Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Themes and Meaning

In this section of our Colossus Movie Guide for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, we talk about themes that help us understand the film. 

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 themes and meaning of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Fate, rules, expectations, and canon events

Early in Across the Spider-Verse, Miles is late to a meeting with his parents and guidance counselor about his future. This leads to a conversation about Miles growing up and what he wants to go and do with his life. He’s a young man on the cusp of graduating into the larger world. With that comes certain expectations, not only from your parents but society at large. In real life, this typically means going to college, getting a job, then looking to start a family. 

Across the Spider-Verse defamiliarizes this coming-of-age journey and the way in which we have to confront societal expectations through the lens of the canon event. 

The canon event is something that all Spider-people share. No matter where they are in the universe (hence the title Across the Spider-Verse). When Miles lost his Uncle Aaron, that was a canon event. Every single Spider-person has lost a version of Uncle Ben/Uncle Aaron. Just like every single one of them is supposed to lose a police captain who is close to them. In Gwen’s universe, it was going to be her father. In Miles’s universe, it’s going to be his father. In Pavitr Prabhakar’s, it’s the father of Prabhakar’s girlfriend. Except Miles saves Prabhakar’s girlfriend’s father. Meaning he disrupted the canon. Instead of being a good thing, it causes a dimensional rift than begins to devour Earth-50101. 

Ultimately, Miles is told he must accept these canon events. Even if he knows that someone close to him won’t make it, he’s not supposed to do anything to stop it. In fact, O’Hara’s Spider-team is supposed to ensure the canon events happen. This causes Miles to reject the idea of the canon and begin to figure out a way to, so to speak, have his cake and eat it too. 

These canon events aren’t so different from what we experience in reality. We all have our first loves. Unrequited love. Our first car accident. Our first friendship that falls apart. There’s getting your license. Getting your first paycheck. Graduating. Moments we feel special and invincible and moments were we feel broken and alone. The human condition is so nuanced and spectacular but also basic. What you’ve experienced, what you’ve felt, others have too. Across cultures. Across countries. Across languages. That’s why art that’s inspired by true, real experience and emotion is so powerful. Because we recognize ourselves in the lives of others. 

Spider-Verse explores that idea but through the far more specific construct of the “canon event” and how it relates to Spider-people like Miles, Gwen, and others. As unique as each of them are, they’re all united by these similar experiences and expectations. That random person next to you in line at the grocery store? You probably have more in common with them than you could ever imagine. You’ve both shared certain canon events, even if the details are different. 

Rejecting fate

Miguel O’Hara tells Miles a startling thing. Miles is the embodiment of canon-breaking. He was never supposed to be Spider-Man. The spider that bit him came from Earth-42. If Miles hadn’t been in the wrong place at the wrong time, he never encounters the spider, never gains powers, and Kingpin doesn’t kill the Peter Parker of Earth-1610. Not only did Miles “cause” that tragedy, it means that Earth-42 doesn’t have a Spider-person. There is no hero there. 

There’s a lot to unpack there. The key aspect is that Miles represents the idea of  the outsider. Of going against fate. Of being more than what anyone expected you to be.. When he finds out about the canon, he doesn’t accept it the way Gwen, Peter B. Parker, and others did. Miles is determined to find a way to defy fate. To forge a new path rather than be beholden to what others tell him has to happen. 

Everyone faces similar crossroads in their lives. Typical examples include going to college or choosing another path. Staying near home or moving away. Working a job that pays the bills or taking a chance on a passion. Getting married by the time you’re 25 or waiting. There’s what “everyone else” is doing and what you want to do. And sometimes those things overlap and that’s great. Not every “canon event” is bad. Not every risk is brave or good or smart. But the point is that people should have the choice. 

Duality

This idea of choice, of crossroads, comes to life when Miles ends up on Earth-42. There, he encounters another version of himself. The version in a world without Spider-Man. In that world, Miles-42 becomes the Prowler. His dad is gone, Uncle Aaron’s the father figure. And Aaron has led his nephew to a dark place. 

Thematically, both Miles and Miles-42 represent the dichotomy of the individual. We all have this capacity for positivity and negativity. To go down a “good” path or a “bad” one. We’re shaped by the choices we make, the events are out of our control, and the people we have (or don’t have) around us. 

Miles is, in Across the Spider-Verse, still uncertain about who he is and what he’s doing. But not Miles-42. He’s been, for lack of a better word, corrupted by his world. That’s not to say he’s beyond redemption, just that he’s clearly in a much worse place than our Miles. By confronting Miles-42, our Miles is confronting that part of himself. That fate, that future where the worst happens. Not having his dad. Not having Spider-Man or Spider powers. If Miles-42 could become this thing, couldn’t he?

The assumption is that in Beyond the Spider-Verse, Miles will learn some hard lessons and come out the other side more determined and heroic than ever before. He will defy fate and canon and assert the right to choice and opportunity and inspiration.

Belonging 

Miguel O’Hara mentions that the canon events are what make Spider-people who they are. It’s what connects all of them and allows them to be the hero each of their worlds needs them to be. Like the tragedies are a recipe for goodness. Not only that, it seems if you go against the canon, then you’re not even part of the group. Even though Miles has the same powers and has experienced the canon events, he’s still rejected from the group for being different. For disagreeing with the monolithic groupthink. 

Despite everything that makes him one of the Spiders, Miles still can’t fit in. But his point is—why should he? If the “right” thing involves not saving people, how could it possibly be the right thing? Why accept that? Why be part of that? Do you sacrifice what you believe in just to belong? Or do you do what you think is best, and human, decent, and compassionate, and let that be your guide? 

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