Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: release date, trailer, cast, plot, and more

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's launch draws ever nearer. The eagerly awaited animated film swings into theaters in July – and, honestly, we can't wait.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is one of the best superhero movies of the last few years, so we're incredibly excited to see this joint Marvel-Sony sequel flick very soon. Based on what we've seen and heard, we suspect it'll lead to a rethink of the order of our Spider-Man movies ranked piece.

But we digress. In this guide, you'll find every big piece of news concerning Across the Spider-Verse, including its official release date, cast details, plot specifics, and its sequel movie. Our Spider-Man movies in order guide is going to grow in the next year or so, then.

Full spoilers for Into the Spider-Verse follow. Potential spoilers for its sequel are also discussed.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse release date

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse arrives in theaters on June 2. The film was originally supposed to wallcrawl its way into cinemas last April, but was pushed back to October due to the pandemic.

It was later delayed again, with executive producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller telling Deadline (opens in new tab): "We could try to get it out at the original date and it would be fine. But the expectation for this film is it has to be as ground-breaking and special and wonderful as the first one was. So we thought 'let's make it great.'"

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's first official trailer debuted in December 2022.

The teaser opens on Miles Morales and his mom Rio having a private chat. Rio laments how her "little boy" is growing up too fast before delivering an emboldening speech to Miles about looking after himself, which Miles agrees to. As Rio speaks, we're greeted with many multiverse-based sequences, including an incredible amount of other Spider-People from across the, well, Spider-Verse. 

No sooner has Miles promised to take care of himself, the teaser quickly transitions into a fight for his life, with multiple Spider-Men chasing after him and Spider-Man 2099 shouting: "Who do you think you are, really!?". Cut to Gwen Stacey dramatically saying "We're supposed to be the good guys", to which Spider-Man 2099 replies: "We are".

Okay, the trailer's dialog and scenes have likely been spliced together to throw viewers off the scent about its plot and character arcs. Even if it has, we're still incredible excited to see more.

Missed the first teaser in December 2021? Check it out below:

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse cast

Here's the confirmed cast list for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse so far:

• Shameik Moore as Miles Morales/Spider-Man
• Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen 
• Oscar Isaac as Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 
• Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker/Spider-Man 
• Issa Rae as Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman
• Daniel Kaluuya as Hobart 'Hobie' Brown/Spider-Punk
• Jason Schwartzmann as Johanthan Ohnn/The Spot
• Bryan Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis
• Luna Lauren Velez as Rio Morales
• Greta Lee as Lyla, Spider-Man 2099's AI assistant
• Shea Wigham as Captain George Stacey
• Jorma Taccone as Adrian Toomes/The Vulture
• Rachel Dratch as Miles' school counselor

Moore, Steinfeld, Johnson, Henry, and Velez will reprise their roles from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. 

Oscar Isaac co-stars after cameoing in the first movie’s post-credits scene. Lee also returns as Lyla from that end credits scene. Issa Rae (Insecure) will play Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman, who'll be pregnant in the film

Three other characters were confirmed alongside Rae's Drew. Shea Wigham (Boardwalk Empire, True Detective) is voicing Captain Stacy, the father of Steinfeld's Spider-Gwen, in his first-ever voice acting role. Jorma Taccona (The Lonely Island) will play the Earth-65's version of The Vulture.

Meanwhile, Jason Schwartzmann (Fargo, Moonrise Kingdom) has been cast as The Spot. A lesser known Spider-Villain, The Spot – real name Johnathan Ohnn – is a scientist who tried to mimic Marvel superhero Cloak's superpowers (in the comics, anyway). Unsurprisingly, the experiment goes awry, with Ohnn's body becoming covered in giant, black spots. However, Ohnn realizes these are portals to other dimensions and begins using them for nefarious means.

Considering Across the Spider-Verse will continue to explore the Spider-Man multiverse, The Spot seems like the perfect villain. Per co-director Kemp Powers, Valve's iconic videogame series Portal was a key influence on The Spot's aesthetic (via IndieWire (opens in new tab)). Additionally, a new toy leak (thanks to Reddit (opens in new tab) for the, erm, spot), reveals "If The Spot can realize the true power of his abilities, he could become a threat to entire universe". Sounds ominous.

Finally, Daniel Kaluuya (Black Panther, Nope) was cast as Hobart 'Hobie' Brown, aka Spider-Punk in November 2022, while Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live) plays an unnamed counselor at Miles' school.

Potential spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's cast follows.

Other Spider-People from the previous film could return, including Kimiko Glenn’s Peni Parker and John Mulaney’s Spider-Ham. However, Nicholas Cage hasn't been asked back as Spider-Man Noir (via ScreenRant (opens in new tab)). Yuri Lowenthal, who voiced Peter Parker in Sony's PS4/PS5 Spider-Man game, wasn't tapped to appear, either (per ComicBookMovie.com (opens in new tab)).

Cyborg Spider-Woman and Ben Reilly, aka Scarlet Spider, should make their movie debuts. They're part of a puzzle set (per Twitter user MCU Campus), so this seemingly confirms they'll show up. During a YouTube Premium trailer afterparty (opens in new tab), Phil Lord and Chris Miller also confirmed some other prominent Spider-People who'll appear, including Spider-Man India (i.e. Pavitr Prabhakar) and Peter B. Parker's child, aka Mayday.

Here are other Spider-People we noticed in the first trailer:

• Armored Spider-Man
• Bombastic Bag-Man
• Doppelganger
• Insomniac Games' Spider-Man (PS4 and PS5 version)
• Manga Spider-Man
• Otto Octavius' Superior Spider-Man
• Spider-Cop
• Spider-Man (PS1 version)
• Spider-Man Unlimited
• Spider Monkey
• Spinneret
• Wolf-Spider

Additionally, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's official poster, which can see below, has spoiled some Spider-People's appearances, such as Spectacular Spider-Man, Lady-Spider, Spider Byte, and Spiderling.

Live-action stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon have also expressed interest in appearing. Speaking to Collider (opens in new tab), Lord and Miller declined to comment on the trio cameo-ing, but The Cosmic Circus (opens in new tab) and CanWeGetSomeToast (opens in new tab) claim Holland will appear.

Other Spider-Men alumni in Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield could feature, too. The duo had supporting roles in Spider-Man: No Way Home but, speaking to Variety (via Fandom (opens in new tab)), Lord said of those rumors: "It's a high bar to clear. The gauntlet has been thrown [by Spider-Man: No Way Home]", before Miller added: "All things are possible in the multiverse." Watch this space, then.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse plot

Here's the movie’s official synopsis: "Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Oscar-winning Spider-Verse saga, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. 

"After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most."

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly (opens in new tab) (EW) in 2021, Lord and Miller explained why they decided to tell the next chapter in Miles’ arc across two movies. "Miles' story is an epic," Miller and Lord said. "We wrote what we thought the story needed to be, and to our surprise we realized it was two movies instead of one."

Originally, Across the Spider-Verse was going to be an Avengers: Endgame-style movie, with a two-and-a-half hour runtime. Speaking to The Direct (opens in new tab), though, senior animator Ere Santos confirmed splitting the film up into two movies gave Across the Spider-Verse room to breathe.

Per Empire (opens in new tab), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's story will comprise six main universes – each with their own signature animation style. Two are seen in the 2021 teaser – the Indian-inspired Earth-50101, aka Mumbatten, and Nueva York, which is Spider-Man 2099's world and based on Syd Mead's neofuturistic illustrations. We'll also visit the worlds of Miles (Earth-1610) and Spider-Gwen (Earth-65, which is a watercolor-inspired realm), but the other two are a mystery.

Miller doubled down on exploring other realities with Collider (opens in new tab), saying: "The idea that we’d be going to different dimensions really opened up an opportunity artistically to have each world have its own art style, and to be able to push the folks at [Sony Pictures] ImageWorks to develop a way to have each dimension feel like it was drawn by a different artist’s hand. Seeing the development of that stuff is breath taking, and really, it’s the reason we keep doing it, because it’s so hard to get it right."

Speaking to IndieWire (opens in new tab), co-director Joaquim Dos Santos revealed the team worked closely with real-life Marvel artists, such as Spider-Man 2099 creators Rick Leonardi and Kris Anka, to bring their work to life. "Comics are the R&D and the foundation for all these franchises," Dos Santos said. "But oftentimes the creators barely get a mention in the credits, so making sure they’re a part of this is super important."

Elsewhere, Lord and Miller also hinted it might tie into the MCU. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused (opens in new tab) podcast, Miller said: "The multiverse is big and wide, and all things grow. Why would you think [that in] a multiverse, in which many things are possible, that [those things are] not related?"

Lord added: "The writers and directors ]on No Way Home] are all buddies of ours, so we sort of have been in the loop as far as what's going on [in other movies]. And we are always trying to make sure we're not stepping on each other's toes and telling different types of stories, and different themes, and all that stuff – because people want an original story that feels new and interesting. It's our job to give it to them."

It sounds like Gwen Stacy will have a big role to play this time around. Not only does she appear to be torn about events that play out, co-director Kemp Powers also teased (per Total Film (opens in new tab)): "[This film explores] the unique dilemma of being Gwen Stacy. She’s a vigilante seen as responsible for the death of her world’s Peter Parker. [And] the cop in charge of tracking her down is her father."

In fact, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be full of emotional story beats. Lord and Miller revealed there’s one Spider-Gwen scene (opens in new tab) that'll really tug at our heartstrings. Based on the plot synopsis, we’ll see Miles grappling with what it truly means to be a Spider-Man in this film as well.

Where The Spot is concerned, Powers told Cartoon Brew (opens in new tab): "From the very beginning, he just seemed like endless potential visually and the arc of the character. His arc really complements the journey of Miles in this film really well."

Meanwhile, co-directer Justin K. Thompson revealed 17 new tools were created to help The Spot's various ink-style spots function fluidly. So it sounds like The Spot won't just be a tragic villain of sorts, but one as visually spectacular as the movie's other elements. Thompson and Powers also told Cartoon Brew that we'll see more family-based drama play out between Miles, Gwen, and their respective parents, so maybe you'll want to bring a pack of tissues with you to your screening next year.

With those official comments out of the way, what can we determine from what we’ve seen of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse?

Potential story spoilers follow.

Initially, we thought Spider-Man 2099 would be Miles' new mentor. However, with Peter B. Parker confirmed to return, plus Spider-Man 2099 grappling with Miles in both trailers, they'll end up clashing. The latest trailer and story synopsis make out that a Spidey civil war is on the way, so maybe Miles and Spider-Man 2099 become the figureheads of each faction, with Gwen caught in the middle. Speaking to EW (opens in new tab), Miller teased: "He [Spider-Man 2009] is not the villain of the movie, but he's sort of an antagonist to Miles because they both think that what they're doing is the right thing." 

Is that really the case, though? Speaking during the trailer afterparty, Phil Lord surprisingly revealed Spider-Gwen is actually recruited by Spider-Man 2099 to join his Spider-Force/Spider-Society team. Miles, though, doesn't, and she can't tell him why. The plot thickens...

As for Spider-Woman, Chris Miller explained her movie look is inspired by a "comic run when she's pregnant during Secret Wars". Could we see elements of that comic series used in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse? 

Regardless, Spider-Gwen has a great relationship with Spider-Woman, someone she sees as a mentor figure. Spider-Woman isn't the only Spider-Force person that Spider-Gwen is close to. She'll also have a tight bond with Spider-Punk, with the pair's penchant for music a particularly cool shared interest. Understandably, Miles is jealous of their friendship.

And what of fans who have been shipping Gwen and Miles since 2018's Into the Spider-Verse? Can they expect a romance to finally blossom in this film? According to Lord: "It's... complicated. Long distance relationships are hard". In short: wait and see.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse sequel

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's sequel, now called Beyond the Spider-Verse, is expected to land in cinemas on March 29, 2024. Its release date was revealed alongside Across the Spider-Verse's revised launch date (opens in new tab), although Beyond the Spider-Verse's date could change if it needs additional development time.

Very little is known about this movie. Given its title, though, could we see Miles and company make the jump into live-action and potentially appear in the MCU? It would be a hugely crowd pleasing moment if that happened, but we'll have to wait and see how Across the Spider-Verse ends first.

For more Marvel-based content, check out our Marvel Phase 5 hub. Alternatively, find out which Spider-Person will be the first to receive a live-action show on Prime Video.