Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Review: The Spiderverse Unleashed

(Note: This article contains spoiler alerts for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Review:

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now in theaters, and we can confirm that the film is one of the best in Sony’s Spider-Man universe. It connects all the important events in the Spiderverse. In the sequel to the first movie, the multiverse has become unstable after the events that took place. Some villains from different universes are unexpectedly transported across the multiverse. Spider-Man 2099, also known as Miguel, takes charge of a group called the Spider-Society to fix the situation. One of the villains, the Vulture, ends up on Gwen Stacy’s Earth. On this Earth, Gwen is wrongly accused of causing Peter’s death, and Captain Stacy is determined to capture Spider-Woman (Gwen). After Gwen meets Miguel and Jessica Drew, and her secret identity is revealed to her father, she joins the Spider Society. With Miguel’s hesitant approval, she trains alongside Jessica Drew.

Meanwhile, Miles Morales wants to attend a distant university to find a way to travel between multiverses, but his parents have mixed feelings about it. Miles’ father is soon to become a captain. Miles encounters the Spot, an engineer who previously worked on the particle accelerator for Fisk in the last movie. The Spot was responsible for bringing the spider that bit Miles from Earth-42 to the current world, Earth-1610. Realizing his newfound powers, the Spot decides to enhance himself by recreating the particle accidents in other universes. As a result of several accidents, Miles gets into an argument with his parents, and then Gwen shows up.

Miles and Gwen spend some time together, during which Gwen talks about the Spider-Society before leaving. Curious, Miles follows her and learns that she is trying to stop the Spot from traveling between multiverses. Unfortunately, Gwen’s mission fails because she had been hanging out with Miles earlier, and the Spot manages to escape. Gwen tracks the Spot, and Miles follows Gwen, leading them to Spider-Man India’s world. Despite the help of Spider-Punk, they fail to stop the Spot, and Miles has a vision where his father sacrifices himself.

With the Spot on the loose, chaos ensues in Spider-Man India’s world. Miles and his allies try to save everyone, including a version of Gwen’s father from that world. There is still a large black-hole-like anomaly in this world, so the Spider-Society arrives to restore order. Miles is brought to the Spider-Society, where he reunites with Miguel and has a heartfelt reunion with Peter B. Miguel reveals that in every universe, Spider-Man’s uncle dies, as well as a father figure of someone close to Spider-Man, often a captain. This means that Miles’ father is destined to die, just as he had seen in his vision. These moments are referred to as “canon events” and must occur for the multiverse to remain stable. However, Miles made a mistake when saving Gwen’s father in Spider-Man India’s world, and as a result, Miguel asks Miles to let his father die this time. Miguel also shares his own backstory and how he made a similar mistake while trying to replace Miguel in Peter B’s universe.

Miles disagrees with Miguel’s request, which leads to him being pursued by the Spider-Society, including Gwen and Peter B. During this chase, Miguel refers to Miles as “abnormal” because the spider that bit him came from Earth-42, a world that no longer has a Spider-Man. Peter from Earth-1610 died because of Miles, and Miles was never meant to become a Spider-Man. Gwen and Peter B. were aware of this, which is why they never visited Miles after the events of the first movie.

Despite the challenges, Miles manages to escape and return to his own world. Gwen is expelled from the Spider-Society for standing by Miles, but she reconciles with her father and receives a device that allows her to travel between multiverses from Spider-Punk. Gwen assembles a team to save Miles from Miguel.

Overall, our rating for the film is ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ [5/5]. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now in theaters.

• Film: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
• Director: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
• Screenplay: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, David Callaham

Release Date: June 2, 2023 (United States)

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