‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’ Trailer, Breakdown: What Does Miguel Want From Miles?

The second trailer of “Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse,” the sequel to the animated masterpiece “Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse” (2018), has been released online, and along with the first trailer of DC’s “Blue Beetle,” releasing yesterday, it’s safe to say comic-book media fans are having a hell of a time. Another similarity the protagonists of these two movies, Miles Morales and Jaime Reyes, respectively, share is that they proudly represent their Latino heritage. Returning to “Across the Spider-verse,” which has two different versions of the second trailer released with a different beginning, we will discuss both in this brief analysis, and the rest of the trailer follows a similar narrative.

Spoilers Ahead


Beginning Of The International Trailer: Three Spidey Makes A Glorious Return

The international trailer begins with a close-up shot of Tobey Maguire’s iconic spider suit from the “Spider-Man trilogy,” focusing on the spider symbol as we hear his version of Peter doubling down on the importance and cost of sacrifice that he has learned from his experiences. Sometimes we have to give up things we cherish the most for the greater good. Words of wisdom from the most revered, experienced webslinger, and truly, there isn’t anyone else who can convey the importance of sacrifice quite like him.

In the next shot, similarly, the camera tracks Andrew Garfield’s version of Spider-Man from “The Amazing Spider-Man” duology, who remarks in the background about the nature of the fight he is waging against the injustices of society. He has to carry on this never-ending battle, knowing full well that no matter how many people he saves, his obstacles will keep growing in strength and number. But Spidey cannot afford to quit the arena, for he is the people’s champion. Keeping with the sequential entries, we see Tom Holland’s MCU version of the spider-suit and hear him exclaiming in excitement about proving himself, and indeed the youngest version of Spidey, who has just learned the meaning of sacrifice during the events of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” has to rise to the occasion. In the end, the chief protagonist of the “Spider-Verse” movies, Miles Morales, appears and remarks about the motivation that drives the person behind the mask, which makes all the difference. With such a brilliant homage and then introducing the new kid on the block, the international trailer already fires on all cylinders.


The Main Trailer Begins: Spot The Spidey

The main trailer begins with Miles swinging around the skyscrapers of Brooklyn, now the one and only Spider-Man of his city and his planet. It has been a couple of years since he got his powers, and by this time, he has become quite adept at utilizing them. Miles says that everything’s going great, but from what we see in the trailer, it’s apparent that he is struggling with the dual life that usually comes with being a superhero. Miles is getting into light banter with his parents, his grades are slipping a bit, and he is unwilling to let his secret be revealed. Amidst all this, the friendly neighborhood is growing up fast.

After the first trailer’s fast-paced introduction, we get a better look at the supposed antagonist of the movie, the supervillain Spot. In comics, Jonathan Ohnn is the unfortunate scientist who gets the powers to create interdimensional space-time transport portals at will, with his own body being covered in such portals after a freak experiment ordered by the supervillain Kingpin goes wrong. Since the incident, Spot has used his unique powers to pursue a life of crime. In the trailer, Miles finds him failing to rob an ATM and flopping through the portals created by him, which suggests that he gained the powers recently and hasn’t quite mastered them yet. Both of them chase each other by portal hopping, and their brief scuffle can be seen in the background through the window of Miles’ school, where his parents are discussing Miles with his class teacher.


Swinging Spider-People

The next scene cues the ending of the previous movie, where Gwen returns to Miles’ Earth to take him with her to an undisclosed location. It turns out it’s a common multiversal junction named the Lobby. Here we meet a huge number of Spider-folk, hailing from different Earths. We meet the Spider-woman: pregnant Jessica Drew, Pavitr Prabhakar, aka Spider-man India, and Hobart ‘Hobie’ Brown, aka Spider-Punk, the key characters in the movie. The Spider-people have been given a multiverse hopping gadget, created by Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-man 2099, and the entire shtick of bringing Spideys of the multiverse together was his idea. Miles expresses his interest in joining the team but gets dismissed by Miguel for some unknown reason.

Miguel mentions his frustration about MCU Spider-Man and Dr. Strange’s multiversal shenanigans, thereby providing further confirmation of the interconnected nature of the Spider-verse. Interestingly enough, although Kevin Feige mentioned the MCU’s prime Earth being Earth-616, Miguel explicitly mentions it as Earth-99999. Whether this is done to acknowledge a new canon or if it’s a deliberate mistake, we will know only after seeing the movie. According to the rumors, there is a strong possibility of the trio, Tobey, Tom, and Andrew, being present in their animated version of their Spideys in the movie.

Peter B’s voice is heard in the background as he makes his entrance and vouches for Miles. In the first movie, Peter B serves as a mentor to Miles, teaching him about the hero’s life and everything related; therefore, Miles is naturally elated upon seeing him. Peter B is assisted by his toddler, Mayday Parker, who is also gifted with Spider-skills thanks to her heritage.


Consequences And Sacrifice

A seemingly worked-up Miguel chides Miles and tells him about the core of the life of Spider-Man, which is about tough choices and inevitable sacrifices. We see a flashback sequence where Gwen is seen to be holding the deceased Peter Parker, who used to be Spider-Man, in her universe. Miguel offers Miles the choice between saving one person and saving the world. Miles’ father is seen to be falling from a significant height while Miles jumps right at him to catch him.

Miguel is seen in a feral state, chasing after someone, and a quick look at the Spot follows. Miles suddenly gets shaken in fear of discovering something and asks Miguel to send him home, a request that Miguel denies. Miles argues he can choose both, but Miguel argues that’s not the case this time. Spider-man has always found himself faced with dilemmas, for example in the first “Spider-man” movie directed by Sam Raimi Green Goblin presented him with the choice of saving either a bus full of people or Mary Jane. There is no easy way out, and as they say the hardest choices demand the strongest will. A mention of Uncle Ben by Miles prompts a reminder by Miguel that, if it weren’t for Uncle Ben’s death, most of the spider folk wouldn’t have been there to begin with.

Miles starts running and gets chased by Miguel, who pursues him with apparently malevolent intent. Peter B addresses Miguel, saying they didn’t agree upon something like this, which reveals to Miles that he knew about the possibility of something like this. Miguel corners Miles and states that he has no idea what his actions might wreak. A persistent Miles prepares his special attack, the bio-electric Venom blast, against Miguel and states he is taking control of his own life. As Miles manages to escape, Miguel signals the multitudes of spider people to capture him, and we get a glimpse at Ben Reilly Spider-Man. Miguel’s signal triggers a funny reaction among spider-folk, as we see the PS4 game version of Spidey, the animated series protagonist from Spider-Man Unlimited, and presumably, Tom Holland’s homemade suit (post “No Way Home”) pointing at each other, recreating the famous three spidey meme and all the spider-folk present in the Lobby get separated into groups of three to follow suit. The trailer ends with another funny sequence where a despondent Spidey shares the tragic demise of Uncle Ben with a psychiatrist Spidey, and their room gets invaded by Miles, followed by hordes of Spider-people.


What Does Miguel Want From Miles?

What might be the reason for Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099, acting with villainous intent toward Miles Morales remains a mystery, but we can at least say for sure that whatever happened, the villain Spot seems to be in the center of it. In the previous movie, we saw Kingpin’s effort to enter a parallel universe through the creation of the collider backfire, which ended up bringing a number of Spider-people to Miles’ Earth. There might be a possibility of the same collider incident being responsible for the creation of the Spot, which surely poses a much bigger threat than previously shown in the trailer.

If Miguel’s acting particularly cranky worries viewers, we would like to say Miguel’s disposition has almost always been like this, more or less, given that he doesn’t trust anyone that much. But it should be known that he is as heroic as any spider person present there, and there must be some grievous reason for him to act up like that. Perhaps the presence of Spot or Miles’ Earth itself jeopardizes the stability of the multiverse, which demands Miles get isolated or, worse; his Earth gets annihilated. Miguel reminds Miles that choosing a life like this will always come with the sacrifice of something that he holds precious, recalling the same lines uttered by Tobey’s Spidey at the beginning of the trailer. Miles has been put in a situation much like the MCU version of Peter, where both want to have it all while the world makes them choose. Miles’ teenage rebellious spirit leads him to go against the multiverse of spider-people, and while he says his decision is to take control of his own life, things might not be as simple as he wants them to be.



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Siddhartha Das
Siddhartha Das
An avid fan and voracious reader of comic book literature, Siddhartha thinks the ideals accentuated in the superhero genre should be taken as lessons in real life also. A sucker for everything horror and different art styles, Siddhartha likes to spend his time reading subjects. He's always eager to learn more about world fauna, history, geography, crime fiction, sports, and cultures. He also wishes to abolish human egocentrism, which can make the world a better place.

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