If you would have told me in 2018 that the best Marvel superhero movie of all time was about to be released, I would have placed money on it being Avengers: Infinity War. Honestly it’s a good bet to wager on that movie taking the crown, and it did wind up being one of the G.O.A.T.s, but unfortunately for it the honorable title of “One Above All” goes to the underdog movie of the year: Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse. 2018 was a fantastic year for superhero movies, stacked with heavy hitters such as Black Panther, Infinity War, The Incredibles 2, Venom, and Deadpool 2, among quite a few others. It was retrospectively one of the best years in the genre for superhero fans, so it’s a testament to how impactful Sony’s first foray into animated Marvel was and still is today considering that 2018 also was stacked with at least a few other legendary releases. Sure, more people went to see Infinity War, and if you have read my review of it, you know that it absolutely deserved the recognition it got (it is #3, after all). It’s an incredible movie let alone cinematic experience, but even that monumental film doesn’t compare to the perfection that is Into the Spider-verse. I would also place a wager that says Into the Spider-verse is going to eventually go down in history as the genre’s finest foray and absolutely the best Spider-man tale told on the big screens. Yes, that includes all the Spider bro movies. Some of you may be scoffing at this idea that the greatest Spider-man movie of all time is an animated movie, much less one that doesn’t even strictly star Peter Parker. To those people who disagree, well, you’re frankly wrong. After all, this may be an objective personal opinion of mine that this movie is king but I assure you that ranking it here at the top of the list is surely just as much of a subjective certainty. If you don’t believe me, then you’re in the right place, because by the time were done my hope is that you will understand why this movie is the most “Marvel” of them all. It’s going to be hard to argue otherwise even if this isn’t your favorite movie ever, like it is mine. I understand if it’s not your cup of tea. I have certainly met a fair share of people who can’t get on board simply because it’s an animated movie. I understand. You’re entitled to your opinion and I’m not going to invalidate it. Now, with that said, remember that I have spent quite a lot of time rewatching each and every Marvel movie over and over again across the years thinking and analyzing these things from an evolving mindset approach, taking into consideration things that the average viewer may not even remotely care about. So ranking it at the top of the list isn’t a hot take or wild opinion by any stretch. This is a calculated and long pondered decision to place it here and it’s a decision that I truly believe is validated. With that said, let’s delve into the nitty gritty and see why Miles Morales’s freshman adventure is THE definitive Marvel movie of all time.
By the time 2018 came around, superhero movies were becoming a dime a dozen. It’s arguable that it was around this time that superheroes were at the peak of their popularity mostly thanks to Marvel’s pop culture dominance. Here in 2023, I think it’s safe to say that it’s only natural that over time with so many releases that some will be better than others. It’s the law of averages. See, I just reviewed 100 Marvel movies. They CANT all be masterpieces, no matter how much we love them all. Since the MCU assisted in the boom of the superhero movie and became this pop cultural phenomenon, it lead to a saturation of the market. So much so that these days it seems like superheroes are the only thing that have the potential to sell anymore (I stand corrected, see summer of 2023 with the now revolutionary “Barbenheimer”). It’s only natural that with an increase of quantity we get a substantial decrease in quality. Now, 2018, as previously stated, was a fantastic year. At the same time, it goes without saying that most of the available superhero movies to date are mediocre, average, crappy, or just downright bad movies. Take a closer look at the list: two thirds of it is littered with movies that rank C or lower. A lot of people are talking these days about how the Marvel movies have declined in quality as of late, but I’m here to remind you that mediocrity out of superhero movies is and has been quite normal for a long time. Honestly, this is a good thing. No, it’s a GREAT thing. I love the world that in which we have arrived, where we get multitudes of Marvel adaptations. My 13 year old self who had just left the theatre watching Spider-man would never believe you if you told me then what was to come. I wish some people would take these things for granted less because we used to live in a world where our only quality options were Batman, X-Men or Spider-man. Trust me, it’s better now more than ever and a lot of that has to do with the variety of superhero content available. No, I’m not advocating for mediocrity. I want all the superhero projects to become masterpieces. But it’s unrealistic to think they all will be. I have let go of those aspirations, despite my firm belief that there is no such thing as a bad character (only a bad writer). Yes, Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle absolutely deserves a movie and for it to be a masterpiece. Hell, I would go see a whole movie dedicated to Arm-Fall-Off Boy and I believe there is an audience there (unfortunately, James Gunn killed him off way too soon). I remember when Sony announced that they were attempting to do a Spider-man movie a-la Pixar style for big screen animation. I remember thinking that it was simultaneously a fantastic idea yet somehow an incredibly uninspired one. After all, we did get an incredible animated Marvel movie out of Big Hero Six, proving that the D listers make for fantastic Pixar style movies. It was a bit of a missed opportunity to adapt something with a deeper cut, that would never see the light of day on the live-action big screen by choosing to have Spider-man helm a big budget animation. But somehow, despite this mediocre announcement, I was actually holding my breath with intrigue. After all, you can’t go wrong with Spider-man for more than a few obvious reasons. He is one of the greatest fictional characters of all time and we already know he works in animated format thanks to the numerous cartoons and video games. In a parallel world, under a different creative team, I fear that what would have been delivered would have been far more generic, because it is INCREDIBLY easy to take a character so established such as Spider-man and make a generic Spider-man story out of it. The formula is there in abundance and there are in fact more than enough blueprints to choose from. The trailer finally dropped once it was ready, and my intrigue was immediately boosted. This wasn’t about Peter. It was about Miles Morales, Spidey’s Ultimate Universe replacement character. And judging by the trailers, it seemed like they were going to at very least take inspiration from some of those now classic storylines involving Miles. This movie was clearly going for something different than anything that came before by focusing on someone whose name is NOT Peter Parker. When the movie finally dropped, the world instantly was blown away on numerous levels. We’re going to discuss all of them.
I want to take a moment to talk about the comic books with special consideration to Miles Morales before beginning. It’s no secret that the Spider-man property has been incredibly popular since Stan Lee and Steve Ditko unleashed the wall-crawler into 1960s public consciousness. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had already released a top selling title in their Fantastic Four book, among many others, but up until Spider-man, the Fantastic Four was their biggest hit and arguably most important for what was to come. Where the Fantastic Four definitively established the look, feel and tone of “Marvel”, Spider-man went on to represent the ethos and pathos of what a Marvel hero truly represents. Spider-man was such a hit, thanks to numerous reasons we won’t get into here, that it became the rumored top seller. And to this day, it remains Marvel’s top selling comic (with some minor exceptions here or there). To say that Spider-man is important is an understatement. Marvel continued the legacy that industry legends such as Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Sr., and Roger Stern established in those early years by continuing to place top talent on the books. Arguably, some of Marvel’s 616 universe’s greatest sagas are the Amazing Spider-man books from the 1960s through roughly the year 2000. That year 2000 is an important one in regards to “Into the Spider-verse” because it’s when Marvel launched the run that would eventually introduce the world to Miles Morales. They decided to do something that had never been done before with this run: create a whole line of books set in a parallel universe designed to “update” these characters to present day (at the time) by reimagining their origins set in the present. That line was famously called the Ultimate Universe and it was spearheaded by numerous people of talent. The line didn’t last forever and many years later it finally financially imploded due to eventual poor sales but it did have its audience for a long time mostly thanks to the incredibly enduring and profiting “Ultimate Spider-man” comics. Like I said, Spider-man hasn’t really had many bad comics prior to the launch of the Ultimate universe, but by the time the late 90s hit, Spider-man sales (and creativity) were at an all time low. He was in desperate need of a status quo change after years of confusing continuity dumps. The Amazing Spider-man comics did go on to do some great things with continuity, especially under J. Michael Strazynski’s run (though it didn’t help the convoluted continuity and inaccessibility problem much at all), as well as Dan Scott’s incredibly long and acclaimed run lasting more than a whole decade. But, the run that truly reinvigorated the franchise was now legendary writer Brian Bendis’s retelling of the Spider-man’s origin in modern times across the pages of Ultimate Spider-man’s premier arc. It was a huge breath of fresh air to say the least. Bendis had (has) an understanding of what made those classic 60s Spider-man stories so incredible to audiences of yesterday, so much so that he would eventually become known as the definitive “modern” Spider-man writer. As the Ultimate Universe began to lose its luster over the years, Bendis continued to write Spider-man in that universe to almost universal critical acclaim. It’s no understatement to say that this book carried the line on its shoulders, often outselling the main 616 Amazing Spiderman books. Bendis, eventually, in an attempt to draw in more readers, did the most unexpected thing out of seemingly no where: he killed Peter Parker. Literally. Now, everyone reading knows that no one stays dead usually, but this was a parallel universe and the line was failing financially. Now, if this mega run took place in the main 616 universe, it would surely be scoffed at since no character ever truly stays dead. But something was different about this time. The ultimate universe wasn’t the main universe. So honestly, they could theoretically kill off someone as major as Spider-man fairly safely (other Ultimate books had done so already) without financial repercussions. It was still ballsy seeing as how Spider-man was in fact Ultimate Marvel’s biggest title. So how did he pull it off? By giving Spider-man his first ever true legacy character. He introduced the world to Miles Morales, an everyday ordinary kid who was destined to take up the mantle of Spider-man FROM Peter Parker himself. He was such a hit that he ended up headlining the title right until the universe ended and eventually endured into the main universe itself. Peter had stayed dead to give Miles Morales an even bigger sense of importance and never was resurrected over the course of the proceeding some 50+ issues. Miles ended up being one of Marvel’s hottest and most successful modern new characters since Wolverine “snikted” his way onto pages in the 80s. Bendis gave Miles such a unique look, personality, and origin that somehow became even more interesting than what Peter offered audiences. Mile’s books continued to outsell a majority of the contemporary competition so much so that when the Ultimate Universe finally was cancelled, Marvel brought Miles over into the 616 universe. Miles Morales as a character could easily be dismissed as “the black Spider-man who isn’t really Spider-man” but by doing so, you truly miss out on a character who embodies what it means to be a Marvel superhero. Miles stood for all the great things (with great power comes great responsibility) that Peter did, but somehow carved out his own unique identity. He never existed in the shadow of Peter, despite some of the themes suggesting he did initially. He was just as much Spider-man as Peter was thematically. After all, what made Spider-man so fascinating, immensely relatable and ultimately different compared to the competition at DC in the 60s was the fact that if a nerdy high schooler could be a hero, then anyone could. The inclusion of Miles Morales into the Spider sagas is imperative now that we’re spoiled with such a complex individual being a part of the mythos because his presence actually REINFORCES the idea of what made Peter so fascinating to begin with. Miles was truly an excellent legacy character that demonstrated how very concept of legacy is in fact THE most important aspect to understanding superheroes. After all, these characters have been around for decades, and some of them almost a whole century. What happens to Batman after Bruce Wayne dies? What happens to Superman after Clark Kent is no longer? More relevantly, what happens to Spider-man after Peter dies? These questions are integral to understanding what an individual superhero stands for so much so that their legacy either proves that the hero was important or not. The mere fact that such a fantastic character such as Miles exits proves that the concept of Spider-man is immortalized, cementing the concept of Spider-man (no matter who is in the cowl) as the greatest superhero concept of all time. The best superhero movies often understand this concept of legacy one way or another and address it in some capacity (Logan, Wakanda Forever, The Dark Knight Rises, The Arkham video games, etc.). The costume is an immortal symbol, that will live on beyond the life of the exceptional individual who wears it. The symbol transcends the man. The symbol is what matters, not the powers, not the feats, not the events. The symbol is undying and will forever signal the ideals of what the hero stands for. The legion of superheroes exist in the far future where clark is dead, but his ideals have lived on. Concepts and ideals are standards that no human, even if they wear a costume, can ever live up to in reality, not even Superman himself. Hence why the costumes are so inspiring, so enduring, so immortalized, and ultimately so important.
Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse addresses the idea of legacy in a way no other superhero movie to date has. It’s clear that those who made Into the Spiderverse are clearly massive fans of not only superheroes and Marvel but Spider-man in particular, because the plot literally revolves around the understanding of how superheroes relate to the idea of legacy. Everything that makes superheroes not only fascinating cultural touchstones but also incredibly entertaining icons are on full display in this movie. Only someone who has a deep respect for the long and storied history of Peter Parker can pull off creating a movie as defining as Into the Spider-verse. The movie oozes with such a deep understanding of Marvel and Spider-man that simply no other movie in Marvel’s entire catalogue comes close to it. I would go as far to say with that deep understanding combined with award winning talent makes this not only the best Marvel movie, but possibly the best animated movie of all time. No, honestly it could be one of the best movies in general of all time, boasting exceptional talent in every way that goes above and beyond the standards that came before.
Into the Spiderverse set a new bar to reach when it comes to almost every aspect of movie making, especially when it comes to animated movies. The team literally redefined what makes something exceptional and one of a kind, out performing the best of the best on just about every level. It’s hard to decide where to start analyzing because the film is so complex and incredibly well made, packed to the brim and overflowing with details. There isn’t a wasted frame in the entire production. To start, let’s discuss the animation. The film’s animation team impressively consisted of over 1000 people that took years to make. Clearly a love for comic books, superheroes, and animation went into the final product, and not just on a superficial level. The creators WANTED this to feel like a living and breathing comic book, homaging the art form that Spider-man as a character owes itself to the most. Only someone with a deep love and experience of reading a plethora of comics can come up with the inventive and fascinating ways that the graphic medium is honored within the animation. Scenes have numerous flowing mobile boxes stylized to resemble a panel of a comic complete with periodic dialogue balloons. Or more importantly, visible sound effects. On the pages, we can’t actually hear sounds when reading. It’s been a long tradition to use graphics and words to creatively express sounds in fun and interesting ways (honestly, it’s one of the best things about comics in general). If I had a dime for every “BOOOOOM” or “SCREEEEETCH” or “KAASPLAAASH” I’v read in my life, I would be a billionaire. The movie brilliantly uses the same technique to an impressive degree by showing major sound effects with textual cues THAT ACTUALLY sound like the sound were simultaneously hearing while reading. As a long time reader, it truly felt like the imagination required to read a comic book effect was displayed in a way that I never knew I needed. Just this mere fact alone makes me feel validated and understood as someone who cherishes the funny books more than any other medium. These guys get it, they understand what the raw experience of reading a comic is like and what makes them so fun to read. We see “Kirby Cackles” periodically, we see splash pages, we have cutaways, vibrant coloring, cliffhangers and homages to double page spreads in abundance. Even the way the characters moved were different than anything in animation before. They almost moved in a “trippy” way at times, often almost vibrating, a creative decision that was surely intentionally in place to reinforce the idea that these characters originate out of medium consisting of static images. Of course, the trick of comic book art is to make the character look like they’re in motion, a facet that movies in particular don’t need to pay attention to as much since they are indeed moving images. Brilliantly, Into the Spider-verse takes that concept and flips it: these characters needed to be a bit LESS fluid to honor the STILLNESS of a comic book panel without sacrificing the motion that is implied. The creators have often talked about how they wanted to honor the idea of any scene being worthy of a comic book panel and that technique surely reinforces the idea. The level of detail coursing through the liveliness of Brooklyn, the character designs, the way they walk or swing, talk or emote are all displayed via top notch animating talent that had comic book art in mind every step of the way. Periodically, the movie would brilliantly introduce new characters by cutting to an actual comic book cover, often directly inspired by real life comics. The animation would open said comic and take peek at the wondrous inspiring contents inside, teasing us of the stories yet to be had and consumed. I loved these brief scenes because it capitalizes on the idea of teases and hooks that forever permeate comic book culture. When I go to the comic store, I almost always flip through a book I I am interested in buying. I want to know how it FEELS. It is in fact, one of the reasons why I read comics to this day (que goosebumps!). The look and feel of the movie was so impressive that Sony famously trademarked the comic book inspired technology that permeates the movie and went on to earn an academy award for best animated movie of the year thanks to the impressive state of the art techniques on full display. Truly, the movie even by animation standards, is in a league of its own.
I am merely scratching the surface here on this movie. Truly, no amount of discussion can do it justice. I urge you to do extensive research on the movie because no matter how much I try, this movie is too incredible to breakdown properly. It’s a masterclass in filmmaking so much so that there are now whole books dedicated to discussing what makes this movie in particular one of the greatest movies of all time. You can find a plethora of articles and books that approach the film in a variety of ways that I haven’t even considered in this whole article. The animation alone is award winning and the best of the best, so let’s talk about why the rest of it is just as good as the animation.
Story-wise, there is little here to scoff at. From the opening scene, to its epic conclusion, the story that unfolds remains engaging. All the major characters are written to have their own character arcs which become increasingly complex and unique as the story expands. There is more than plenty of foreshadowing and evolving characterization to write a book about. The magic of the movie doesn’t end there; it’s filled to the brim with cameos and easter eggs galore and not just in a way to appease fans. Everything about the movie is intentionally placed with more intricacy than just about anything else marvel has ever produced for the big screen. It became apparent to me that the creators of the movie understand Spider-Man on a fundamental level better than any of the live action ventures in one particular scene early on, when Miles meets Peter for the first time. Miles falls to his apparent death near the collider as Spidey and the Green Goblin duke it out, and Spider-man’s senses alert him of the danger. What does Spidey do? He stops what he is doing and immediately saves Miles. After the rescue, Miles and Peter exchange a beautifully Marvel moment. They “sense” each other and without missing a beat, Peter says the most heroically Spider-man thing ever:
“I thought I was the only one. You’re like me. (I don’t want to be!) I don’t think you have a choice kiddo. There is a lot goin through your head. You’re going to be fine. If you stick around I can show you the ropes. I just need to destroy this big machine real quick before the space time continuum collapses. DONT MOVE (Proceeds to look heroic as hell). See ya in a bit!”
Peter jumps off the ledge, swings into action without hesitation with badass uplifting music blasting. We get a glimpse of Miles’s reaction and it’s one of fascination, even if he’s scared shitless. If that isn’t the most Marvel superhero thing iv ever seen I don’t know what is. Later in the movie, after a period of adjusting to his new found powers, Miles finally accepts his destiny in one the all time greatest origin moments on the big screen. Now referred to as the “What up Danger” scene, the audience gets treated to a complexly satisfying character moment that has gone on to be Mile’s most definitive scene. You could write entire essays about the scene, and I don’t want to dwell, but let’s just say that it perfectly encapsulates the Marvel origin. With the original track “What Up Danger” blaring, clearly written for this very moment, Miles finally embraces the “Danger” and lets go after trying and failing numerous times. The movie brilliantly shows Miles falling toward the city, but the catch is that this time it’s framed upside down. Miles may be falling literally, but symbolically, he’s rising. He is rising to the new calling that he has accepted, racing headfirst towards the city skyline that he is now sworn to protect. As the beat drops, he finally lets go of his fears and swings throughout the city. But he looks different than Peter. He swings different. He runs and jumps like Spider-Man but it’s not exactly like Peter, no, Miles is his own hero (a theme that will be ever present as the subsequent movie expands). Miles IS Spider-Man, but he is NOT Peter Parker.
I could go on and on about this movie, but I do want to wrap up eventually. I believe that Into the Spiderverse set a new bar to clear when it comes to superhero movies. Hell, every character even gets their own theme song. From the Prowler, to Miles, to Spider-Gwen, everyone has their own defining instrumental. I know that most movies do this, but never has it been so immediately iconic or recognizable for each character. The soundtrack was a hit commercially also, with numerous tracks that became top hits on the radio (to this day) that were written specifically for scenes in this movie. It’s no understatement that the movie was a crowning achievement on every level. I hope that when Beyond the Spiderverse eventually releases that it lives up to the hype that the first two installments have set, because so far this trilogy is shaping up to be a truly special site to behold.
Into the Spiderverse is a groundbreaking movie that will likely be heralded as a masterpiece for the foreseeable future. Let’s summarize a bit here about it’s strengths:
-Top notch graphic design, with genuinely unique character designs that are unique and memorable yet also familiar to the characters we already know
-Animation that is unbeatable, not limited to emotional display, movement, dynamic environments, interesting choreography, multiple homages to the graphic art form
-state of the art and now trademarked technology
-Impeccable writing, with clearly defined acts. All acts are well structured with not a wasted space. The pacing is spot on, just when you think the movie has peaked, it keeps getting better and better.
-Incredible orchestral music that showcases a plethora of memorable sounds and songs. Most of the characters get literal theme songs that are iconic.
-Some original songs written by actual rappers and musicians that ended up on the top of the charts and continue to be played to this day on the radio. Many of said songs correspond to actual story beats.
-Fascinating character work where each and every character goes on a journey (especially Miles, Gwen, Peter B Parker, Uncle Aaron, Mile’s parents) that is immensely relatable.
-Comic accuracy is at an all time high in this movie, no character is miss represented.
-The story lends itself to repeat viewings, each subsequent rewatch unlocks deeper understanding of the details
-the film is genuinely funny and emotional
-an immeasurable amount of blink and you miss it cameos, easter eggs, and teases to not only comic book Spider-man but also video games, movies, cartoons, and much much more
Spider-man Into the Spider-verse is a love letter to Marvel and its fans. It’s a love letter to Spider-man, and those who enjoy him as a character. It’s a love letter to superheroes and the nuances that make them super. It’s frankly the best superhero movie ever made and it makes me damn proud to be a fan. Into the Spider-verse is the One Above All.