In this section of our Colossus Movie Guide for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, we will explain the film’s ending.
Cast
- Miles Morales – Shameik Moore
- Jefferson Davis-Morales – Brian Tyree Henry
- Rio Morales – Luna Lauren Vélez
- Aaron Davis – Marershala Ali
- Gwen Stacy – Hailee Steinfeld
- George Stacy – Shea Whigham
- Peter B. Parker – Jake Johnson
- Miguel O’Hara (Spider-Man 2099) – Oscar Isaac
- Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) – Issa Rae
- The Spot – Jason Schwartzman
- Pavitr Prabhakar (Spider-Man India) – Karan Soni
- Hobie Brown (Spider-Punk) – Daniel Kaluuya
- Ben Reilly (Scarlet Spider) – Andy Samberg
- Written by – Phil Lord | Christopher Miller | David Callaham
- Directed by – Joaquim Dos Santos | Kemp Powers | Justin K. Thompson
The end of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse explained
Recap
The end of Across the Spider-Verse begins with Miles arriving “back home”. The first chance he gets, he reveals his secret identity to his mom. Except she doesn’t know who or what Spider-Man is. After glitching, Miles realizes he’s on Earth-42, not Earth-1610. In this world, his father has passed away instead of Uncle Aaron. Meaning that Miles-42 grew up under Aaron’s influence and has, in turn, gone down a much darker path, becoming the super villain The Prowler.
On Earth-42, we see a juxtaposition as Gwen looks in on Jefferson and Rio talking. They debate the struggles they’ve had with Miles in this phase of life and him growing up and them not knowing what to do. Jefferson recites some of the lines Miles, as Spider-Man, said at the beginning of the movie about letting him spread his wings. Gwen steps out to tell Jefferson and Rio that Miles is missing but she’ll go find him. And that one thing she learned from him is “It’s all possible.”
After being knocked out, Miles wakes up tied to a punching bag in a gym. He tries to explain himself to Aaron but Aaron isn’t all that interested in listening. Instead, he puts on the song “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City”. Aaron isn’t even the one in charge. It’s Miles-42. The Prowler. The two share a face to face. Miles asks for Miles-42 to let him go, to save their dad, but Miles-42 clarifies “Your dad” then puts a threatening fist next to Miles’s head.
Back on Earth-1610, a super-powered, negatively charged The Spot appears outside the apartment where Miles lives. He radiates malevolent energy.
Gwen is outside of Peter B. Parker’s apartment. The implication is she’s recruiting him to go save Miles. We then cut to the squad gathered. Gwen, Peter B. Parker, Spider-Punk, Spider-Ham, Peni Parker, Spider-Man Noir, Prabhakar, and Spider-Byte.
Back on Earth-42, Miles begins to charge a finger for a venom shock, ready to break the chains and fight back against his own worst self.
Meaning
Across the Spider-Verse is a coming of age story that focuses on Miles being at a crossroads in his life. He’s trying to figure out who he’s going to be and what he wants to do. That’s why at the beginning we have the meeting with the guidance counselor about his future and she mentions that Miles is a blank piece of people. Most of what happens in the movie is an externalization of the internal struggles Miles is going through as he approaches this next stage in life.
This is why the final conversation between Rio and Jefferson is about Miles growing up and how to parent him and letting him spread his wings. It’s also why Miles ends up in a confrontation with himself from another universe. The Miles of Earth-42 is a version of who he could have been. Even though they have the same name and the same features, they’re different people. They style themselves differently. Pronounce their last name differently. And have had completely different upbringings. Miles under the tutelage of his mother and father. Miles-42 under Uncle Aaron. One in a world with Spider-Man. The other without.
Since Across the Spider-Verse already established that Miles is in this middle ground of who he is going to be, confronting Miles-42 is a glimpse into the more negative part of his being. It shows him what he doesn’t want to become. Who he doesn’t want to become. And the importance of his mother, father, and friends in his life. As much as he spent the earlier portion of the movie kind of pushing away from his parents, wanting to be free, this confrontation with Miles-42 makes him appreciate exactly what his parents provide him.
And that’s what makes the arrival of The Spot so scary. The Spot represents void, annihilation, negativity. And he has already shown Miles a glimpse of the future where The Spot causes a wall to fall on and kill Jefferson. So you have Miles-42 representing the internal demons of Miles and The Spot representing external fears around mortality and loss. Just as Miles is gaining an appreciation for how much he needs his father, there’s a real threat of losing him.
Thankfully, Miles has friends. Gwen and the others have decided to help Miles go against Migueling O’Hara and the notion of the canon event. Miguel has convinced thousands of Spider-People that if canon events don’t happen, it leads to the destruction of the universe. Something we seemingly see happen on Earth-50101 after Miles stops a canon event by saving Spider-Man India’s girlfriend’s father. But Miles is convinced there must be another way. That it can’t be the right thing to do if it means letting good people die. This is the meaning of the title Across the Spider-Verse. These canon events occur everywhere there’s a Spider. And seemingly lock each individual into living similar experiences. It’s what shapes and unites them. But it also takes away their choice, their freedom, and locks in a cycle of grief and tragedy.
When Miles rebels against Miguel, he’s rebelling against the very notion of fate. Which dovetails back to the theme of growing up and the expectations society places on all of us to be a certain way, live a certain, and hit certain milestones by a certain age. It’s a very normal, relatable topic that Across the Spider-Verse defamiliarizes through the fantastic nature of its narrative. The realistic version of events would be a normal kid who dreams of being a singer but their parents want them to go to college, become a doctor, then marry and have kids. The Miles-42 of that story would be going to visit an older sibling who did do those things. It’s not as bleak a scenario as what we get in Across but it would accomplish the same thing of letting the kid know that that’s not the direction they want to go.
But it’s hard to do these things alone. So Gwen and the others represent the need for friends to help us along the way. Not only that but also the way in which our choices can inspire others. Gwen and the others had been following Miguel without question. Even if they had doubts. It took Miles standing up for them to re-evaluate what they’re doing and discover their own conviction to go against what they’ve been told.
Now we just have to wait for Beyond the Spider-Verse to see how it all plays out.
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