Imagine there was a different “you” in a different universe not so different than our own? The concept of multiple universes, coined the “multiverse,” has been around for decades. But only in recent years has this concept been utilized by Hollywood Screenwriters.
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” was the first film in the Spider-Verse trilogy. The film released in 2018 to critical acclaim. Many of its praises lie within its smooth animation, stylizing the film to have a handmade feel reminiscent of early comic book. The characters also portray different animation genres and styles, all mixed seamlessly.
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” was released in 2023 and is the second installment to the Spider-Verse trilogy. The film, much like its predecessor, was also a major success. The main story revolves around teenagers Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, also known as Spider-Gwen, working together with other Spider-Men in the Spider-Society to determine what it truly means to be a hero and save others.
Character designer Kris Anka was quoted by the MPAA as saying “They wanted something entirely fresh. The whole thinking was just because the animation of the first film was good, doesn’t mean it can’t be better.”
Much like the first film, the sequel mixes multiple art styles without looking off. With this technique, it can have a cartoon Spider-Man, an anime Spider-Man, the film’s antagonist Miguel O’Hara AKA Spider-Man 2099, and our titular characters all in the same shot.
The animators used multiple variations of our hero in the background, ranging from the earliest known iteration of Spider-Man to the heroes we have not seen since the first Spider-Verse film. According to an article in Variety by Murtada Elfadl, the animators had to resort to using lesser-known variants of Spider-Man to make Spider-HQ in Earth-928 lively. These include a Spider-Dino, an emo Spider-Man and Peter Parkedcar, a sentient car that is also Spider-Man.
However, this film also features cameos from the live action and videogame counterparts. This is because Sony, the film company responsible for the Spider-Man movies since 2002, has a partnership with Disney to incorporate Spider-Man into the MCU. Sony owns the lead developer for the critically acclaimed Spider-Man PS4 series, Insomniac Games.
The 3rd and final installment to the Spider-Verse trilogy, “Beyond the Spider-Verse,” had it’s original March 24 release date backtracked due to the 2023 WGA Writers Strike. However, “Across the Spider-Verse” was made available on Netflix in December 2023, granted that it requires an ad free tier. Now, let’s all take a moment to remember, “With great power, there must also come a great responsibility.”
