Side-by-side of Miles Morales and Miguel O’Hara from Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse

“Who the bad man that a man gotta bash on?”

Spoiler Alert: Some vague spoilers ahead, if you're excited to see Across the Spider Verse, better to see it first and then read.

I started these posts three plus years ago after seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse because the movie ended up being everything it was hyped to be and the song Elevate really reached above it's lyrics.

So it's fitting that a few years later I write a post that simply is a review of the latest Spider -Verse installment and why it hit hard for me. To me, the best super hero movies are the ones where the line between hero and villain is murky. We can all understand that sometimes a hero just needs some fodder to beat up on, but in this movie, most of the conflict is between two good-intentioned Spider-Men. We have our already-known character - Miles Morales - who is striving to understand his own powers and what his fight is, battling how he can be honest with his family without hurting them.

The other main Spider-Man is Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Man 2099. His motivation is he attempted to step into the life of a Spider Man variant he envied, stepping into the role of father and husband for a Spider Man who was killed in a fight. He thought he could help out the family, live out a good life and no one would be the wiser.

But Miguel realizes that his actions have unexpected consequences, destabilizing the intricate web of events that tie all of the Spider dimensions together. He then makes it his mission to uphold these nexus points so that there is continuity in the Spider Verse.

When Miles realizes this continuity risks the life of his father, he knows there has to be a better way and sets out to stop Miguel from letting his father die.

Who is right in this story? Is it Miles who is putting his own family above the possible needs of infinite universes? Is it Miguel who is righting his own wrong by fighting for a cause he believes is just?

It is a moral debate and a perspective debate, it's a risk debate and a fight to believe in the impossible. Across the Spider Verse asks us to believe through Miles that there are people who rise above their circumstance, that inspire others to do the same and to take a leap of faith. There are thousands of Spider-Men introduced in the movie, but it's the role of the audience to believe that the one we're following is capable of something more.

The music for this movie again is pumping and emotional. The characters are believable and their struggles relatable. And the movie paints a believable New York with multiple races and languages represented. For those reasons, this movie quickly rises to a possible favorite.

But it's the forever battle of how to choose your battles that makes this movie remember why super hero movies can be more than the sum of their parts. After suspending belief in super powers, multiple universes and insane action sequences, it's really just about the hope that we can do both - we can love and fight for our family and make the greater world better at the same time. Or we can die trying, and that's really the only way to live.

(Note: The opening lyrics are from the song “Elevate” which is the framework for my posts from 2019 onward. Click back a few posts for more context. )