After delaying the second half of what was supposed to be a two-part film, Sony confirmed at this year’s CinemaCon that the 2024 film will be separate from its predecessor and will instead release under the title, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. We can then presume that Sony is dropping the “Part One” from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which was delayed to 2023. Given the name change, we can assume that Sony’s ambition has grown beyond its initial plans. Who knows? Beyond the Spider-Verse might just be when we’ll see the Spider-Verse crossover into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. 2018’s Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a game-changer. Four years in and the film remains the highest-rated comic book movie adaptation by Rotten Tomatoes at 97%. This means that both Across the Spider-Verse and Beyond the Spider-Verse will have a lot to live up to, which, from the looks of it, isn’t entirely impossible. Despite the lofty expectations for the film’s second and third installment, Sony appears to be more than up to the task. At the same event, Sony dropped footage of the first 15 minutes of the 2023 film. The Wrap reports that the Into the Spider-Verse sequel will begin with Hailee Steinfield’s Spider-Gwen fighting against the Vulture of her universe. After the encounter, George Stacy tries to arrest Spider-Gwen and forces her to unmask. But, before that could happen, Oscar Isaac’s Spider-Man 2099 and Issa Rae’s Jessica Drew, also known as Spider-Woman, swing in to help her out. The scene then goes to Miles Morales’ universe, where he is reportedly applying to Columbia University to “work on a project that could allow for multiverse jumping,” with his father saying that it “sounds like a fake job.” Fandango’s Erik Davis also poured more gasoline into the raging hype fire. Davis revealed that the film’s producer, Chris Miller, said that Across the Spider-Verse will have “the largest crew of an animated movie ever. This film has 240 characters. The first film had 40. [It] Takes place on 6 universes.”
— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) April 26, 2022 Ultimately, we won’t be surprised if either one of Across the Spider-Verse or Beyond the Spider-Verse ends up swinging past Into the Spider-Verse among critics and audiences. Unfortunately, all of this hype only makes the wait all that more agonizing. A few years ago, Across the Spider-Verse was slated to come out this month only for Sony to delay the film twice. Now, fans won’t get a chance to watch Across the Spider-Verse in theaters until June 2, 2023. Meanwhile, Beyond the Spider-Verse won’t be out until March 29, 2024. The good news is that Sony isn’t about to leave Spider-Man fans hanging. Even if Venom 3 won’t come out for a few years, Sony has at least two more SSU solo outings next year to fill the void. Kraven the Hunter will arrive on January 13, 2023, which will be followed by Madame Web on July 7, 2023. With Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 coming in 2023 as well, fans of the webhead will be eating well for the next few years.
