Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer impresses with 6 different animation styles

Four years later Spider-Man: Into the Spider-VerseMiles Morales is back and saves the multiverse with all the other superhero incarnations in the highly anticipated sequel, Spider-Man: About the Spider-Verse. The first trailer just came out and it’s looking like another trippy, universe-hopping fun ride – hopefully a worthy follow-up to one of 2018’s best movies.

(Spoilers for 2018 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse below.)

In the Spider-Verse was the first computer-animated feature film to star everyone’s favorite web-slinging superhero — in this case, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a teenage graffiti artist of black and Puerto Rican descent. Miles is bitten by the canonical radioactive spider while painting in an abandoned subway station and develops spider-like superpowers. He stumbles upon a plot by Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) to open portals to parallel universes where Fisk’s wife and son are still alive. In Miles’ universe, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man (Chris Pine), is killed by Fisk, and Miles takes on the Spider-Man mantle.

Miles eventually saves the day with the help of Spider-Man incarnations from other universes, most notably Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld). Other versions of Peter Parker were played by Jake Johnson, who reluctantly mentors Miles; Peni Parker/SP/dr (Kimiko Glenn) from an anime-inspired parallel universe; Nicholas Cage channels his thirties best black Humphrey Bogart impression; and my personal favorite, Peter Porker, aka Spider-Ham (John Mulaney). In the post-credits, we met Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac), who plays a major role in About the Spider-Verse (apparently the crew has named the character “Property Damage Spider-Man”).

In the Spider-Verse made $375.5 million at the worldwide box office against a $90 million production budget and won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature – the first non-Pixar film to do so since 2011. Even before the film premiered, word of mouth was word of mouth so positive that Sony has begun development on the sequel. Sam Machkovech of Ars stated In the Spider verse to “easily be the best comedy nerd movie in years to warmly embrace the kind of viewers who know their comics inside out, all without intimidating the inevitable young and new viewers drawn to this incredibly family-friendly adventure.”

Moore, Steinfeld, and Isaac all reprise their roles, along with Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker, Miles’ mentor from the 2018 film; Luna Lauren Velez as Rio Morales, Miles’ mother; and Brian Tyree Henry as Miles’ police officer father, Jefferson Davis. New characters include Daniel Kaluuya as Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk (he’s a guitarist in a British punk rock band); Issa Rae as Jessica Drew, a pregnant Spider-Woman from another universe; and Shea Whigham as Gwen’s father, Police Chief George Stacy. According to the official premise:

Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Oscar-winning Spider-Verse saga, Spider-Man: About the Spider-Verse. After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, encountering a team of Spider-People tasked with protecting its very existence. But when the heroes disagree on how to deal with a new threat, Miles must face off against the other Spiders and redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves. loves the most.

A highlight of the new trailer is the six different animation styles used for the universe of each Spider-Man incarnation – a very deliberate creative choice. For example, Gwen’s (Earth-65) house has the look and feel of Impressionist watercolors, where the colors change in response to Gwen’s emotions. (It’s been described as a “three-dimensional mood ring.”) We also catch a glimpse of Earth-50101 (aka “Mumbattan,” which intertwines Manhattan and Mumbai).

The main villain this time around is the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), whose body is covered in interdimensional portals designed to look like “living ink that was spilled or splattered on a cartoonist’s drawing”. Jorma Taccone, who played the Green Goblin in the 2018 film, returns as the Vulture in the sequel, sporting a Renaissance-era look inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings.

The trailer opens with a candid conversation between Miles and his mom, as she clumsily tries (and fails) to use the teen slang of the day correctly. “For years I’ve been taking care of this little boy, making sure he’s loved, that he feels like he belongs wherever he wants to be,” says Rio. But she worries that “they” – presumably the other web-slinger incarnations – won’t pay attention to Miles the way his family will. She makes him promise that he won’t forget where he came from.

It’s Gwen who lures Miles into this new adventure, which involves a bunch of Spider-Man incarnations battling it out in some sort of interdimensional space. Apparently not all of them are the good guys. There aren’t many plot details, but Stan Lee’s animated cameo alone makes this a worthwhile trailer that whets our appetite for the movie.

Spider-Man: About the Spider-Verse will be in theaters from June 2, 2023. We can not wait. Another sequel is already in the works, along with a spin-off featuring Steinfeld and Rae’s Spider-Woman incarnations, as well as Cindy Moon/Silk’s character.

List image by YouTube / Sony Pictures