‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse:’ A Beautiful Web Of Destiny

It has been five long years since we last saw Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Before we get into our review of the latest, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, let's recap some of what went down in Sony's 2018 animated flick. Technically, it was first multi-verse film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (The concept first appeared on the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2019's Avengers: Endgame). Into the Spiderverse delighted fans with its pop of colors, amazing soundtrack, and stunning animation. We meet the young teen, Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He gets bit by a radioactive spider and gains super-spider abilities. While struggling to find who he is supposed to be, the brilliant Morales attends Brooklyn Visions Academy, a school for the academically gifted. Morales is passionate about his artwork and graphic design. His parents, though so loving, are embarrassingly overbearing. His father is a police officer and his mother is a nurse. Miles' uncle Aaron (voiced by Mahershala Ali) is also the Prowler, as Miles soon learns. But Aaron takes him to a subway station to turn his sketchbook art into graffiti. That's when Miles gets bitten by the radioactive spider. Once he wakes up with spider powers, Miles returns to the subway station and finds the dead spider glitching on the ground with "Alchemax 42" written on its back. Upon doing his research, Miles discovers Alchemax is a company helping Kingpin (voiced by Liev Schreiber) build a super-collider. The Kingpin wants to use this technology to access parallel universes to bring back his dead wife and daughter. Finding the super-collider underneath the city, Miles meets Peter Parker's Spider-Man. Spider-Man fights the Green Goblin but gets caught in the super-collider. As a result, all the Spider-Men who have been bitten by a radioactive spider from other universes are brought into Miles' universe. He meets Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), Peter Porker AKA Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), and Peni Parker. After the super-collider explodes and the Spider-Man from Miles' universe dies, he is left with the dying wish to make sure the super-collider is destroyed. Otherwise, it can destroy Brooklyn. Once Miles discovers Peter B. Parker, he tells him he needs a mentor. Though Peter B. Parker is an empty shell of the hero -- and man -- he used to be, taking Miles under his wing reawakens the Spider-Man he once was. Miles and the rest of his Spider-Man allies successfully defeat Kingpin and destroy the super-collider. Through his experience, Miles realizes who he is and discovers what it truly means to be Spider-Man. Keep reading below to read our spoiler-free review of the second installment, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse: