Small Details You Missed In The Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Trailer
When "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" dropped in 2018, it blindsided spider-fans with a surprise buffet table of greatness. What could very well have been just another animated superhero project turned out to be an absolutely visionary feast of cool visuals, clever reimagining of familiar characters, and an enticing plot — all backed up by a sublime score and magnificent array of voice-acting talent.
The upcoming "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" has no such advantage. This time, everyone knows what to expect, and everyone is anticipating (and nervously hoping) the sequel can recreate the sheer awe of the original. Can it do so? Can Jason Schwartzman's villainous Spot terrorize us the way the original's villains did? And will Miguel O'Hara soon be everyone's new favorite Spider-Man?
Now, you can finally judge for yourself, because the trailer for the sequel is finally here. This short sneak peek showcases the latest developments in the Spider-Verse, with a number of returning favorites and cool new characters. Let's take a look at the many secrets and small details hiding in this new trailer for "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse."
A whole Spider-Verse of cameos
The trailer is deliberately light on villain action, but what it lacks in antagonists, it more than makes up in Spider-themed heroes. Apart from the heavy focus on returning characters, as well as highlighting the hotly anticipated newcomers Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac), and Jessica Drew (Issa Rae), the trailer for "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" makes clear that the wealth of Spider-folks in "Into the Spider-Verse" was just a light warm-up.
The trailer is packed with dozens of different Spider-folks from different universes, and the task of recognizing them all will no doubt keep fans busy for quite a while — especially because some of the cuts out there are as deep as they come. Sure, it makes sense that we're getting a prominent Spider-adjacent character like Miguel O'Hara, but did you expect to see Maybelle Reilly, the steampunk-influenced Lady Spider of Earth-803 in there? How about a Spidey who's happily rocking a version of the Bombastic Bag-Man costume, or perhaps Spider-Monkey? A Spidey donning the Spider-Armor MK II? Spider-Man Unlimited, from the 1999 TV series of the same name? The Spidey from the PS4 "Spider-Man" game? Mary Jane and Annie from the "Renew Your Vows" arc? All of them and many, many, many others, are all present and accounted for, slinging webs and duking it out.
It remains to be seen just how deep the movie's cuts will be, but for a movie series that started out with Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), it seems that anything is possible.
Spider-Man 2099's family life comes in focus
A huge part of the trailer is, understandably, Oscar Isaac's Spider-Man 2099, aka Miguel O'Hara. The muscular, sharp-fingered superhero from the future is painted as something of a threat in certain parts of the trailer, but a certain moment makes it clear that this is merely a Spider-Man who has a whole bunch on his plate.
We see Miguel watching a futuristic holoscreen that displays a happy scene of him and a young girl who appears to be called Gabriella. In the comics, Miguel has a half-brother called Gabriel, so the implication here is that the young girl is related to him — though it's not yet clear if it's his daughter (maybe named after Gabriel), or the original character reworked to be his much younger sister, or perhaps an orphan he's looking after. Regardless of their exact familial relation, it's clear that the two are close — and the fact that we see this happy image in the trailer implies in no uncertain way that Gabriella plays heavily into Miguel's motivations in the movie.
Peter B. Parker is now Spider-Dad (Mayday, mayday!)
Gwen Stacy isn't the only familiar Spider-person that Miles Morales finds himself interacting with during the trailer. His old mentor Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) can be spied at several points in the trailer, wearing a bath robe — and sporting what appears to be a baby carrier on his chest. Has he finally become a dad? After all, the ending of "Into the Spider-Verse" did see his interactions with Miles lead him to realizing that maybe he did like the idea of being a parent more than he might've thought beforehand.
Worry not, because as confirmed by Discussing Film on Twitter, it appears that yes, not only have Peter and Mary Jane Watson (Zoe Kravitz) healed the fractures of their relationship, but that they've officially settled into parenthood. Even better? Their daughter is confirmed to be May "Mayday" Parker, a fan-favorite character who — if the comics are any indication — will inherit her father's powers and one day become the amazing Spider-Girl. Obviously, baby Mayday is a long way off from such adventures, but for now, it'll be fun to see how Peter and MJ have adapted to the normal upheavals involved in parenting.
Enter: Spider-Woman
The "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" trailer also gives us our first look at Issa Rae's Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman, in a stunning new costume that takes cues from her comic book look while being unafraid to do something different. The character looks to make quite the introduction as we see her burst through a multiversal portal on her motorcycle. From the looks of things, she seems to be working closely with Miguel O'Hara, seemingly confirming the friendship that Deadline reported was in the footage Sony showed at CinemaCon.
We've known that Issa Rae was going to be playing Spider-Woman since back in 2021, when The Hollywood Reporter broke the news, and while there have been a number of Spider-Women in the comics — most notably, Julia Carpenter and Mattie Franklin, if we're not counting Gwen Stacy's Ghost-Spider — it's only fitting that Drew, the most prominent Spider-Woman of the comics, will be the one to appear first. That said, expect to see a lot more of her soon. As reported by Vanity Fair, the studio is planning to make a female-led "Spider-Verse" spin-off featuring Drew, Ghost-Spider, and Silk.
The Bombastic Bag-Man is here ... but he has revoked his Fantastic Four membership
At about the 1:27 mark in this first full trailer for "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," amidst the numerous Spider-People on-screen, we see a version of the hero wearing a paper bag over his head. This character then returns at the 2:03 mark, at which point it's apparent he's animated in a comic book art style, indicative of his comic book origin. Those familiar with Spider-Man's Marvel Comics history will recognize this as a suit that Peter Parker wears in the issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man" in which the Fantastic Four first separate the alien Venom symbiote from Peter's body. Following that procedure, in the comics, he wears this goofy outfit — henceforth referred to as the bombastic Bag-Man — in order to disguise his identity.
However, while the paper bag is straight out of the comics, the rest of the outfit is different. Because on the page, he simply donned a spare Fantastic Four outfit. Here, in "Across the Spider-Verse," the bombastic Bag-Man appears in a standard Spider-Man suit, instead. This is almost definitely because Disney now owns the movie rights to the Fantastic Four, meaning that Spider-Man film rights holder Sony cannot incorporate a Fantastic Four outfit into their "Spider-Verse" whatsoever ... at least, without either a licensing agreement or a long, long conversation with strings attached.
So, while the bombastic Bag-Man remains a pertinent comic book reference, the character will be lacking his Fantastic Four duds, probably as a simple way to avoid the scariest threat of all — legal complications.
The Vulture has landed
One key moment of the trailer sees Spider-Woman take down a winged villain. This being a Spider-Man movie, we all know which bad guy has big, creepy wings, and that's Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture — an iconic foe that was a favorite of both Sam Raimi and Jon Watts.
It's unlikely that Vulture plays a major part in the film, especially given that Vulture was already the big bad in the recent Spider-Man film "Spider-Man: Homecoming." Still, ths continues a trend from the first film of finding small parts for all the classic members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery. Remember how "Into the Spider-Verse" featured cameos of such villains as Green Goblin, Scorpion, and Tombstone, while also giving bigger roles to Doc Ock, Kingpin, and Prowler? It's likely we will see something similar here.
In all fairness, it's only right that Vulture makes at least one appearance in this series. The villain has been a staple of Spider-Man comics since his introduction in "Amazing Spider-Man" #2 in 1963, where he was the first superpowered foe that Spider-Man ever faced.