John Mulaney, Nicolas Cage, and Liev Schreiber. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Miles Morales becomes one of many Spider-Men as they team up to save New York City from Kingpin.
Plot[]
Miles Morales, a teenager who admires Spider-Man, struggles to adjust to his elite boarding school and live up to the expectations of his parents, Rio Morales and Jefferson Davis. After becoming attracted to his classmate "Gwanda", Miles seeks advice from his uncle Aaron Davis. Aaron encourages Miles to pursue his passion for graffiti and leads him to a subway station where he can draw. Miles is then bitten by a radioactive spider and develops spider-like abilities.
Unable to contact Aaron, he returns to the station and finds a secret laboratory where Wilson Fisk has built a particle accelerator to access parallel universes and reconnect with alternative versions of his wife and son, who died in a car accident trying to escape from Fisk after catching him battling Spider-Man, who arrives to disable the accelerator and fights Green Goblin and Prowler. During the melee, Spider-Man meets Miles and senses they are alike. Green Goblin attempts to kill Spider-Man by forcing him into the accelerator’s energy stream but instead causes it to malfunction. The resulting explosion kills Green Goblin and mortally wounds Spider-Man, who gives Miles a USB drive to disable the accelerator, and informs him that the machine could destroy the city if turned on again. Fisk executes Spider-Man as Miles escapes.
Inspired by Spider-Man's sacrifice, Miles buys a Spider-Man suit from Stan Lee and attempts to master his new abilities but inadvertently damages the USB drive. Miles is later approached by Peter B. Parker, an older and jaded Spider-Man from another dimension who has separated from his ex-wife Mary Jane Watson and recently lost his Aunt May. Peter has been brought into Miles's world by the accelerator and needs to return home, so he begrudgingly agrees to train Miles in exchange for help stealing data about how to repair the drive. While breaking into the research facility, Miles displays the unique abilities of invisibility and an electric "venom blast" that can disable enemies by touch. They are confronted by Fisk's Chief Scientist Dr. Olivia Octavius, who reveals that Peter will eventually deteriorate and die the longer he stays in their dimension. Miles and Peter are then rescued by "Gwanda", revealed to be another dimension-displaced heroine whose real name is Gwen Stacy. Gwen leads Peter and Miles to May Parker, who is sheltering Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham, and Peni Parker and SP//dr. They are revealed also to be deteriorating, so Miles offers to disable the accelerator to send the other Spider-People home.
Pressure from the group after an unsuccessful attempt at teaching him how to control his powers causes an overwhelmed Miles to retreat to Aaron's apartment, where he discovers that Aaron is Prowler. Peni repairs the drive while Miles returns to May's house; he is followed by Prowler and the group is attacked by Fisk, Aaron, Octavius, Scorpion and Tombstone. Miles flees May's house but is captured by Aaron. As Aaron is about to kill him, Miles unmasks his face, and Aaron realizes he has been hunting his own nephew. When Aaron refuses to kill Miles, Fisk shoots and kills Aaron. Jefferson, a police officer, comes upon Miles in his Spider-Man costume, without seeing his son's face, and radios in an APB for Spider-Man.
Peter later restrains and gags Miles and leaves him behind in his dorm for his own safety, and decides to sacrifice himself by taking Miles's place deactivating the accelerator. Jefferson arrives outside Miles's door to tell him about Aaron's death and, assuming Miles does not want to speak to him, apologizes for his mistakes. Finally gaining control of his powers, Miles charges his venom blast enough to break from his restraints, soon after leaving Visions Academy, heads to May's house, then spray-paints one of Peter's old suits. After learning how to web-swing, and stick to walls properly, he then joins the other Spider-People and helps them defeat Octavius, Scorpion and Tombstone, though Peni’s SP//dr is destroyed. Miles activates the USB drive and sends the Spider-People back home just before Fisk arrives. The two fight throughout the accelerator, attracting Jefferson's attention. Jefferson realizes that Spider-Man is not the enemy and encourages him, giving Miles the motivation to withstand Fisk's attacks and knock him out with his venom blast, which also destroys the accelerator. As the authorities arrest Fisk and his enforcers, Jefferson recognizes Spider-Man as a hero and Miles embraces the responsibilities of his new life. Back in their respective dimensions, Peter brings flowers to Mary Jane, ready to fix their relationship, Peni builds a second SP//dr, Noir solves a Rubik's Cube that was given to him, Ham enjoys a hot dog, Miles reveals his identity to his roommate, and Gwen finds a way to contact Miles across dimensions.
In a post-credits scene, Miguel O'Hara learns about the crisis and develops his own dimension-hopping technology. He decides to "go back to the beginning" and ends up arguing with that universe's Spider-Man about who pointed first.
Cast[]
- Shameik Moore as Miles Morales/Spider-Man
- Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker/Spider-Man
- Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman
- Mahershala Ali as Aaron Davis/Prowler
- Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis
- Lily Tomlin as May Parker
- Lauren Vélez as Rio Morales
- Zoë Kravitz as Mary Jane Parker
- John Mulaney as Peter Porker/Spider-Ham
- Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker
- Nicolas Cage as Peter Benjamin Parker/Spider-Man Noir
- Kathryn Hahn as Olivia Octavius/Doctor Octopus
- Liev Schreiber as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin
- Chris Pine as Peter Parker/Ultimate Spider-Man
- Natalie Morales as Miss Calleros
- Edwin R. Habacon as C. Salas
- Jorma Taccone as Green Goblin and Peter Parker/1967 Spider-Man
- Joaquín Cosio as Scorpion
- Marvin Jones III as Tombstone
- Lake Bell as Vanessa Fisk
- Oscar Isaac as Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099
- Greta Lee as Lyla
- Stan Lee as himself
- Adam Brown as 1967 J. Jonah Jameson
Franchise[]
Sequels[]
Main articles: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse
In August 2018, the directors were still focused on completing the film but acknowledged that the introduction of the Spider-Verse in the film could create the potential for many different stories to be told, depending on the success of this film. By the end of November, Sony had greenlit a sequel and a spin-off from the current film still in development due to the "incredible buzz" surrounding it. Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson are set to direct the sequel from a screenplay by David Callaham, Lord, and Miller, which will continue Miles Morales's story. In addition to Lord and Miller returning as producers and co-writers, the sequel will feature Takuya Yamashiro, the main character of the Japanese Spider-Man series, and Spider-Woman who will be voiced by Issa Rae. The film entered production by June 2020. Sony announced that the sequel would be released on April 8, 2022, but the release date was later delayed by six months to October 7, 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then again to June 2, 2023. In December 2021, Lord and Miller revealed that the film was being split into two parts after they had written down the story they wanted to tell for the sequel and realized that it was too much for a single film. Work on both parts took place simultaneously, with the second part, Beyond the Spider-Verse set to be released on March 29, 2024.
Spin-Offs[]
Spider-Women, a spin-off film focusing on three generations of female Spider-related characters, will include Spider-Gwen and feature Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman and Cindy Moon / Silk. The film has Bek Smith signed as screenwriter and Lauren Montgomery was reportedly in talks to direct.
John Mulaney also expressed interest in a potential spin-off film starring Spider-Ham, suggesting its plot as a "Watergate-like story" along the lines of The Post or All the President's Men while focusing on his character's career as a reporter.
Possible Television Series[]
Following the release of Into the Spider-Verse, the studio discussed the possibility of television series featuring the characters. Lord and Miller both expressed interest in seeing a series of shorts starring Spider-Ham, while Sony was announced to be developing animated spin-off TV series focusing on various characters.
By April 2019, Lord and Miller signed a five-year deal with Sony Pictures Television to create animated Marvel television series alongside Sony Pictures Animation, including a possible TV series based on Into the Spider-Verse. Discussing these series in August, Miller could not update where or when the series would be released but said there would be several live-action series and that they would each be "their own unique experience" while still being related to each other.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the first animated theatrical Spider-Man film.
- This is the lowest grossing Spider-Man film.
- This is the first film appearance of Kingpin since Daredevil (2003).
- This is the film debut of Miles Morales, Spider-Woman, Prowler, Spider-Ham, SP//dr, Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Man 2099.
- The film won Best Animated Feature at the 91st Academy Awards—being the first non-Disney/Pixar film to win the award since Rango.
| Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse |
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| Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (2027) |
| Spider-Man |
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| Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2022), Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (2027) |