

Being Spider-Man wasn't his idea, but hey, when a radioactive spider gives you powers, what choice do you have? He fights with his cop dad, he adores his shady uncle, hates being simply the smartest kid in the room, and just wants to do something that matters. At the center though is Miles Morales, an Afro-Hispanic Brooklyn teen who must help these other Spider-People get back to their own planes of existence. There's also a Spider-Woman, a Noir Spider-Man, an anime Spider-Girl/Robot, and a Spider-Pig. "How could we possibly need another Spider-Man movie?" Spider-Verse understands that question and has a take on it.


Spider-Verse gets to do just that, while playfully taking on the fun (if convoluted) absurdity of extended superhero universes. However, they also have something modern movies haven't really tapped into yet: story one-offs, a chance for a storyteller to create a unique tale and not be constrained by the implications on or from the larger universe. Currently, film studios are all about the "extended universe", seeing how many different titles and characters they can shove into one franchise (Avengers, X-Men, Justice League), making for an easy way to squeeze a few extra bucks out of their lesser known properties. The worlds of superhero movies and superhero comics are not as similar as they seem on the surface.
