Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is going to be one amazingly unique outing as Sony is bringing Marvel into the world of 3D animation, and so far from what we have seen, everything looks pretty cool. While the story is mostly going to focus on Miles Morales, we will also be seeing a fair bit of Peter Parker who has been Spider-Man in this Universe for quite a while and he will be mentoring Morales on his journey.
Sony has been marketing this film from the last year, and by now we have seen quite a lot from the film. The trailers and clips have shown us many scenes that Peter Parker’s Spider-Man is going to be a part of. In those scenes, what we noticed was that there were so many instances that were a direct reference to Sam Raimi’s version of Spider-Man. There are obviously going to be so many other characters in the film, as Sony is establishing an entire Spider-Man Universe and bringing some new characters forward out of their bank that contains 900 characters. But it is good that they did not leave out the original Spider-Man.
Miles Morales has become a beloved character in the comics and people have wanted his big-screen debut for a while. Sony is finally giving us what we asked for, and that will be happening in an already established Universe where Spider-Man has fought crime for a very long time and there are other Spider-people who have also come into existence. But what intrigues us is that how this version of Peter Parker is so closely related to the version that Tobey Maguire brought on screen.
The entire train sequence from Spider-Man 2 which is still one of the most iconic superhero moments in Hollywood has a place in this film. There is another moment which you may call the trade-mark Spidey kiss. He had that with Mary Jane in the first Spider-Man movie and with Gwen Stacy in the third one. It hasn’t been featured in any other Spider-Man movies. Homecoming teased an exact moment like this, but it did not happen. This new animated movie seems to be bringing that forward as well.
While these two events made it seem as if we are going to get a total reincarnation of the original Spider-Man trilogy, there are some scenes which are similar, but not totally identical. For instance, a scene where Spider-Man is on a date with Mary Jane, and he catches a car that crashes in the restaurant. This event is identical to how Peter went on a date with Jane in Spider-Man 2 and Doc Ock, threw a car in the restaurant. But the difference is that there it was Peter Parker. He wasn’t sitting as Spider-Man in costume.
So, all these similarities make us think that what if the life of Spider-Man that is being portrayed here is actually the one that Toby Maguire’s version has spent? Is Sony trying to continue all that? His version was loved by the audiences (at least for the first 2 movies), so with Tom Holland’s version currently out in another Universe, and Andrew Garfield’s version being abandoned, could it be that Sony is bringing back Peter Parker from the original trilogy? This film is set in a distant future, and Peter has spent a lot of time being Spider-Man. So, it would be amazing if Sony is, in fact, bringing the original version of Spider-Man in this story, to mentor Miles Morales.
It would also be interesting to see if this story has any references to the other two cinematic Spider-Men. Still, it is good that we are finally going to see Miles Morales right from the get-go. For those of you who don’t know him, his origin was portrayed in the Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man where we got to know that Oscorp scientist Dr. Conrad Markus used Parker’s blood to recreate the formula that created Spider-Man and Aaron Davis, aka The Prowler, stole the formula. Whilst conducting the robbery, a different genetically altered Spider created by Markus entered the Prowler’s duffel bag.
After a few days Davis’ Nephew who is just a grade schooler visited his home and there he gets bitten by that genetically engineered Spider and that grants him Superpowers almost similar to that of Peter Parker’s. Morales keeps these abilities a secret from his parents Jefferson and Rio as his father does not trust Superheroes.
While his abilities are similar to the original Spider-Man, having enhanced strength and agility, the ability to adhere to walls and ceilings with his hands and feet, producing web and even having the Spider-sense that warns him of danger with a buzzing sensation in his head.
The difference here is that his Spider-sense is not as strong as that of Peter’s and it only warns him of the immediate dangers. He has two other abilities which Peter does not have and those are: the ability to camouflage himself, including his clothing so that he could blend into his surroundings, and the second one is the “Venom Strike” which can paralyze almost anyone with just a touch.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse hits the theatres on December 13, 2018.
