Alternative Character Interpretation in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
- Is Miguel an Unreliable Expositor or is he simply mistaken about not being able to stop Canon Events? He seems genuinely convinced he's doing the right thing by trying to capture Miles, but at the same time, his die-hard conviction that preventing any Canon Event will doom the universe it's prevented in is repeatedly flat-out proven to be wrong, which leaves the question of whether he's lying or just trying desperately to cope with the horrors he's faced up in the air.
- Did Miguel's actions result in the destruction of his temporary home universe, or were there external forces beyond his control that led to its demise? It is noteworthy that the destruction of Pavitr's world bears resemblance to Spot's abilities, with his power seemingly transpiring beyond time and space. It's also worth noting that this film is explicitly set in the MCU multiverse and that destroying realities that break the status quo is the whole MO for the TVA. Or, alternately, Miguel being in the wrong universe could break the same cosmic rules as Wanda Maximoff’s Dreamwalking — and could thereby have triggered an Incursion, causing the destruction.
- Universes are huge, with billions of humans just on Earth, to say nothing of possible other planets. With Miguel's logic, either Spider-Man would be a walking Reality Warper upon whose choices the existence of a timeline would hinge, or literally anyone making a choice other than the "predetermined" outcome could jeopardize the whole timeline and there's literally no way to monitor that many choices by that many people in that many universes. Does Miguel truly believe Spider-Man is the only variable holding universes together, or is he jealous that his other variants haven't gone through as much suffering as he has and is trying to make it so?
- While Gwen's departure from her home universe and reluctance to return is completely understandable after her father attempted to arrest her, her discovery of canon events does add an additional wrinkle to her motives, especially after she must have learned that a police captain closely related to that universe's Spider is destined to die as part of another canon event. While her relationship with George Stacy is no doubt on the rocks, she still loves and cares deeply about her father. As she said, George was the only person she had left in her native universe after Peter's death. Perhaps leaving her universe without a Spider-Man was in a way protecting him, as there cannot be any canon events for Spider-Man if there is no Spider-Man in that universe to perpetuate them.
- Since Hobie (albeit standoffishly) confirms he experienced a Canon event similar to the death of Captain Stacy, and comes from an Orwellian police state version of Britain, who did Hobie lose, and given his anti-authoritarian personality, how did it affect him?
- His boots have blue laces. Was his Canon Event him killing a cop? Did he kill his Captain Stacy? Or, worse, his father?
- Did Spider-Byte realize or know where Miles was going but did nothing in order to save him from Miguel’s wrath? Or did she legitimately not know what universe Miles is from and was debating whether or not to stop the machine?
- Are all the members of the Spider-Society as cold-hearted as Miguel, willing to prioritize the preservation of the universe over saving their loved ones? Or were they so depressed and saddened by their experiences that they believed whatever Miguel told them due to their low self-esteem? Josh Keaton, voice of The Spectacular Spider-Man, supports the latter theory that Miguel's presence has left his Spider-Man and presumably many others with a cripplingly low self-esteem and willingness to fall in line with whatever Miguel says due to seeing him, in part, as a Parental Substitute for their collective losses and needing a role model desperately to keep them sane.
- Was the Spider Society's incompetence in capturing Miles due to them underestimating him? Or is it because they were subconsciously holding back to avoid harming him? Or maybe some of them did question the "Canon Event" theory like Hobie and intentionally let Miles go in hope that he could prove it wrong? Notably, Cyborg Spider-Woman seems to disrupt the chase when she blows a hole in the covering of a pipe/vent leading away from the core, enabling Miles to escape. Spider-Man 1967 pulling something also seems to be conveniently timed. Additionally, Web-Slinger's horse, Widow, does not force Miles off of her once Miles knocks Web-Slinger away and briefly serves as his mount, allowing him to to gain distance from the others.
- Was Peter B. being unhelpful when Gwen got kicked out by the Spider Society? Or did he allow it to happen so that Gwen could be far away from their influence? The fact he felt relief that Miguel excluded him and Mayday from pursuing Miles leads credence to the latter theory.
- Following Gwen's banishment, how many Spider Society members still believe in Miguel or are merely hiding their disgust and contempt toward him?
- At the end of the film, Jess finds out that Gwen is assembling her own team of Spider-people to act in opposition to Miguel and assist Miles in defying his canon event but doesn't inform Miguel about it, instead allowing Gwen to leave and successfully form her team. Was this done because Jess is feeling guilty about doing nothing when Miguel chose to exile her student? Did she begin to have doubts about Miguel's philosophy on canon events deep down but since she cannot act against Miguel herself, she instead allows her former student a chance to challenge their philosophy? Or is there any ulterior motive behind her inaction?
- Pavitr Prabhakar/Indian Spider-Man explains his life and superhero career as basically being fun and easy. Does that really mean he's never suffered tragedy, as some fans assume? As far as "Canon Events" go, becoming Spider-Man after failing to stop someone from killing a loved one is one of the most crucial elements of the mythos. Pavitr most likely has lost an uncle or uncle figure like in the comics and instead of wanting to talk about it, prefers to tell Miles about only a sunny snapshot of his life.
- Did Gwen have romantic feelings for her dimension's Peter Parker? She refers to him as having been her friend, but their backstory shows that they spent quite a lot of time together, and on the day that Peter became the Lizard, he and Gwen were going to prom together. Gwen compares her relationship to Peter to be the same with Miles, meanwhile, her relationship with Hobie is "different", suggesting she really only feels friendship with Hobie while it went deeper with Peter and now Miles.
- Some people believe that Rio and Jefferson's frustrations with Miles isn't because he's hiding the fact that he's Spiderman from them, but because they know he's Spiderman, and Miles doesn't seem to trust them enough to tell them.
