Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: key information
– Sequel to 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse
– Arrives in theaters this June
– Official trailer debuted in April
– Cast from first movie set to return
– Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae, and Daniel Kaluuya among new cast members
– Numerous Spider-People will feature
– Movie’s villain and plot details revealed
– Set across six different universes
– Might have ties to live-action cinematic universes
– Sequel set to arrive in early 2024
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s launch date is edging closer and closer, and we can’t contain our excitement.
The next Spider-Man movie to land in theaters is less than a month away, which means the marketing and promotional campaigns for the joint Marvel-Sony film are in *ahem* full swing. So, if you’re looking for a complete round-up of everything worth knowing about Across the Spider-Verse, you’re in the right place.
Below, we’ve compiled everything worth knowing about Miles Morales’ next big screen adventure. That includes its release date, plot details, casting news, trailer reveals, and so much more. Oh, and a few exclusive chats from yours truly with directors Kemp Powers and Joaquim Dos Santos. So, get ready to thwip into action!
Major spoilers follow for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (find out where it ranks in our Spider-Man movies in order guide while you’re here). Potential spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse are also incoming.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse release date
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse arrives on Friday, June 2.
According to AMC theaters (opens in new tab), it’ll have a runtime of two hours and 16 minutes – an all-time record for an animated movie. Oh, and The Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab) (THR) suggests it’s on track for a sizeable $80 million box office haul on opening weekend. Not too bad for an animated film, eh?
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s second official trailer debuted in April – and, not only is it the most-viewed Sony movie trailer of all-time, there’s also a ton to unpack. For an in-depth rundown, and what we think it’s teasing, read our Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer breakdown article.
Missed the first official trailer, which aired in December 2022 and showcased the incredible amount of other Spider-People from across the, well, Spider-Verse? Check it out below:
What, you want to see even more footage? Well, check out this Sony Pictures UK-specific trailer, which contains some previously unreleased snippets:
Lastly, here’s the first teaser, which arrived in December 2021:
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse cast
Here’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s confirmed cast list:
- Shameik Moore as Miles Morales/Spider-Man
- Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen
- Oscar Isaac as Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099
- Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker/Spider-Man
- Issa Rae as Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman
- Daniel Kaluuya as Hobart ‘Hobie’ Brown/Spider-Punk
- Jason Schwartzmann as Johanthan Ohnn/The Spot
- Bryan Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis
- Luna Lauren Velez as Rio Morales
- Greta Lee as Lyla, Spider-Man 2099’s AI assistant
- Shea Wigham as Captain George Stacey
- Jorma Taccone as Adrian Toomes/The Vulture
- Rachel Dratch as Miles’ school counselor
Moore, Steinfeld, Johnson, Henry, and Velez reprise their roles from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Oscar Isaac (Star Wars, Dune, Moon Knight) co-stars after cameoing in the first movie’s post-credits scene. Lee also returns as Lyla, Spider-Man 2099’s AI assistant, from that end credits scene.
Issa Rae (Insecure) will play Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman, who’ll be pregnant in the film. Shea Wigham (Boardwalk Empire, True Detective) is voicing Captain Stacy, the father of Steinfeld’s Spider-Gwen, in his first-ever voice acting role. Jorma Taccona (The Lonely Island) will play the Earth-65’s version of The Vulture.
Jason Schwartzmann (Fargo, Moonrise Kingdom) portrays The Spot, who we got our first menacing look at in mid-2022. A lesser known supervillain, The Spot – real name Johnathan Ohnn – is a scientist who tried to mimic Marvel superhero Cloak’s superpowers (in the comics, anyway). Unsurprisingly, the experiment goes awry, with Ohnn’s body becoming covered in giant, black spots. However, Ohnn realizes these are portals to other dimensions and begins using them for nefarious means.
With Across the Spider-Verse continuing to explore the Spider-Man multiverse, The Spot seems like the perfect villain. According to director Kemp Powers, Valve’s iconic videogame series Portal was a key influence on The Spot’s aesthetic (via IndieWire (opens in new tab)).
Daniel Kaluuya (Black Panther, Nope) is portraying Hobart ‘Hobie’ Brown, aka Spider-Punk. Lastly, Karan Soni (Deadpool) will voice Pavitr Prabhakar, aka Spider-Man India, while Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live) plays an unnamed counselor at Miles’ school.
Potential Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse cast spoilers follow.
Other Spider-People from the previous film could feature, including Kimiko Glenn’s Peni Parker and John Mulaney’s Spider-Ham, but there’s been no mention of their return yet. Nicolas Cage hasn’t been asked back as Spider-Man Noir (via ScreenRant (opens in new tab)). Yuri Lowenthal, who voiced Peter Parker in Sony’s PS4/PS5 Spider-Man game, hasn’t been tapped to appear, either (per ComicBookMovie.com (opens in new tab)).
Ben Reilly, aka Scarlet Spider, is likely to play a prominent role, however. According to industry leaker Big Screen Leaks (opens in new tab) (BSL), the character’s voice actor is being kept secret for a reason – as is another big cameo, which BSL declined to ruin pre-release. Elsewhere, Jorma Taccone will apparently be joined by fellow Lonely Island star Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Palm Springs) in an undisclosed role (thanks to Reddit (opens in new tab) for the catch).
The Spider-War is coming, and the #SpiderVerse will never be the same. 🕷 Miles Morales returns in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – exclusively in movie theaters June 2. pic.twitter.com/nMf2h6KCmsApril 26, 2023
Additionally, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s official poster spoiled some Spider-People appearances, such as Spectacular Spider-Man, Lady-Spider, Spiderling, and Spider Byte (who also appeared briefly in the film’s second official trailer).
Live-action Spider-Man stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon have expressed interest in appearing here or in its sequel (more on this later). Rumors abound that other Spider-Men alumni in Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield could feature, too.
Finally, industry insider CanWeGetSomeToast has claimed we’ll see Leap Frog (opens in new tab) (last seen in Marvel TV show She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) and a team of supervillains known as The Enforcers (opens in new tab) make appearances. File these under “unconfirmed” for now.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse plot
Here’s the movie’s official synopsis: “Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Oscar-winning Spider-Verse saga, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
“After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most.”
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly (opens in new tab) (EW) in 2021, executive producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller explained why the next chapter in Miles’ story is being told over two movies: “Miles’ story is an epic. We wrote what we thought the story needed to be, and to our surprise we realized it was two movies instead of one.” The pair have also described it as “The Empire Strikes Back of the trilogy” (via Empire (opens in new tab)), while Miller has confirmed (opens in new tab) it’s set one year and four months after Into the Spider-Verse.
Per Empire (opens in new tab), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s story will comprise six main universes, each with their own signature animation style. Two are seen in the 2021 teaser – Mumbatten, the Indian-inspired Earth-50101, and Nueva York, which is Spider-Man 2099’s world and is based on Syd Mead’s neofuturistic illustrations. We’ll also visit Miles’ world (Earth-1610), Spider-Gwen’s universe (Earth-65, which is a watercolor-inspired realm), and Spider-Punk’s New London (Earth-138). Empire (opens in new tab) claims the final universe is being kept tightly under wraps, likely due to some major spoilers.
Lord and Miller have also hinted it might tie into the MCU. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused (opens in new tab) podcast, Miller said: “The multiverse is big and wide, and all things grow. Why would you think [that in] a multiverse, in which many things are possible, that [those things are] not related?”
Lord added: “The writers and directors [on Spider-Man: No Way Home] are all buddies of ours, so we sort of have been in the loop as far as what’s going on [in other movies]. And we are always trying to make sure we’re not stepping on each other’s toes and telling different types of stories, and different themes, and all that stuff – because people want an original story that feels new and interesting. It’s our job to give it to them.”
Elsewhere, director Joaquim Dos Santos revealed (via IndieWire (opens in new tab)) that the film’s 1000-plus team worked closely with real-life Marvel artists, including Spider-Man 2099 creators Rick Leonardi and Kris Anka, to bring their work to life. Dos Santos and Powers doubled-down on the importance of this in an exclusive chat with TechRadar, too, as they explained how Across the Spider-Verse found the freedom to swing into new animated frontiers.
The pair also told TechRadar that most fan theories are “way off base”. Make of that what you will before we enter potential spoiler territory, which is happening right about… now.
Potential Across the Spider-Verse story spoilers follow.
#SpiderVerse star Shameik Moore would love the opportunity to also play the live-action version of Miles Morales in the MCU: “I would put my entire spirit into that.” #CinemaCon pic.twitter.com/6UxwNr6CgYApril 25, 2023
Initially, we thought Spider-Man 2099 would be Miles’ new mentor. However, with Peter B. Parker confirmed to return, plus Spider-Man 2099 grappling with Miles in every trailer, it seems they’ll end up clashing. The story synopsis also makes out that a Spidey civil war is on the way, so maybe Miles and Spider-Man 2099 become the figureheads of each faction, with Gwen caught in the middle. Speaking to EW (opens in new tab), Miller teased: “He [Spider-Man 2009] is not the villain of the movie, but he’s sort of an antagonist to Miles because they both think that what they’re doing is the right thing.”
Speaking of antagonistic forces, CanWeGetSomeToast (opens in new tab) suggests The Bar With No Name – a place where supervillains hang out – will make a cameo. This could tie into The Enforcers’ appearance we mentioned earlier, or it might be the secret sixth world/universe that nobody can talk about… yet.
As for Spider-Woman, Chris Miller explained she’ll be a mentor to Gwen and that her movie look is inspired by a “comic run when she’s pregnant during Secret Wars”. Spider-Woman isn’t the only Spider-Force individual that Spider-Gwen is close to, either. She’s also pretty close to Spider-Punk, which makes Miles a little more than jealous of their friendship.
And what of fans who have been shipping Gwen and Miles since 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse and want them to become romantically entangled? According to Lord: “It’s… complicated. Long distance relationships are hard”. However, Amy Pascal, one of the movie’s executive producers, has described Across the Spider-Verse as a “love story between Miles and Gwen” (per Empire (opens in new tab)), so sparks may fly after all.
Lastly, given the secrecy around the live-action Spider-Man stars’ appearances and Across the Spider-Verse‘s final universe, will this movie actually cross over with Sony and Marvel’s live-action Spider-Man universe and the MCU? Industry leaker Daniel Richtman (opens in new tab) suggests it will, but Kemp Powers told SFX magazine (via SlashFilm (opens in new tab)) that it won’t. That’s despite Spider-Man 2099’s meta commentary on events in MCU flick Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse sequel
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s sequel, titled Beyond the Spider-Verse, is expected to land in cinemas on March 29, 2024. Its release date was revealed alongside Across the Spider-Verse‘s revised launch date (opens in new tab), although Beyond the Spider-Verse‘s arrival could change if it needs additional development time (or the ongoing writers’ strike impacts it).
Very little is known about this movie. Given its title, though, could we see Miles and company make the jump into live-action and potentially appear in the MCU (that’s if they don’t do so in this film, anyway)? It would be a hugely crowd pleasing moment if that happened, but we’ll have to wait and see how Across the Spider-Verse ends first. There are rumors already floating around the internet about Beyond the Spider-Verse, too, so be safe out there!
For more Spider-Man content, find out which Spider-Person will be the first to receive a live-action show on Prime Video, plus the second Spider-Person who’ll follow in their footsteps on Amazon’s streaming service. Alternatively, read our Spider-Man movies ranked piece, or read about which Spider-Man films are available on Disney Plus again.
