‘Across the Spider-Verse’ Features 240 Characters From 6 Universes
As part of Sony’s presentation at the annual CinemaCon trade show for the movie theater industry, producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller showed off not just a teaser or a sizzle reel of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the sequel to the Oscar-winning Into the Spider-Verse, but the first (unfinished) 15 minutes of the movie. The sequences featured Spider-Man 2099 (voiced by Oscar Isaac) as well as Spider-Woman (voiced by Issa Rae), Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), and Miles Morales (Shameik Moore).
In introducing the clip Lord and Miller boasted that the film features the largest crew of any animated movie in history, with 1,000 people currently at work on it. Even more exciting, they revealed that the movie features 240 characters from six different universes from the world of Marvel.
Okay, so: Miles’ universe, Gwen’s universe, and Spider-Man 2099’s universe is three, but that still leaves three more universes that will apparently be featured in the movie, along with about 235 other characters. That’s ... pretty wild. Bigger isn’t always better, but I supposed if you’re going to top the beloved Into the Spider-Verse — and the even-more-financially successful Spider-Man: No Way Home, which took Spider-Verse’s concept of an interdimensional Spidey team-up and brought it to live-action — you are going to have to pull out all the stops.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is currently scheduled to open in theaters on June 2, 2023. Its sequel — now officially titled Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse — will follow on March 29, 2024. Let’s hope there aren’t any more delays.