First Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer released

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) and Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) are swinging back into theaters with Spider-Man: Across: The Spider-Verse, a sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The 2018 film’s box-office return was relatively modest, (it earned $375 million worldwide), but its cultural impact was significant. Into the Spider-Verse won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and propelled Miles Morales into mainstream popularity, as well as the Spidey multiverse.

Across the Spider-Verse will expand upon the concepts introduced by its predecessor, presenting exciting new Spider variants like Jessica Drew’s Spider-Woman (Issa Rae), Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) and Japanese Spider-Man. In late 2021, a first-look at the film was revealed, showing Miles Morales battling his 2099 counterpart through different dimensions. Now, the first trailer for Across the Spider-Verse has been released.

Watch the Across the Spider-Verse trailer

Taking the Spider-Verse to a new level

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is poised to be bigger than Into the Spider-Verse in terms of scale, villain and even animation. Into the Spider-Verse was an introduction to the wall-crawler’s multiverse, laying the groundwork for the concept and its rules. With that set, its sequel will delve deeper into the vast number of dimensions within Sony’s Spider-Man world.

Such character diversity will result in different animation styles. Into the Spider-Verse‘s visuals were revolutionary, not only for animated superhero films but for the world of animation in general. Across the Spider-Verse will raise the bar on that, as it will feature six different visual styles for each world it’s introducing. As producer Phil Lord told Empire:

"“The first film had one animation style that dominates the movie. This movie has six. So we’re taking those tools, adding all the things we learned on The Mitchells vs. The Machines, and then growing them further to accommodate the ambition of this movie. Which is to wow you every time you enter a new environment, and also to make sure that the style of the movie reflects the story, and that the images are driven by [feelings].”"

Adding to the sequel’s more ambitious scale is its main villain. The first film had Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen and their companions facing off against Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) to stop him from destroying the multiverse with a machine he developed.

Across the Spider-Verse, on the other hand, will introduce the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a villain who can actually explore the multiverse on his own thanks to his dimension-hopping powers. The Spot will play a big role in the franchise, as Across the Spider-Verse co-director Kemp Powers told Total Film he will also be the antagonist of the third film in the saga, 2024’s Beyond the Spider-Verse.

Fortunately, all of this escalation is unlikely to result in less focus on Miles and Gwen’s personal journeys. Clarifying the number of characters in Across the Spider-Verse, producer Christopher Miller tweeted in April of 2022 that the film would still tell a personal story, despite its scale:

"“To clarify, amidst the universe-hopping, there are 240 unique characters that had to be designed and modeled, but they’re mostly minor or background characters. The scale is grand, but the story is personal and centers on Miles and his family, along with Gwen and a handful of others.”"

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is scheduled to release on June 2, 2023.

What did you think about the first ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ trailer? What Spider-people do you most want to see in the film? Let us know in the comments!