Overview
Maybe you think there's too many superhero movies and TV shows monopolising screens these days. Perhaps you just can't get enough. You could adore the sight of spandex everywhere, or you could feel like you're doing pop-culture homework with each new flick, franchise and series. Wherever you land on caped crusaders, there's one glaring issue with their live-action domination: they're bound by whatever flesh, blood and special effects are able to come up with.
Special effects can conjure up plenty, of course, but when 2018's stunning — and Oscar-winning — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse arrived, it showed how inventive, imaginative and creative a superhero film can be when it can do whatever it likes thanks to the wonders of animation. Five years later, it's finally getting a sequel in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — and the movie's just-dropped new trailer, its third after a first sneak peek in 2021 and a second in 2022, does whatever a Spider-Verse trailer can.
Initially set to release in 2022, but now arriving in June 2023, Across the Spider-Verse is the first of two follow-ups in the Miles Morales (Shameik Moore, Wu-Tang: An American Saga)-focused franchise. And, it isn't holding back on its spider-people. How many spider-men is the optimal amount of spider-men? All the spider-men, clearly. Sure, 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home messed with multiverse madness, complete with Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland's versions of the titular character — but Spider-Verse not only got there first, but topped that first. Now, Across the Spider-Verse is here to up the ante again.
Where the initial film gave us a spider-woman, spider-robot and spider-pig, as well as Nicolas Cage as a 30s-era spider-vigilante, this one has another whole onslaught of Spideys heading Miles' way. The new trailer makes that plain in a heap of ways, including in its latest staging of the pointing Spider-Man meme — and, like everything in the previous film proved, it's glorious.
This time around, the movie's Brooklyn-based friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is slightly older, and also faced with a spider-team who are keen to protect the multiverse's existence. When there's that many Spideys, agreeing on how to handle things — including a new threat — isn't easy. That's how the clash between Miles and his fellow spider-folk comes about, as animated in the series' usual dazzling onslaught of colour and movement.
Also included amid all the spider-alternatives: Miles reuniting with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld, Hawkeye). And, there's Spider-Woman (Issa Rae, Insecure), the Spider-Verse version of The Vulture (Jorma Taccone, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) and the return of Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight). (If you're wondering about Isaac's character, he first turned up in the post-credits section of Into the Spider-Verse, and he's an alternate version of Spidey from a specific Marvel Comics imprint.)
The voice cast spans Daniel Kaluuya (Nope) as Spider-Punk and Jason Schwartzman (I Love That for You) as The Spot as well, and Jake Johnson (Minx) is also back as Peter B Parker — alongside Brian Tyree Henry (Bullet Train) as Miles' dad and Luna Lauren Velez (Power Book II: Ghost).
Expect to see Miles head into other Spidey realms, too, in a franchise that made every single live-action Spidey film pale in comparison to its initial instalment. Once again produced by The Afterparty's Phil Lord and Christopher Miller — and this time co-written — Across the Spider-Verse will be followed by third film Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse in 2024. There's also a female-focused spinoff in the works as well.
Check out the latest Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer below:
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will release in cinemas Down Under on June 1, 2023.