Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 2023

In a universe parallel to our own, Police Captain George Stacy (Shea Whigham) remains oblivious to the fact that his daughter Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), aka Spider-Woman, is secretly grappling with her dual identity. As far as the authorities are concerned, Gwen is nothing more than a cold-blooded killer, having failed to save her boyfriend from an extraterrestrial assault and subsequently fleeing the crime scene. Meanwhile, in another reality, a Renaissance-era Vulture (Jorma Taccone) finds himself inexplicably transported into Gwen’s world, bewildered by the concept of the multiverse.

As fate would have it, Gwen soon encounters this Italianate menace, who unwittingly stumbles upon her universe. In a desperate bid to neutralize the threat, she is joined by an unlikely duo: Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) and Jess Drew/Earth-332 (Issa Rae), who utilize their portal-generating timepieces to aid Gwen in vanquishing the Vulture.

Upon returning to her reality, Gwen is confronted by George, only to reveal her secret identity, sending him reeling. As he attempts to apprehend his daughter, Miguel reluctantly grants her membership into the Spider-Society, a clandestine organization dedicated to safeguarding the multiverse. This newfound alliance allows Gwen to escape with Miguel and Jess, leaving her father in the dark.

In an alternate reality, Brooklyn on Earth-1610, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) has been secretly fighting crime as Spider-Man for 16 months following the catastrophic explosion of the Alchemax Collider. The incident, which occurred a year prior, resulted in Miles’s transformation into the web-slinging phenomenon after being bitten by a spider from Earth-42. This fateful event led to his encounter with the enigmatic Uncle Aaron Davis (Lauren Vélez), whose untimely demise at the hands of Miles still weighs heavily on his conscience.

Determined to uncover the truth behind his powers, Miles has been keeping his Spider-Man persona hidden from his parents, Jeff and Rio (Lauren Vélez). His plan is to enroll in Princeton University, where scientists are experimenting with dimensional barriers, allowing him to potentially learn how to traverse other realities. However, this quest for knowledge is derailed when he crosses paths with the Spot, a former Alchemax scientist whose body has been infused with portals.

Johnathon Ohnn (Jason Schwartzman), aka the Spot, blames Miles for his condition, which was triggered by Miles’s own transformation into Spider-Man. According to the Spot, Miles’s actions inadvertently destroyed the Collider, causing Johnathon’s face to become distorted and his life to unravel. The Spot then careens out of control, accidentally transporting himself into a void, where he learns to harness his newfound abilities, allowing him to travel between universes containing Alchemax Colliders, further empowering his mischievous persona.

As Gwen (Brie Larson) materializes in the midst of a peculiarly familiar reality - Earth-1610 - she reunites with Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), rekindling their bond while tracking down the enigmatic Spot. With a mix of urgency and wistfulness, Gwen confides in Miles about the Spider society’s tireless efforts to prevent the multiverse from unraveling like a frayed thread. She candidly shares her personal struggles, revealing that Miles is the sole friend she’s forged since the loss of Peter Parker (Tom Holland), whose passing still resonates deeply within her.

Gwen’s words are laced with a sense of longing as she alludes to the Spider-verse’s propensity for chaos, where in every alternate reality, she finds herself falling for Spider-man, only to be met with heartache. Her narrative is woven with a sense of vulnerability, as if the fabric of reality itself is fragile and prone to unraveling.

Miles, driven by his innate curiosity and desire for connection, expresses his interest in joining the Spider society, but Gwen gently rebuffs him, citing its exclusive nature and the absence of vacancies. Undeterred, Miles continues to observe Gwen from the shadows, observing as she tracks down Spot’s trail, which leads her to the portal-hopping villain’s hidden lair on Earth-50101.

As Spot’s powers grow exponentially with each successive Collider, he forges inter-dimensional portals at will, manipulating the fabric of reality. Gwen and Jess (Hailee Steinfeld) hotly pursue Spot, ultimately arriving in a realm where Pavitr Prabhakar/Spider-Man India (Karan Soni) and Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya) are waiting in anticipation.

Miles secretly follows Gwen into this new reality, only to find himself embroiled in the battle against Spot as he absorbs the power of the local Collider. As they converge on a shared vision, Miles and Spot foresees a catastrophic future where Police Inspector Singh (the father of Pavitr’s girlfriend Gayatri) and Miles’ own father Jeff (Daniel Kaluuya) meet their demise.

The Spot departs, leaving behind a trail of destruction as the Collider collapses. In the aftermath, Miles musters his courage to save Singh from certain doom, even as Earth-50101 begins to disintegrate due to its disrupted “canon event.” Just as all hope seems lost, members of the Spider society arrive on the scene, their expertise honed in containing the fallout.

As the dust settles, Miles, Gwen, and Hobie find themselves transported to the labyrinthine headquarters of the Spider-Society on Earth-928. There, they meet Miguel (Oscar Isaac), the native Spider-man of this reality and founder of the esteemed organization.

As Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) joins forces with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) and Hobie (Kimiko Glenn), they’re joined by Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), accompanied by his infant daughter Mayday, who’s an unwitting harbinger of the multiverse’s precarious balance. Miguel, their guide, reveals that each Spider-Person’s narrative contains “canon events” - pivotal moments that, if altered, could have catastrophic consequences. These events are not just mere plot twists; they’re the very fabric of reality, and straying from them threatens to unravel the entire multiverse.

The gravity of this revelation becomes starkly apparent when Miles realizes that Spot’s murder of Jeff, a police captain poised for promotion, is one such canon event. Miguel, determined to preserve the integrity of the multiverse, imprisons Miles to prevent him from intervening in Jeff’s fate. However, Hobie’s conscience gets the better of her, and she helps Miles escape, choosing instead to abandon the Society and leave Earth-928 behind.

As Miles flees through the complex, he’s pursued by Miguel’s agents, who are hell-bent on capturing him. But just as all hope seems lost, Miles discovers a shocking truth: he was never meant to be Spider-Man in the first place. The spider that bit him came from an alternate dimension, leaving Earth-42 without its web-slinging hero and setting off a chain reaction that led to the creation of the Spot. This revelation sends Miles reeling, as he confronts the possibility that his entire existence is an anomaly.

With this newfound understanding, Miles makes a break for what he believes is his home dimension, using the Society’s “Go-Home” machine to send himself back. The device analyzes his DNA, pinpointing his target dimension with eerie precision. But before he can depart, Miguel intervenes, ejecting Gwen from the Society and forcibly sending her back to Earth-65.

Gwen finds herself reunited with George Stacy (Jason Schwartzman), who has resigned as police captain in the aftermath of their tumultuous relationship. The two reconcile, and George presents Gwen with a portal watch left behind by Hobie - a symbol of hope and a reminder that even in the face of uncertainty, there’s always a way to find one’s way home.

As Miles’s eyes flutter open, he finds himself transported to a reality that appears eerily familiar - his supposed home world. The first stop on this journey is the bedroom where his mother, Rio, is busily engaged in the mundane task of doing laundry. Without skipping a beat, Miles regales her with an exhaustive account of the events that have transpired since his departure from their dimension. He spills every detail to Rio, including the fact that he’s secretly donning the mantle of Spider-Man. However, Rio seems utterly perplexed by this revelation, and instead of offering words of encouragement or concern, she simply continues about her household chores. Confusion etched on his face, Miles attempts to reiterate the significance of his Spider-Man persona, but before he can make any further headway, a strange phenomenon known as “glitching” intervenes, forcing him to confront an unsettling truth - he’s not in his own dimension at all.

In this alternate reality, known as Earth-42, Miles discovers that his uncle Aaron Davis (Mahershala Ali) is alive and well, while his father has met an untimely demise. The absence of Spider-Man in this world has led to a proliferation of unchecked criminal activity throughout New York City. As Miles navigates this dystopian landscape, he’s suddenly apprehended by Aaron, who’s joined forces with the Earth-42 version of himself, now rebranded as the Prowler.

Meanwhile, back in his native dimension, the Society is hot on Miles’s trail, determined to track him down and return him home. Gwen, ever the stalwart ally, takes it upon herself to find Miles and transport him back to safety. Her odyssey begins with a visit to Miles’s parents, where she offers them reassurances that she’ll leave no stone unturned in her quest to reunite her friend with his own world.

As The Spot launches a Multiversal assault, Miles must prepare himself for escape, while Gwen assembles an elite team of interdimensional heroes, comprising Peter B., Mayday, Pavitr, Hobie, Margo Kess, Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker, and Spider-Ham. Together, this motley crew is poised to embark on a perilous adventure through the vast expanse of the Multiverse in search of Miles and the resolution of this interdimensional crisis.