That Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ending explained
Warning: This story contains major spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
We should've known what was coming when they first revealed the title.
Almost immediately after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse swung into theaters in 2018, Sony announced plans for a pair of sequels, continuing the adventures of Shameik Moore's Miles Morales and his multiverse of Spidey friends. Originally, the first sequel was titled Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One), with Part Two coming about a year later. Those plans have since changed: After years of pandemic-related delays and schedule shifts, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse finally hit theaters June 2, dropping the "Part One." (A third film, now titled Beyond the Spider-Verse, is still scheduled for 2024.)
But even though Across the Spider-Verse changed its title, story-wise, it still feels like a "Part One." The film ends on an emotional, Empire Strikes Back-style cliffhanger, setting up a major showdown in the next film. It also breaks with superhero tradition: Across the Spider-Verse doesn't have a post-credits scene, and instead, the film ends with a tantalizing "To be continued…" card.
Sony Pictures Animation Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) in 'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse'
Much of the film follows Miles as he zips around the multiverse, swinging between dimensions and meeting all sorts of Spider-People. Eventually, he and longtime friend Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) cross paths with Miguel O'Hara, a.k.a. Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac). After Miles helped rip a hole in the multiverse in the first film, Miguel has formed the Spider Society, an interdimensional squad of Spider-People. Their job is to stop anomalies from bleeding into other universes, capturing villains to send them back to their home dimensions.
The Spider Society also turns out to have a second, more important purpose. Every Spider-Person is unique, and the film features hundreds of them, ranging from Daniel Kaluuya's mohawked Spider-Punk to Jake Johnson's schlubby Peter B. Parker. But there are a few things that all Spideys have in common: They gain their powers through a spider bite, they lose an important friend/mentor early in their journey (be it an Uncle Ben or an Uncle Aaron), and at one point, they try and fail to save a police captain. If a single Spidey diverges from that script, it can rip a hole in the multiverse, threatening not just their universe but every universe.
Miles, of course, is devastated to learn this — especially because his own father, Jefferson Davis-Morales (Brian Tyree Henry), will soon be promoted to police captain. He escapes the Spider Society and tries to make it home to his own dimension. There's one wrinkle, however: Miles discovers that he was never supposed to be bitten by the spider who gave him his powers. That spider accidentally crossed over into his dimension, inadvertently giving him his powers. So, when Miles tries to get home, he winds up in that other original dimension, which now has no Spider-Man at all. In that parallel universe, Miles is shocked to learn that his father has died, but his late uncle Aaron (a returning Mahershala Ali) is still alive. Even more surprising, the Miles Morales of that universe has turned to a life of crime, becoming the Prowler instead of Spider-Man. The film ends with the two Miles coming face to face, one a hero, one a villain.
Sony Pictures Animation Aaron Davis/The Prowler (Mahershala Ali) in 2018's 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'
It's a surprising twist, and it sets up the events of next year's Beyond the Spider-Verse. It's also not the only Spider-Verse movie in the works: At the premiere, producer Amy Pascal revealed that a Spider-Woman spin-off is still in the works, and meanwhile, Sony is also developing a live-action Miles Morales movie.
As for how that Miles versus Miles face-off will go down? We'll have to wait and see when Beyond the Spider-Verse hits theaters March 29, 2024.
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