Mark Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as the second movie in as many weeks to end with a big cliffhanger. The intention to release the Spider-Verse sequel as a two-parter was always clear, going way back to when when the films were announced back in 2019 (when the t original titles were Across the Spider-Verse Part One and Across the Spider-Verse Part 2, Part Two is now Beyond the Spider-Verse).
And yet it was still a shock to most to see the movie end in media res–with quite a tangled web of intrigue. After Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) learns from Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac) that the spider that turned Miles into Spider-Man was from another universe never intended for him and that his father, Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry) is fated by the canon (more on that in a second) to die, he returns to his home to try to save the day. Only, he’s not in his universe, but on Earth-42—the reality from whence the spider came. Uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali) survived in this universe, and Jefferson died instead. In the wake of Jefferson’s death, and without a spider, Across the Spider-Verse reveals that not only does Earth-42 have a Miles of its own but that he’s taken up the mantle of the Prowler instead of Spider-Man.
With Miles far from home and captured by the alternate universe version of himself, it’s up to Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) to save the day with old and new friends. The Empire Strikes Back-like ending concludes with Gwen rallying the troops from Across—Pavitr Prabhakar aka Spider-Man India (Karan Soni), Hobie Brown aka Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), and Margo Kess aka Spider-Byte (Amandla Stenberg)—alongside returning faces from Into, including Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), Peter Porker aka Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) and Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage) to rescue Miles and stop The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) from destroying the world(s) now that he’s hopped up on Multiversal energy.
But the cliffhanger ending isn’t even the most intriguing idea Across presents. During a cheekily identified expositional sequence, Miguel introduces the concept of a “canon” event, a predetermined event that occurs in every Spider-Verse. Critically, these canon events correspond to significant milestones within the comic book publishing history of Spider-Man. The one at the heart of Across is around the Death of Captain Stacy, defined by Miguel as ASM90, which corresponds to issue #90 of Amazing Spider-Man, in which Captain Stacy dies pushing a child away from falling debris. As Miguel shows this, dozens of instances of Captain Stacy’s death play out—including panels from the comic itself and even the live-action moment from Andrew Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man.
Miguel states that every respective captain in Spider-Man’s life (Stacy or otherwise) will die, and considering Jefferson just got promoted, he’s in danger—unless Miles can stop it. However, if Miles defies canon, his world might become destabilized, prompting a trolley problem-esque question about whether it’s worth it to save one person at the peril of dozens. Miles, naturally, isn’t into the idea of having to choose. That idea, combined with the idea of being a “false” Spider-Man, is a meaty evolution of the “Anyone can wear the mask” ideology of the first film.
While we’ll need to wait to see how much Beyond picks up on this thread, Across the Spider-Verse introduces the idea that these particular Spider-Man movies are tales about all Spider-Man stories. If executed correctly, that meta-narrative makes for a heady exploration of what’s made the friendly neighborhood hero popular for so long—and a story that comes with a multiverse’s worth of ambition.