The ending of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has as many threads as a spider’s web.
The superhero sequel ends on a major cliffhanger, which co-director Joaquim dos Santos likened to “The Empire Strikes Back” in an interview with SFX Magazine.
“We hope that it’s a satisfying tee-up for what’s coming in the third film, because you want people to be excited about what’s coming next,” co-director Kemp Powers added. “And it helps that we knew going in that this was part two of a three-part story. Since you already know that that third story is guaranteed, you can tackle it a bit differently. That being said, there’s a lot of key characters in this film, and there’s a story in this film that has an arc of its own that we needed to complete.”
Read on to find out where Miles Morales ends up at the end of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
Warning: Major spoilers from “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” ahead.
On Earth-1610, Miles Morales/Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) battles The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a bumbling robber who struggles to control his powers.
The Spot blames Spider-Man for his creation. He was an employee at Alchemax when its collider exploded in the events of “Into the Spider-Verse.” The explosion granted him the ability to create interdimensional portals but left him deformed with “spots” all over his body.
Eventually, The Spot realizes he can amplify his powers by traveling to other dimensions and recreating the explosion at other Alchemax colliders.
Earth-65’s Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) is assigned by the Spider-Society to keep track of The Spot, but Miles follows her as she chases the villain across dimensions.
Eventually, they end up in Earth 50101, the home of Spider-Man India (Karan Soni). Miles saves the life of a police captain, the father of Spider-Man India’s girlfriend. But it ends up he wasn’t supposed to. The death of a captain/older male figure close to Spider-Man is a canon event, Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) — the leader of the Spider-Society –explains. A canon event is one that occurs in every universe. If the death doesn’t happen, the universe starts to unravel, which is what happens to Earth 50101/Mumhattan.
Miles assumes that the canon event in his universe (Earth 1610) is the death of his father Jefferson, who was recently promoted to police captain. He evades the Spider-Society and jumps into the Go Home machine so he can return to his universe.
He arrives in Brooklyn, but something is off. His uncle Aaron, Jefferson’s brother, is alive. Aaron, who moonlighted as The Prowler, was killed in “Into the Spider-Verse.”
Aaron asks Miles why he’s changed his hair. They then step outside, but this is not the Brooklyn Miles knows. He can hear police sirens and is shocked to see a mural dedicated to Jefferson, who is dead. Miles then realizes he didn’t travel to Earth 1610. The Go Home machine, which transports people to their home universes based on their genetic data, sent him instead to Earth 42, the universe where the spider that bit him originated from. The bite altered Miles’ DNA and make the machine think he came from that timeline.
Since that arachnid (Spider-42) bit Miles in Earth 1610, Earth 42 never got a Spider-Man. Crime became rampant and Jefferson was killed. Miles is knocked out and when he comes to, he is tied to a punching bag. Aaron reveals he is not The Prowler in Earth 42 — someone else is. The Prowler emerges from the shadows, removes his mask and is revealed to be Miles Morales of Earth 42 (identifiable by his dreads).
Meanwhile, Gwen has made it to Earth 1610 using a makeshift teleporter from Spider-Punk. She goes to Miles’ house but realizes he isn’t there. She also deduces he is in the wrong universe, and gathers the Spider-Gang from the first film (including Peter B. Parker, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham) and newcomer Spider-Byte (Amandla Stenberg) to track Miles down.
Unfortunately, the empowered Spot also arrives in Earth 1610 to seek revenge against Miles. Spider-Man 2099 also arrives, setting an epic showdown for the third film, “Beyond the Spider-Verse.”
“Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” is slated for a March 2024 release.
Watch the trailer below: