How can you stream ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ for free?

While many movie fans are still buzzing about the hype over Spider-Man: No Way Home, there’s another Spidey film coming later this year. On October 7th, 2022, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will hit theaters everywhere. The film hopes to capitalize on the peak popularity of the superhero in the zeitgeist, but also be a solid sequel.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the follow-up to 2018’s animated feature Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which received much critical & popular acclaim. Instead of following Peter Parker, these animated films center on the character of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a teenager struggling to fit in at school in New York City.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was praised for its cutting-edge animation style, as well as for exploring the idea of the multiverse. This is something that the creators at Marvel do to the fullest extent in No Way Home. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse hopes to expand on Miles’ character in addition to further expanding the Spidey multiverse.

Tough to follow the first film

While Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse promises to be a quality film, it’ll be hard to match the success of Into the Spider-Verse. Not only did the first installment gross over $375 million, but it took home the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Into the Spider-Verse also took home a Golden Globe & a BAFTA for the same category.

Critics praised the film for its inventive animation style, which combined 2D & 3D graphics while employing aesthetics from comic book drawings. Rather than having a single creative mind behind the project, Into the Spider-Verse employed three different directors, Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman. 

Rothman also co-wrote the screenplay with Phil Lord. The collaborative nature of the film was also found in the voice cast, which included Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahersahala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Zoe Kravitz, Lily Tomlin, John Mulaney, and Nicolas Cage just to name a few. Across the Spider-Verse will return some of these actors.

Across the Spider-Verse will add Issa Rae to its cast, who’s never starred in any Marvel content until now. The sequel will also bring on a new trio of directors, which includes Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin Thompson. When No Way Home was about to come out, Sony Pictures smartly released the trailer to Across the Spider-Verse.

What’ll happen in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse?

Based on the first look trailer for Across the Spider-Verse, the film appears as though it’ll explore more facets of Miles Morales & the multiverse. We see that Miles has grown up a bit since the first film, as has Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld). Judging by the footage that was released, the film seems as if it’ll further develop the dynamic between Gwen & Miles.

In terms of visual aesthetics, Across the Spider-Verse looks as if it’ll push the boundaries of style even further. In the first trailer alone, the film shifts between several different styles of animation, including scenes that look as though they’re right out of the comic book. What’ll be interesting to see is how the film advances the multiverse concept.

With No Way Home being as popular as it is, audiences are clearly receptive to the multiverse. While Into the Spider-Verse does include a version of the Spidey origin story, it’s also fairly self-aware about the tropes surrounding the characters. For instance, the film shows different versions of Peter Parker.

Into the Spider-Verse shows one Peter Parker as an honorable martyr, and another as a lazy shut-in who’s been commodified by capitalist culture. It’ll be interesting to see how Across the Spider-Verse further challenges the cliches of comic book films. With four years in between releases, it’s sure to be a well-crafted piece of media.

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is set to come out on October 7th, 2022. Even though it’ll be tough to follow the success of Into the Spider-Verse, this sequel appears to be ready to wow audiences. Are you excited for Across the Spider-Verse? Let us know in the comment section!