Anyone can wear the mask, and Across the Spider-Verse is taking that to heart with a trailer just bursting with Spiders.
The new Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer is here, and Miles Morales’ multiverse is about to get so much bigger and more dangerous. But what secrets can we find alongside many, many, many Spider-People in this trailer? Let’s take a closer look.
The trailer opens with a glum Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) looking out over the New York cityscape, only for his mother Rio (Lauren Vélez) to join him. After apologizing for “icing his game,” much to Miles’ embarrassment, Rio reflects on how she’s watching her young son grow into a young man.
Although the dialogue and rooftop Miles/Rio scene is new, a lot of this section of the trailer cuts back to crucial moments from Into the Spider-Verse, as we’re reminded of his journey to becoming his own Spider-Man. Always nice to be reminded of the greatest superhero movie of all time.
“He wants to go out into the world and do great big things,” Rio continues, as we cut back to some actual new footage from Across, of Miles doing his Spider-thing: thwipping webs to save a flying taxi, swinging through the city…
… And grabbing a bite to eat. Love the “Take!” onomatopoeia here.
After a few more recap moments from Into, we see what is presumably the inciting incident for Miles’ moping in the beginning of the trailer—some kind of argument with his parents at a rooftop party. “What I worry about most,” Rio concludes, “is they won’t look out for you like us.”
Later on after the party, Miles is relaxing in his room when one of the multiversal portals Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) conjured to see her new friend at the end of the last movie opens above him. While it’s cut short here, to zoom Miles and Gwen away into the multiverse, the first footage we saw from the film showcased a longer version of this scene where Gwen reads from Miles’ journal, and Miles reveals that he’s been grounded by his parents before she cheekily invites Spider-Man out instead.
“Wherever you go from here, you have to promise to take care of that little boy for me,” Rio asks of Miles, as… hoo boy. Things get wild.
Gwen and Miles find themselves in some kind of Escher-ian nexus that is just filled with Spiders. Some of them are very recognizable, as we’re about to see, some are created entirely for Across the Spider-Verse, with many (many) background suits designed by comics artist Kris Anka. We’re not going to let you go away from this breakdown without pointing out at least a few notable heroes though, right? Let’s start with a Spidey standing upside-down above Miles and Gwen that looks an awful lot like he’s meant to be Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, in his Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home suit.
Pull out a bit more and we get a treat from the gaming side of the Spider-Verse: not only is Yuri Lowenthal’s Advanced Suit seen here on the right, from the Insomniac PS4/5 game Marvel’s Spider-Man—seemingly chatting to what looks less like Miles’ suit from the Insomniac series, and more like the Superior Spider-Man suit at a glance. But on the left, chatting to a white-and-bronze-accented hulking Spidey, is the black-and-neon-yellow Spider-Armor MKII. This first appeared in 2011’s Amazing Spider-Man #656, designed by Marcos Martin, but this version looks more inspired by the iteration of the MKII unlockable as a costume in Marvel’s Spider-Man.
“Make sure he never forgets where he’s from,” Rio continues, as we keep on pulling out from Gwen and Miles and seeing more and more Spiders. Notable ones here? Mary-Jane Watson as Spinneret and Anna-May “Annie” Parker in her AMP outfit from the Renew Your Vows comic series, set in a continuity where Peter Parker’s marriage to MJ is never eaten by Mysterio, and the Parker family becomes a trio of Spider-heroes…
… And then there’s Lady-Spider, aka Maybelle Reilly, a steam-punk-ish heroine with mechanical Spider-limbs from Victorian England created for the Spider-Verse event in the comics.
