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YMMV / Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

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    A-F 
  • Adorkable:
    • Miles is a nice, but clumsy teenage boy who is unsure of himself, loves listening to Swae Lee and Post Malone, makes a "time is relative" joke at one point and sucks at flirting.
    • Gwen. Particularly when introducing herself to Miles as "Gweeeeeaaaaanda", and then explaining that it's a South African name, and that she doesn't have an accent because she was raised in the States.
    • Olivia as part of her Bait the Dog introduction. She geeks out about science and the possibility of accessing other dimensions, has very little sense of personal space when examining her subjects, rides a bike to work and uses an exercise ball instead of a chair in her office. Her computer desktop has folders like "Tree Pictures", "Fish Pictures", "Cute Animals", "2016 cow pics", and "pool party".
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • How much of a jerk is Peter B. actually? Did his jerkassery begin after his Aunt May died and he divorced Mary Jane? Was he just as "perfect" as the Peter from the Miles Morales universe before falling on hard times? Or was he always this disillusioned from the get-go and his loved ones tolerated it because they knew that underneath it all he's a genuinely good and heroic man?
    • Is The Prowler/Uncle Aaron a straight-up villain (with an Adaptational Nice Guy streak) in this continuity just like he was in Ultimate Spider-Man, or, was he at least partially Forced into Evil by the Kingpin like Ray Nadeem's FBI colleagues in Daredevil (2015) were? He's clearly ruthless and Would Hurt a Child, but it isn't known if he's always been like that when on the clock or if unfortunate circumstances have gotten him stuck under Kingpin's thumb with no way out. Which brings up the minor question of whether or not his brief mention of working construction on the collider is just a cover story or a clue as to how he came under Kingpin's employ. This could apply to the other villains as well, since they're less sympathetic but are just as bound to Kingpin's orders.
    • Also, look at the way Prowler reacts when he finds out the "New Spider-Man" has entered his home, and think about it from his perspective. The person's he's been chasing has tracked him down and found out where he lives. Look at how wide Aaron's eyes get when he realizes his home has been invaded, and how (arguably) he chases after Miles with even more intensity than before. It was all business before, but now? This kid's made it personal. How scared would you be if you suddenly found out that even your own home isn't safe anymore? Maybe Aaron, in this moment, is just as scared as Miles is...
    • Blond Peter. Genuinely getting tired with his superhero career before his death? Or are the instances where his "perfect" persona cracks just simple instances of him being as human as everyone else? Continued from above, was he destined to go on the same downfall like Peter B. once his aunt May died? And his excitement over realizing that Miles also had spider powers. Joy that he is finally not alone? Or joy that he has finally found a replacement to train so he can retire?
    • Fisk's expression after Miles defeats him and webs him up so the police can arrest him. Annoyance at having been beaten or a sudden hit of remorse upon realizing what could have been the consequences of his plan?
    • Some think that Aunt May and Doc Ock had more than just a friendly relationship in reference to how May calls Doc Ock "Liv" and how the mainline version of the two actually dated in the comics.
    • Olivia seemingly doesn't set off Peter B. Parker's Spider-Sense in the lab scene. Is she that good at hiding hostile intentions, or is she so volatile that she genuinely didn't feel like attacking Peter until the moment that she did?
  • Anti-Climax Boss: Done hilariously with Doc Ock. Gwen, Peter, and Miles all prep for an intense three-on-one fight, and then Doc Ock is immediately smashed aside by a bus that hits her out of nowhere, whereupon the other three just sort of awkwardly agree to move on. It helps that there was a "proper" fight between the three and the villain just beforehand, so it feels more like a coup de grâce than a complete anticlimax. Besides, Miles has a rather epic fight against The Kingpin shortly after, who is unquestionably the main Big Bad and definite Final Boss of the movie.
  • Anvilicious: The film straight up ends with Miles telling the viewer that "anyone can wear the mask." While the film also relates this to its own coming-of-age narrative about how self-improvement need not come at the expense of one's individuality, it's this theme that is played up the most.
  • Award Snub:
    • Despite being considered to be one of the most influential animated films of all time, it wasn't even nominated for Best Picture. It did at least leave with the Oscar for Best Animated Feature amidst heavy competition, namely the mega-blockbuster Incredibles 2 and Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs.
    • The film was not nominated for the Satellite Award for Best Animated Feature, being the only major film critic association not to nominate it for the award.
  • Awesome Art: The distinctive art style has been the main selling point, using cel-shading and stylized elements (such as pop-up comic captions and halftone textures) to make it feel like a comic book come to life. The low frame rate (an intentional decision for the movie's distinct visual style) has also gained lots of love, although it has some detractors as well, and even then it's arguable that the filmmakers have put significantly more thought and care into making the animation work well with the framerate, as opposed to, for example, the stilted animation a lot of "3D anime" are typically guilty of having.
  • Can't Un-Hear It:
  • Character Rerailment: Peter B. Parker, despite being quite older than usual, lapses back into the characterization Peter had in his very earliest stories, where he was moody, impulsive, unlikable, and very much the Classical Anti-Hero before Character Development set in, which in this movie happens far later in life than his teenage years, being portrayed as a mid-life crisis he is going through.note 
  • Common Knowledge: While it popularized the Painted CGI style, this film didn't originate it, as is often claimed (Paperman is a notable earlier example). It definitely wasn't the first All-CGI Cartoon to be non-photorealistic, either — most CGI cartoons are stylized at least a little.
  • Creepy Awesome: The Prowler. He's an utterly merciless predator who hunts down his prey without saying a word, and he just looks so awesome doing it. He's like a crossbreed between Darth Vader and Batman, and the fans love it.
  • Crosses the Line Twice:
    • Peter B. Parker crying in the shower over the slew of tragedies and bad decisions that have left him broke and alone is not funny. Peter crying in the shower in full Spider-Man costume, right after his narration declares that he "handled it like a champ!" is quite funny.
    • Doc Ock's defeat. Peter, Gwen, and Miles all prep their Ass Kicking Pose for a huge fight, Doc Ock leaps at them and is immediately smashed by a flying bus out of nowhere. It's the way everyone just kind of takes it in stride that really sells the moment.
    • When sharing their names, Gwen (who is white) gives hers as "Gweeeeanda" and tries covering for the obvious lie by telling Miles (who is black) that she's from Africa. Cringe-inducingly funny all on its own, but the way she realizes how uncomfortable that sounds and quickly adds that she's from South Africanote  and that she doesn't have an accent because she was raised in the States takes it from "amusingly awkward" to "hilariously awkward."
    • One joke that didn't make it to the final movie came during the dorm room scene (mainly because the directors didn't want to ruin the emotional moment), where all the Spider-people comfort a grieving Miles by sharing with him all of the people they've each individually lost. Then it's Spider-Ham's turn, and he tells Miles about the death of his Uncle Frankfurter...
      Spider-Ham: He was electrocuted... and it smelled so good.
    • Spider-Noir's comment that Miles' uncle is a supervillain who's been trying to kill him is a "pretty hardcore origin story," sounding genuinely impressed as he says it, is so Innocently Insensitive that it circles back around into being funny. Peni hitting him on the arm as soon as he says this is just the cherry on top.
  • Crossover Ship:
    • Expect Peni to be paired with Hiro Hamada a lot.
      • Peni/Mai also pops up sometimes, but isn't nearly as popular.
    • A lot of people out there ship this movie's version of Gwen with The Unbelievable Gwenpool, since they're both from highly meta stories and have clashing personalities.
    • Shipping Peter Parker with Deadpool has been popular long before Into the Spider-Verse was released, but shippers are starting to prefer using Peter B. Parker, specifically, due to the fact that he's explicitly an adult rather than a teenager who is sometimes portrayed as an adult.
    • Spider-Ham/Rocket Raccoon was a minor Crack Ship for comic fans, since both are obscure Animal Superheroes, with personalities that seemed like they would go well together. Thanks to both making their debut on the big screen, it gained a bit of a resurgence.
      • Shippers are generally having a field day pairing Spider-Ham with any Funny Animal character that comes to mind. Isabelle and Retsuko are especially common.
  • Cry for the Devil:
    • The Prowler is a No-Nonsense Nemesis who chases down Miles on Kingpin's orders, but then he realizes that he was hunting down his own nephew and didn't realize because he didn't see the kid's face on that fateful night. As Miles begs for his life, Uncle Aaron refuses to fire, gets shot in the back for it, and dies in an alley apologizing to Miles and asking for forgiveness.
    • Wilson Fisk may be a brutal crime lord, and him killing Blond Peter isn't less monstrous, but the circumstances around his family's death are very tragic. A flashback shows his wife and son found out about his villainous alter ego when they caught him trying to kill Spider-Man. They ran from him, only to die in a car crash minutes later. Now Fisk is willing to endanger the multiverse to be reunited with a still-living version of his family, but when he finally does encounter a version of them during the climax, it's when he's trying to kill Miles, causing them to run from him again and Fisk is left begging for them to come back even after they've vanished.
  • Diagnosed by the Audience: Miles could be suffering anxiety. He hyperventilates, has distorted perceptions of his surroundings, demonstrates impulse control problems regarding his powers and he needs to sing to calm his nerves.
  • Director Displacement: No, Phil Lord & Chris Miller were not actually the directors of this movie, Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman were. Lord co-wrote the screenplay with Rothman and Chris Miller only served as a producer alongside Lord.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • The Prowler and Doc Ock seem to have gotten quite a lot of fan love. The former for being an intimidating and cool antagonist with actual redeeming qualities and a surprisingly tragic death, while the latter is seen as a fantastic take on a classic Spidey villain, combining an attractive design with equal parts wit and menace.
    • Spider-Man Noir is very popular for being an homage to detective movies and having a Batman like synopsis and storyline.
    • Peni Parker is this for anime fans. You'll find a ton of art depicting her, and Wikia noted search results and page hits for her exploded thanks to the trailer.
    • Spider-Ham gained a huge recognition for not only being an homage to various characters from the Golden Age of Animation and being voiced by John Mulaney but also surprisingly delivering one of the deepest, profound yet heartbreaking lines in the film, therefore establishing him as a three-dimensional character as opposed to just a comic relief character.
    • This film's incarnation of Aunt May is one of her most popular portrayals, as she gets to take an active role in helping the Spider-Gang because she knew about her nephew's secret identity and was able to maintain his base of operations. She also gets points for holding her own in fending off villains and for her implied relationship with Doc Ock.
  • Estrogen Brigade: Peter B. Parker is surprisingly popular with the ladies in fandom, despite the Running Gag of his being out of shape and inadequate when compared to the younger, most successful version of Peter in universe. Many have called him "hot dad bod Peter."
  • Evil Is Cool:
    • The Prowler for his badass fighting skills, intimidating presence, cool design, and silent, no-nonsense approach to fighting rather than quipping. His appearances are usually accompanied by a blare of techno music that sounds like an animalistic screech, which manages to be both cool and scary at once. Heck, the dude even has his own motorcycle! His relationship with his nephew, Miles, his refusal to hurt Miles upon discovering he's Spider-Man, not to mention his genuinely tragic death scene, effectively making him Miles's Uncle Ben, only boosted Prowler's popularity, especially in comparison to his original Ultimate counterpart, an unrepentant criminal who tries to use Miles's spider-powers for himself and then attacks him when Miles refuses to play along.
    • Doc Ock is as witty, menacing, and brilliant as ever, combining an ingenious mind with lethal fighting skills, and is quite a bit hotter than most people were expecting from the character.
    • Kingpin may be a brutal crime lord, but his motivations are surprisingly sympathetic, and like all the most well-received versions of the character, he's more than willing to do his own dirty work, and holds his own surprisingly well against all the Spider-People without having any superpowers.
  • Fandom-Enraging Misconception: Saying that Spider-Ham is inspired by the Spider-Pig joke in 2007's The Simpsons Movie is bound to get you several angry glares from comic-book fans, as the character was created in 1983.
  • Fanfic Fuel:
    • With the endless possibilities of a multiverse revolving around the idea of Spider-Man, fans have latched on to inventing their own Spider-Man in the same vein as Fursonas or Gemsonas, giving birth to the Spidersona. The movie itself seems to encourage this with its message of "Anyone can be Spider-Man."
    • The fact that this movie confirmed an entire multiverse has led to fans scrambling to figure out ways to get their favorite incarnations of Spider-Man to team up within the context of the film. There's also a sect of this that's dedicated to head-canons and fanfics of Tom Hardy's Venom meeting the Spider-People and becoming Peter B.'s rival as the team's resident "Hobo Dad," mostly thanks to The Stinger of his film referring to this movie as taking place in "another universe."
    • Fans are also having fun coming up with how different Miles's universe is from Peter B.'s/our universe apart from some cosmetic changes.
  • Fan Nickname: Fans have designated the two Peters as Blond Peter and Peter B. (mostly because the latter's nametag has Peter B. Parker listed and no Peter in any version has ever called himself that way).
  • Fanon: The popular theory that the movie's version of Aunt May is bisexual, and was previously romantically involved with Dr. Olivia Octavius. Olivia makes a point of explaining early in the movie that her friends call her "Liv" (while her enemies call her Doc Ock). Later in the movie, after she busts into May's house, May exasperatedly says, "Oh great, it's Liv!", which some have taken to indicate that they have a prior relationship. It helps that Aunt May and the male Doc Ock nearly got married at one point in the comics, possibly making the line a Mythology Gag. Not to mention that she's voiced by the openly gay Lily Tomlin.
  • Friendly Fandoms:
    • Spider-Verse fans get along well with Black Panther (2018) fans, as both of them feature significant racial minority casts and explore themes of responsibility and fatherhood. Especially when the two of them collectively became the Marvel movies for their respective studios to win Oscars at that year's Academy Awards.
    • Likewise, fans of Aquaman have been supportive of this film largely for its positive representation of minorities and being a competitor with the MCU. Fans of the greater DCEU also appreciate that Into the Spiderverse displays that all of the "sins" the DCEU has committed with a finesse which demonstrates that superhero films don't have to follow a strict formulanote .
    • Partly due to an extension of the comics, there is a lot of this with the My Hero Academia fandom as well. Quite a bit fan-art jump at the idea of comparing Miles to Deku due to their similar personalities and admiration for Spider-Man and All Might respectively.
    • Fans of Spider-Verse are supportive of Spider-Man: No Way Home since the latter is a live-action version of the Spider-Verse

    G-N 
  • Genius Bonus: Doc Ock's tentacles aren't the traditional mechanical version; they're based on the emerging field of soft robotics, which attempt to imitate animals like octopodes.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: While Peni receives plenty of love with the many members of the Western fandom, her popularity in Japan exploded to the point that she gets more fan-art than the other five combined. Rather unsurprising considering her Animesque design.
  • Growing the Beard: Widely seen as Sony Pictures Animation's attempt at this, seeing as the majority of their previous productions save for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs garner critical and audience reception that ranges from decent to terrible, with the previous year's The Emoji Movie putting the studio in a very poor light. Ultimately, said attempt was a roaring success, with the end product receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and fans alike, and is widely seen as the best movie Sony Animation has ever made (and one of the best Spider-Man films period, even going on to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature).* SPA's subsequent releases, including The Angry Birds Movie 2, Vivo and especially The Mitchells vs. the Machines, have also garnered wide critical and audience acclaim, proving Spider-Verse wasn't a one-off and rehabilitating the studio's reputation.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • Stan Lee's first line, "I'm... going to miss him (Spider-Man)."; he passed away a month before the film was released, which makes this his first-ever posthumous speaking cameo.
    • The main villain's desire to find alternate versions of their lost family in The Multiverse, only for said family members to reject them out of fear and render their actions All for Nothing, is explored again in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, Scarlet Witch goes even further there by explicitly wanting to travel the multiverse in order to Kill and Replace one of her counterparts. While unlike Kingpin, she ultimately has a Heel Realization, it's only after leaving a MUCH bloodier trail of death and destruction in her wake, making her seemingly Driven to Suicide.
    • The brief scene where Miles throws a bagel at an Alchemax scientist as he and Peter B. escape from the facilities becomes this as of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, as said scientist would later go on to become the Spot following an explosion caused by the destruction of the super-collider at the end of Into the Spider-Verse, after which he uses his powers to travel to other dimensions and absorb the powers from the colliders at their respective incarnations of Alchemax in order to become more powerful while also vowing revenge on Miles for his role in indirectly causing him to become the Spot in the first place.
    • Spider-Ham's line about not being able to save everyone is one that ends up driving the sequel, where Miles' intent of defying this ends up having Miguel and many other Spiders out for him, in addition to him accidentally stranding himself in another dimension to do so. His quote is even replayed as Miles runs.
    • The ending scene of the movie where Gwen visits Miles becomes a bit sad as of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Gwen visiting Miles’ dimension mostly to track the Spot, occurring after Miles’ parents grounded him.
    • Miguel being goofy while contacting Earth-67 Spider-Man becomes much harsher after the sequel, which showed that after seizing the life of an alternate Miguel O'Hara, that entire universe ended around him, after which Miguel formed Spider-Society consisting of his recruits (Earth-67 Spidey alongside them), who all become major antagonists after Miles decided to defy fate by saving his father.
  • Heartwarming in Hindsight:
    • Seeing Miles Morales's bonding moments with his father Jefferson Davis is this in light of what happened in the video game Spider-Man (PS4), where Jefferson is killed in a terrorist attack, leaving Miles heartbroken for a large chunk of the game. This time, Miles gets to become Spider-Man without having to go through his father's death first.
    • The announcement of a direct sequel to Spider-Man (PS4) titled Spider-Man: Miles Morales casts Peter A. Parker trusting Miles enough to give him the Goober in the film in this light.
      Peter: "'A hero is just someone who doesn't give up.' Your dad said that. He was right. Now it's your turn. Go be a hero, Miles."
      Miles: "Okay, let's do this!"
  • He Really Can Act: Spider-Ham sadly telling Miles that no hero can save everyone shows real dramatic acting skills from John Mulaney, when the viewer would likely come in only knowing him as an over-the-top, loud comedian. And Big Mouth.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Hype Backlash: The widespread praise that Spider-Verse has received seems to have caused a minority of viewers who have seen the film after its initial premiere to deem it overrated. Criticism tends to focus on plot points perceived as being rushed and characters wasted.
  • I Knew It!:
    • A lot of fans who noticed the Alchemax Freeze-Frame Bonus were able to accurately predict that Spider-Man 2099 would have a cameo in the film.
    • The director confirmed that Miles breaks the skyscraper's window when he takes his "Leap of Faith" because he's scared and still sticking.
  • Iron Woobie:
    • Mary Jane. Her husband was killed and his murderer is capitalizing on it. While she manages to keep it together in the few scenes she's in, you just know she's crying her eyes out behind closed doors.
    • Gwen. Consider that her best friend, her universe's Peter Parker, died implicitly at her hands and she ended up in a universe where she had to experience the loss all over again. Then not long after, she had to deal with two more versions of Peter who are alive but also on the verge of death due to the universal incompatibility. Then one of those versions declares he's gonna sacrifice himself. She fully admits to avoiding getting attached to anyone to prevent feeling loss again, but it's telling when she refuses to name Peter whenever she brings up her best friend.
    • Aunt May. Her son-in-all-but-name has just died, and she is suddenly confronted with several alternate versions of him that she needs to help. Then she gets to see Peter B. an almost identical (if slightly older) version of her nephew and nearly breaks down in disbelief before making fun of how out of shape he is. Despite all of this she pulls herself together, helps the Spider-Men, beats up Tombstone with a baseball bat, and is ready and waiting for Miles when he needs her help.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Peter B. Parker, the old Spider-Man, obviously brought most of his sufferings on himself rather than the typical Parker luck of the comics, but to see an optimistic hero being unable to overcome his personal flaws as well as destroy himself out of guilt and depression makes many people sorry for him. The fact that Miles and Gwen both express irritation at him at various points, ending up at best as their sidekick rather than mentor, and Blond Peter's Aunt May expressing sadness at how badly he's taken care of himself hammers home how far he's strayed from the man he was and should have been.
  • Just Here for Godzilla:
    • A lot of people watched this movie because John Mulaney plays Spider-Ham.
    • Spider-Man Noir gets this to a lesser degree for being voiced by Nicolas Cage.
    • Anime fans and those loving Japanese culture were drawn in by Peni Parker, especially once fan-art of her took the internet by storm.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Aaron Davis is Miles Morales' cool, charismatic uncle who masquerades as the mercenary Prowler. Working as one of The Kingpin's top agents, Prowler prides himself on the fact that he "doesn't quit" when it comes to his mission, and is able to fight Spider-Man himself in combat. Through use of his power suit and motorbike, Prowler pursues a target through the streets of New York, even picking up on said target's invisibility power through minor sounds, before letting him get away just so Prowler can track him to his base of operations. When he discovers his target was Miles the whole time, Prowler helps him evade identification by the Kingpin at the cost of his own life, using his final moments to build Miles up and apologize for not being enough of a role model to the boy, despite the fact that he has always encouraged Miles's hobbies and given him advice for everyday life.
  • Memetic Mutation: See here.
  • Money-Making Shot: The scene of Miles becoming Spider-Man, where he takes his "leap of faith" and then web-slings and runs through New York City.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • Kingpin killing Spider-Man was bad enough, but when he kills Aaron Davis — in front of his own nephew, no less — is when he really crosses it.
    • Liv is Faux Affably Evil, who manages to come across as charismatic and funny. She makes her introduction by telling Peter B. she can't wait to see him disintegrate, and proceeds to beat him to a pulp. Then she tells Kingpin that he can have as many families as he wants once the Super-Collider is repaired, even though she knows they won't survive in this universe.
  • My Real Daddy: Mile Morales first debuted in the Ultimate Spider-Man run during the Ultimate Fallout storyline, created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli. However, Phil Lord & Chris Miller are widely credited as being the ones who truly brought his character to life, thanks to their film making his character, motivations, relationships, and flaws distinct from Peter Parker, and many works since this movie that feature Miles take influence from this version of the character.
  • Narm Charm:
    • Kingpin's physique is based on Bill Sienkiewicz's design from "Love and War" and is even more exaggerated than usual, being a thumb-like head on a massive square body. However, he's such a ruthless villain that being a Tiny-Headed Behemoth only makes him more imposing.
    • During the emotional climax of the film where the Spider-Gang talk to Miles about the death of his uncle and how they can relate, the usually loony Spider-Ham delivers a powerful line about the sacrifices needed to be a Spider-Man. And it somehow works thanks to Mulaney's powerful delivery of the line and the circumstances surrounding it.

    O-W 
  • Older Than They Think:
    • Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are many people legitimately surprised that the Peter Parker here is a middle aged adult when he's usually a teenager/young adult in Western Animation, especially considering his last three major cartoon incarnations. This is actually something taken from the early comics, where Peter was only a teenager for a few years, graduating high school in 1965. Most animated projects simply put more focus on him as a teenager, and if they don't, he's usually portrayed as a college student as is the case with his pre-MCU film incarnations.
    • A lot of people assume that Spider-Ham was inspired by Spider-Pig from The Simpsons Movie. Spider-Ham has been a staple of Marvel Comics since at least The '80s and has been a popular and much used Joke Character for a long time.
    • Peter B. divorcing Mary Jane upset some shippers of the couple, with some seeing it as Marvel keeping the couple apart. Peter and MJ did have rocky periods in their marriage, and one extended period of separation after she was kidnapped and had her death faked by a stalker, during which both of them contemplated divorce until finally committing to each other again during The Amazing Spider-Man (J. Michael Straczynski). Even ignoring that, Peter B. is modeled in part on the Spider-Man from the Raimi movies, where their relationship was also rocky, particularly in the third movie and plans for the unmade fourth film included Peter outright leaving MJ and his child for another woman, which Raimi rejected and walked away from mostly because he struggled to make something like that a case of Both Sides Have a Point.
    • There's a crowd that find Gwen's punk girl appearance to be surprising and off-putting. However, considering her musical background, her wardrobe, and her penchant for colorful dialogue, 'Spider-Gwen' being a punk is kind-of part of her characternote . Into the Spider-Verse simply gave her an asymmetrical haircut with an undercut (though said undercut was necessary due to Miles's Power Incontinence), and before that, her hairstyle was actually less punk-looking than it normally is in the comics.
    • The concept of a multiverse and multiple realities collapsing and different versions of familiar characters from different settings and periods mashing up against one another does have some precedent in superhero animation and interactive media. The final season of Spider-Man: The Animated Series showed this, as did Spider-Man Unlimited, and the video games Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and Spider-Man: Edge of Time. Likewise, a non-Marvel take includes the two-part Justice League episode "The Once and Future Thing" which saw a supervillain's constant time traveling from past and present and tinkering with it leading to reality collapsing (in a nod to DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths) and which in addition to that featured sudden and brutal character deaths of beloved icons including Terry McGinnis, from Batman Beyond, Wonder Woman and Static and a plot to stop the villain's tinkering before reality collapses for good. The main difference being stopping Chronos brought back those killed, Diana, Virgil, and Terry included, whereas Miles's Peter is still dead.
    • The Kingpin killing Spider-Man. It happened in one of the bad endings of the 1993 Sega game, Spider-Man vs. the Kingpin. The film's ending isn't as bad as that: here Peter dies saving an innocent; in the game, the worst ending has him and his wife, Mary Jane, being dipped into acid together, as the Kingpin gloats.
    • Into the Spider-Verse wasn't the first time the Kingpin was portrayed as a wrecking machine with superhuman stats that could manhandle Spider-Man and was the main Big Bad who controlled much of Spidey's traditional rogues gallery. It was Spider-Man: The Animated Series that first established the Kingpin as an Adaptational Badass who seemed to be much stronger than Spider-Man and had much bigger precedence as a villain over some of his traditional archenemies, including Venom and Doctor Octopus.
  • One-Scene Wonder:
    • The Green Goblin only appears briefly, doesn't have much dialogue, and dies in his battle with Spider-Man, but he's still hugely memorable for what a radical and terrifying departure from the norm this version of the character is.
    • The Peter Parker of Miles' universe likewise gets only precious screentime before being killed by Kingpin, but it's clear that he's everything one could hope for in a Spider-Man.
    • The dearly departed, deeply beloved Stan Lee gets one last cameo, and it's quite possibly one of his most poignant ever, even without the matter of his recent passing.
  • Portmanteau Couple Name:
  • Rainbow Lens: While many have read the basic storyline of Spider-Man as queer, with hiding a part of your identity from those around you, this film takes it up to eleven, with Miles initially trying to ignore his new abilities being eerily similar to the denial and internalized hate many queer people feel, the spider-people sensing others like them as an allusion to 'gaydar,' and Miles asking his father if he really hates Spider-Man, just like queer people often ask their families how they really feel about LGBTQ+ people and issues before coming out. The sequel would notably expand on these themes, with Gwen Stacy having heavy transgender coding; her revealing to her father that she's Spider-Woman is played much like a trans teen coming out to a parent.
  • Out of the Ghetto: The movie has received huge critical praise and widespread fan acclaim due to both its unique art direction and deeper, more involved storytelling.
  • Retroactive Recognition: In the Porteguese dub, Spider-Gwen was voiced by Daniela Melchior, who would later go on to play Cleo Cazo/Ratcatcher 2 in The Suicide Squad and start a career in the U.S.
  • Sacred Cow: This film, more than any other, is the one that comes up when talking about the best Spider-Man adaptation. Note that while there's a long-established Fandom Rivalry between fans of all three live-action franchises, this is the one with the least controversy and most overlap between fans of each one.
  • Signature Scene: The Leap of Faith scene, known for its stunning visuals, fantastic music in the form of "What's Up, Danger", great choreography, and the cathartic moment of Miles finally becoming Spider-Man. The entire movie was literally built around this scene, with the animators being shown a rough version of it to get an idea of what the directors wanted, almost all of which made it into the final version intact. It also helps that this scene was the focus of the teaser trailer.
  • Suspiciously Similar Song:
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
    • Some fans reacted this way when it was announced that Donald Glover wasn't voicing Miles in his feature film debut, despite being the inspiration for the character and having previously voiced him on Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) (and playing his uncle in the MCU).
    • SP//dr's redesign from essentially a Spider-Man version of EVA-01 to a more ball-like mecha got some flak from fans of the original design. Peni's redesign also got some minor reservations due to some fans finding her original appearance to be far more interesting than the rather typical Kawaiiko Genki Girl she is here. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse would address this by giving both Peni and SP/dr more comic-accurate designs.
    • The Green Goblin's Adaptational Dumbass treatment and demotion to a mere lackey of the Kingpin, sits ill with a number of fans.
    • While some fans preferred the movie using traditional Spidey villains rather than the more divisive Inheritors of the Spider-Verse comic, some Spider-Man fans expressed dismay at Wilson Fisk being the Big Bad, with many noting that a nominally human mob boss with no special powers (and who even Stan Lee noted was far more suited to Daredevil than Spider-Man) lacks the proper gravitas and stature to be the one who gets to kill Spider-Man. The fact that the likes of Osborn and Ock are made his lackeys likewise upsets traditional Spider-Man fans when both of them have always been bigger threats than the Kingpin in the comics and most cartoons. Having to ride on the heels of Vincent D'Onofrio's acclaimed live-action portrayal of the character didn't help either.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
    • Aaron Davis, a.k.a. the Prowler, the Kingpin's top henchman who came close to killing Miles a number of times throughout the film. He gets a lot of build up; then, is unceremoniously killed off by the Kingpin for refusing to kill Miles after discovering his identity and Doc Ock replaces him as the film's secondary antagonist. With his relationship to Miles, and mysterious origins/motivations for becoming a super villain, he could have easily lived and continued being one of the film's main antagonists. This also likely originally was the case as in one of the trailers, a suited-up Miles can be seen pursuing the Prowler through the streets.
    • The Green Goblin/Norman Osborn is one of Spider-Man's top-tier antagonists and a very personal foe to Peter, but the film reduces him to a Dumb Muscle and offers no insight into the relationship between the two. He's also the first antagonist to die, far before the big group fights later in the film.
    • The role of Tombstone is essentially pointless, doing nothing that couldn't have been fulfilled by a random henchman. It's especially disappointing to people hoping for something closer to his Adaptational Badass portrayal in The Spectacular Spider-Man (where, ironically enough, he was a stand in for Kingpin) or his scene-stealing Ensemble Dark Horse turn in Spider-Man (PS4) which came out just a few months before this film.
    • Peni Parker, Spider-Noir, and Spider-Ham all don't actually appear until the last act of the movie, leading to a case of Wolverine Publicity from these three. Their origin stories are even hilariously crammed together to save time.
      • Spider-Ham deserves a second mention, as the potential of a Toon in a "realistic" story is severely underplayed. As it is, Porker is barely utilized at all, aside from a few brief gags and one fight against Scorpion.
      • Noir got it even worse. Whereas Peni got some pretty kickass action scenes, and Porker served as the designated Plucky Comic Relief and getting a pretty good shot in during the final battle, Noir doesn't really do anything of note to set him apart from the rest of the cast.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Jefferson, Miles' father and a police officer, says he hates Spider-Man's methods and initially blames him for the death of Aaron, which might have been a source of conflict and a burden for Miles to bear. But Jefferson later recognizes he was wrong and comes to "agree to disagree" terms with Miles' Spider-Man before anything comes of this. The sequel would touch on a similar story with Gwen and her father.
  • Too Cool to Live: The film totally subverts the typical Peter Parker formula with Blond Peter, making him The Ace, The Paragon and Ideal Hero of his universe. He's rich, beloved by the city, praised by the Daily Bugle, has an Elaborate Underground Base and even has blond hair and blue eyes. Of course, he is killed early in the film, because a character so endowed with all these great qualities leaves little room for expansive storytelling. This forces Miles to step up to the plate and take on the mantle of Spider-Man.
  • Unexpected Character:
    • Peni Parker definitely wasn't on anyone's radar. While she debuted the same year as Spider-Gwen, in Edge of Spider-Verse #5, she failed to garner anywhere near the same amount of love. Peni's total number of appearances barely cracked the double digits by the time of the movie's release, and you could count the appearances in which she speaks even a single sentence on one hand. Her being a main character in the movie was a major surprise, and helped raise a lot of interest in her character.
    • While several fans presumed that Miguel O'Hara would at least have a cameo in the movie, even if he wasn't part of the central cast, nobody was counting on him running into the 1967 animated version of Peter Parker.
    • In terms of cameos, nobody expected that a reference to Clone High (in the form of a film poster in Miles' universe) would show up, even those who were familiar with the earlier works of producers Phil Lord & Chris Miller.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic: While Aaron Davis is a Cool Uncle to Miles, in some ways he's arguably worse than his comic counterpart. In the comics, the Prowler was a thief, but here, he's a hitman for the Kingpin. He tried to murder Spider-Man on multiple occasions and would have if not for Kingpin doing it himself. Hell, he was ready to murder Miles until he unmasked himself. For that reason, Miles and Jefferson making a poster dedicated to him feels a bit out of place for some.
  • Win Back the Crowd:
  • The Woobie: Poor, poor Miles. His life is already "bad" enough when his family makes him transfer to an elite school where no-one likes him except his roommate, and he makes a fool of himself in front of the girl he likes. Then he witnesses his hero and his mentor-to-be die (in an ordeal where he almost died too), is doubted by the other alternate web-slingers, suffers issues with his family, and then finds out that the person he trusted the most and was practically his best friend, his uncle Aaron, is a supervillain, who then dies in front of him a day later after sparing him.
  • Woolseyism:
    • The Chinese release has its work cut out renaming all the Spiders, but Spider-Ham gets a different Punny Name — since Spider-Man is typically translated into "zhi zhu ren" (spider man), Spider-Ham is now called "zhu zhu ren" (pig pig man), written completely different but pronounced just one vowel off.
    • In the Latin American Spanish dub, most of the characters, excluding The Stoic ones like Kingpin, Spider-Man Noir, etc, speak with ludicrous amounts of Spanglish, possibly due to the film being set in New York City, which does have many residents fluent in both English and Spanish (and makes additional sense considering the Afro-Latino Miles and his family). This also causes a somewhat Inconsistent Dub problem however, as Miles speaks with a Mexican accent while his parents speak with Puerto Rican accents.

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