Spider-Man: Across the Spider-VerseSave

We open on Spider-Gwen Stacy, two years after the events of Into the Spider-Verse. Her universe's Peter Parker — the one she was best friends with as Spider-Woman in college — has died. She is now Spider-Woman in his absence and is being hunted by her own father, NYPD Captain George Stacy, who blames Spider-Woman for Peter's death. The opening sequence is a watercolor-rendered confrontation between Gwen and a vulture-like figure who has somehow time-traveled in from a Renaissance Italy universe. The Spider-Society arrives mid-fight: Miguel O'Hara (Spider-Man 2099) and Jess Drew (Spider-Woman from another universe). They are interdimensional Spider-Person law enforcement. Gwen is recruited.

Cut to: Miles Morales, now 15, juggling honors classes, his Brooklyn neighborhood, and an unending series of low-stakes villain encounters. He is being chased by a new villain — the Spot — a man covered in literal multidimensional portal-spots. The Spot started life as a scientist named Jonathan Ohnn at the collider explosion in the first film. He has been quietly becoming more powerful for two years and is now hopping between universes using his portals. Miles defeats him easily. Spot escapes into a portal.

Gwen visits Miles in Brooklyn. They reconnect — there's a clear unrequited romance arc on her side, a confused crush on his — but she's also there to track the Spot. Miles follows her into a portal and ends up at Spider-Society headquarters in Nueva York (Earth-928), a sprawling multidimensional citadel populated by every Spider-Person from every universe. Hundreds of them. Miguel O'Hara runs the place. Miles is briefly welcomed, then quickly sidelined when Miguel reveals the truth: Miles's existence as a Spider-Man is a multiversal anomaly. He was never supposed to be Spider-Man in his universe. The radioactive spider that bit him originated from a different universe's collider accident. Miles is the canon event — the cosmic interruption.

Worse: Miles's father is the canon-Stacy figure for his universe. The canon-event rule says that for Miles to be a 'real' Spider-Man, his father must die. The Spot is en route to make exactly that happen, and Miguel intends to let it. Miles refuses. The Spider-Society — every Spider-Person in existence — tries to physically restrain him from leaving headquarters. Miles fights through them and escapes through a portal.

Miles thinks he's portaling home to Brooklyn to save his father. He has, instead, landed in Earth-42 — a parallel universe where Miles Morales was never bitten by the spider. In this universe, his own uncle Aaron is still alive. His father is dead. Miles is, in this universe, the Prowler — the masked villain. The Earth-42 Miles capturs our Miles. 'You're not from around here, are you?' The film ends on this cliffhanger. Miles is trapped. His father may die. The film does not resolve.

Meanwhile, Gwen — now exiled from the Spider-Society for helping Miles — returns to her home universe. She comes out to her father about being Spider-Woman. He listens. He hands her his badge. He resigns from the police force. 'I'm proud of you.' She assembles a rescue team — Peter B. Parker (now with a baby daughter, Mayday), Spider-Punk, Pavitr Prabhakar (Spider-Man India), Spider-Byte — and they head off to find Miles across the multiverse. 'I'm coming for you, Miles. We're coming.' Cut to black. The film ends.

Across the Spider-Verse grossed $690 million globally — almost double the original — on a $100 million budget. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2024 Oscars (losing to Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron). Its cliffhanger ending was a deliberate choice by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller — the original script was a single 250-minute film, split into two for theatrical release. The conclusion, Beyond the Spider-Verse, is scheduled for June 2027.