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Western Animation / Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

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"We all have powers of one kind or another. But in our own way, we are all Spider-Man."note 

Miles Morales: When do I know I'm ready?
Peter Parker: You won't. It's a leap of faith. That's all it is, Miles: a leap of faith.

Alright, let's do this one last time.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a 2018 computer-animated superhero film directed by Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, and Rodney Rothman, and produced by Phil Lord & Chris Miller, with the screenplay written by Lord and Rothman. A co-production between Sony Pictures Animation and Marvel Entertainment, the film is the seventh consecutive entry in the Spider-Man film series, and the first animated entry in the franchise. The movie itself is a loose adaptation of the Spider-Men and Spider-Verse storylines, with elements from the former's sequel integrated into the story.

The movie introduces the audience to Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and the concept of the Spider-Verse. Recently bitten by a radioactive spider, Miles witnesses the murder of his universe's Spider-Man and takes on the responsibility of stopping the Kingpin, Wilson Fisk (Liev Schreiber), from using his Super-Collider to jeopardize the city and perhaps the Multiverse as a whole.

The Super-Collider inadvertently brings other Spider-People into Miles' universe. They include: Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), a middle-aged Spider-Man going through hard times; Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), a teenager who was bitten by a spider instead of her best friend Peter; Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), a hard-boiled detective version of Peter Parker from the 1930s; Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), a cheerful girl from the far future who fights inside SP//dr, a mecha-spider; and Peter Porker (John Mulaney), an anthropomorphic cartoon pig.

Together, the Spider-Gang aims to take down Kingpin, destroy the Super-Collider, and get back home. Along the way, Miles just may be able to prove his worth to carry on the mantle of being his universe's Spider-Man.

Into the Spider-Verse boasts a rather high-profile voice cast; in addition to those listed above, it also stars Brian Tyree Henry and Luna Lauren Velez as Miles' parents Jefferson and Rio Morales, Mahershala Ali as Miles' uncle Aaron Davis, Chris Pine as Miles' universe's original Spider-Man, Zoë Kravitz as Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Lily Tomlin as Aunt May, Kathryn Hahn as Dr. Olivia Octavius, Joaquín Cosío as the Scorpion, Jorma Taccone as the Green Goblin, and Marvin "Krondon" Jones III as Tombstone.

This is the first theatrically-released Spider-Man movie to be animated. A cartoon short "Spider-Ham: Caught in a Ham" was released with the DVD and Blu-ray version of the movie detailing Spider-Ham's adventures prior to being caught up in the Super-Collider. The Blu-Ray version has an "Alternate Universe Cut" feature that integrates several incomplete deleted scenes into the film to showcase What Could Have Been.

The film won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, being the first non-Disney/Pixar film to do so since Rango in 2011. Its success would eventually lead to the Spider-Man: Spider-Verse trilogy being developed, with a sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, released on June 2nd, 2023, and a third film, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, currently with no release date.

Previews: Teaser, Trailer 1, Trailer 2.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse provides examples of:

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    Tropes A to C 
  • Acid-Trip Dimension: When Kingpin's Super-Collider is active, everything becomes a weird void with Kirby Dots in the background and buildings and vehicles floating around.
  • Activation Sequence: When Peni Parker dons the SP//dr mecha-armor for the first time during the fight in Aunt May's house, she leaps 30 feet into the air, complete with a power-up multi-colored background, to land dynamically in the mecha's cockpit.
  • Actor Allusion: Spider-Gwen's introduction has her doing a swan dive off a building. Hailee Steinfeld, her voice actor, dived competitively in her youth.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Aaron Davis in the Ultimate universe was a manipulative low-life who used his nephew as a tool to get ahead because he had incriminating knowledge about Miles. Here Davis genuinely loves his nephew and wants to be better but can't escape his criminal life.
  • Adaptation Amalgamation: The film draws influence from Spider-Verse, Spider-Men, and Miles' debut run from Ultimate Spider-Man.
  • Adaptation Deviation: In the film, Miles creates his black and red suit in the climax by painting one of Peter's suits. In the comics, the suit is created by S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • Adaptation Distillation:
    • The first thirty minutes of the movie are based upon Ultimate Peter's death and Miles' introduction. In the comic, Miles felt guilty on hearing that Spider-Man died saving the world and he did nothing; in the film, he goes Deer in the Headlights and runs when Spider-Man tells him to, and he is Forced to Watch Kingpin kill Spider-Man.
    • From a design standpoint, the Green Goblin has the hulking and brutish physique of the Ultimate Marvel version, but wears an outfit similar to his 616 counterpart.
    • Peni Parker mixes both her namesake (an anime-inspired mech pilot), Penelope Parker (a cartoon/comic strip-inspired happy-go-lucky preteen), and the Japanese Spider-Men, especially Leopardon, being crucial to the Spider-Verse plot.
    • Spider-Gwen's retelling condenses her backstory and excises Mary Jane's role (and, as a consequence, doesn't show off the Mary Janes, simply stating Gwen was in a punk band). Likewise, it's implied Peter B. knew a Gwen Stacy, but likely one who didn't get her neck snapped.
    • Both the "regular" Peter and Peter B.'s backstories take beats from Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.
    • Spider-Ham as comedic relief replicates all the silly Spider-Men that showed up in the original Spider-Verse, ranging from a sentient buggy to a Spider-Cowboy and his Spider-Horse.
  • An Aesop:
    • Self-improvement doesn't have to come at the expense of identity. You can still be "you", and resolve to be a better person, at the same time.
    • You will always have doubts and fears, and waiting for them to go away entirely means never accomplishing anything. The only way to know when you are ready is to take a leap of faith.
  • Affectionate Parody: The movie pokes fun at the silliness of the Spider-Man franchise as well as the character flaws of Peter Parker. However, it also points out that the silliness is why the franchise is so beloved and underneath it all there are powerful messages about heroism and responsibility, and despite Peter's flaws, he is still a heroic, noble figure who tries his best to do the right thing.
  • Affirmative-Action Legacy: Much like how it happened in the Ultimate universe, Peter Parker's death leads to Miles, an Afro-Latino boy, becoming the new Spider-Man.
  • All for Nothing: An alternate dimension copy of Kingpin's family that he tried to bring back in the climax witness Kingpin fighting Miles on the subway train in the exact same manner as he did with the original Spider-Man, causing them to flee in fear/revulsion. This implies that even if Fisk does manage to bring his alternate universe family into his own dimension, they will never be a functional family.
  • Alliance of Alternates: Various stranded Spider-Men teaming up with Miles Morales to stop Kingpin and get home to their own dimensions.
  • All There in the Manual: According to the screenplay, when Miles and Peter B. run into the Alchemax cafeteria they end up facing a group of "SECURITY GUARD GRAD STUDENTS" and not Crazy-Prepared, armed scientists.
  • Alone with the Psycho: In the beginning, the Prowler sees Miles running away and is ordered to kill him. Miles spends a long time running. Happens again when Miles goes to his uncle's apartment for advice and realizes his uncle is the Prowler. Then the Prowler starts chasing him through the streets.
  • Alternate Continuity: The movie has absolutely nothing to do with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Amazing Spider-Man Series, or Sony's Spider-Man Universe, although it takes a Broad Strokes approach to Sam Raimi's trilogy. However The Stinger for Venom established that this film took place at the exact same time as the former but in a separate universe and the 2021 film Spider-Man: No Way Home connects all four franchises by having the Raimi, Webb and SSU films crossover with the MCU.
  • Alternate Tooniverse: Based on their animation styles, Peni Parker (Animesque) and Spider-Ham (a Toon) hail from Tooniverses.
  • Alternate Universe: The entire concept revolves around this, with each universe having its own Spider-Person. Indeed, Miles' own universe has quite a few differences from our own:
    • The various Bland Name Products are demonstrated outright to be alternate universe equivalents to real brands. For example, a "Koca-Soda" ad in Miles' world is an actual Coca-Cola ad in Peter B.'s universe.
    • Similarly, near the end of the film, we see that Spider-Ham's universe has Porka-Cola.
    • New York City's police department is given the acronym PDNY (Police Department of New York) instead of NYPD (New York Police Department). Conversely, the real-life FDNY (Fire Department of the City of New York) is instead called the NYFD (New York Fire Department).
    • Police vehicles aren't exempt from wearing registration plates, as seen on Miles' dad's police cruiser.
    • The lights on police cruisers flash in red and blue instead of red and white.
    • Snapchat is still called Picaboo, and Google is still called Backrub.
    • The Blue Man Group is called the Red Man Group.
    • T-Mobile is instead C-Mobile.
    • A poster in Miles' dorm room shows Chance the Rapper wearing a cap with the number "4" on it, instead of his signature "3".
    • An ad shows The Weeknd's "Starboy" cover design, but with his old persona's haircut.
    • Taxicabs use the "NYC Taxi" livery design introduced in 2007 instead of the current black circle with a negative-space "T". In addition, taxis and police cars are made to resemble the older second-generation Ford Crown Victoria, an increasingly rare sight as both since the model's discontinuation in 2011, but still a popular prop in film and television for its surplus availability.
    • The current black-and-yellow "Empire Gold" license plate design issued since 2010 and the previous white-and-blue "Empire State" issued from 2001 to 2010 are used simultaneously on some cars, also as seen on Miles' dad's police cruiser.
    • New York is shown to be much larger in Miles' universe. In the first scene of the teaser trailer, much of the Manhattan skyline is taller than the Empire State Building, currently the fourth tallest building in New York. Some of these skyscrapers are lit with projected advertisements.
    • Miles doesn't know what Comic-Con is, suggesting it either doesn't exist in his world or it has a different name.
    • Zastava Automobiles' "Yugo" line of hatchback cars was a success in both Miles' and Peter B's universe, with modern models advertised alongside the slogan: "Wherever Yugo, I go. It'll get you from A to B".
    • Golden State Warriors basketball legend Stephen Curry is instead a golf pro in Miles' universe, with a billboard touting him as "The Golden Boy" of the sport. (Truth in Television, as Curry is an avid and talented golfer in the off-season.)
    • A Times Square billboard shows that NBA star Blake Griffin is instead an MLB player in Miles' universe (again, Truth in Television, as Griffin also played baseball before choosing to focus on basketball). The team he plays for is the New York Red Sox; in Real Life, that's Boston's team name, a nod to the notorious Red Sox/Yankees fanbase rivalry.
    • Pop culture as Miles knows it is very, very different; on Spider-Man's arrival alone, we see advertisements for a horse-racing comedy starring Seth Rogen called Hold Your Horses, John Mulaney and Nick Kroll star in Hi, Hello instead of Oh, Hello, the proposed Shaun of the Dead sequel From Dusk Til Shaun was actually produced, there's a Clone High movie, and Bridesmaids has a sequel titled "Baby Showers".
    • Doctor Octopus is a woman in Miles' universe, here named Olivia Octavius.
    • The approval stamps on Miles' "True Life Tales of Spider-Man" comics are from the "Cabin Fever Production Code" rather than the Comics Code Authority.
    • The Planet Hollywood restaurant and resort chain is called "Planet Inglewood." This also implies that in Miles' universe, Inglewood is the heart of the American film industry.
    • One of the posters you can see in the background is for EA Sports' latest Water Polo game. EA Sports is a real publisher (best known for the likes of FIFA and NBA licensed sports games), but they don't (at the time of writing) make a water polo game.
  • Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Japanese version has its own theme song titled "P.S. RED I" by TK from Ling Tosite Sigure. Can be heard here.
  • Always Someone Better: The Peter of Miles' universe is younger, more famous, and more financially successful than Peter B. — to the latter's bitterness.
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Miles' dad drives him to school in his police car with Miles in the back seat, which makes him look like he was arrested. Upon dropping him off, he briefly sounds his police siren and uses his speaker to request Miles to say he loves him back, while in front of everyone.
  • Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The final battle between the Spider-Gang and Kingpin's forces takes place in the middle of the Super-Collider as it's activating.
  • Ambiguous Situation: When Dr. Octopus shows up with the rest of the villains at Aunt May's house, she glares and mutters, "Oh, great. It's Liv," which Doc Ock mentioned in a previous scene was a nickname only used by friends. What exactly this means, other than May knows who Doc Ock is, is impossible to tell since it's never explored further, and the creators have given vague answers when asked about it.
  • And the Adventure Continues: The last shot before the credits involves Gwen opening some kind of portal to Miles's dimension and asking "Miles...you got a minute?"
  • Ankle Drag: During the fight scene at Aunt May's house, Miles tries to run upstairs but The Prowler grabs him by his ankle and drags him back down.
  • Anti-Climax:
    • In the scene where Miles gets bitten by the spider that gives him his powers, there's a very dramatic build up as we see it coming down from the ceiling, landing on his clothes as he's spray painting an underground tunnel, and then it ultimately crawls out onto his hand and bites him, which leads to a multi-panel expansion showing the venom entering his bloodstream complete with dramatic music. Cut to Miles just staring at it for a second, then he swats it off his hand and goes home. It's not until the next morning that he starts to experience any changes.
    • During the battle within the Super-Collider, Miles, Peter, and Gwen are facing off against Doc Ock and they brace themselves as she charges at them, with Gwen even saying "Buckle up guys, this is gonna take a while". But before she reaches them, she is struck by a flying truck and that's the last we see of her.
  • Anti Climax Cut: When Miles goes up to the roof of a building to try a leap of faith, heroic music swells, he braces himself... and the next shot is Miles going back down the stairwell, having chickened out.
  • Anti-Interference Lock Up: Miles is determined to accompany the Spider-Gang as they go to destroy the Super-Collider because of what Kingpin did to his uncle and to fulfill his promise to Blond Peter. However, the Spider-Gang are concerned that Miles' inexperience will be a liability in the field and get him killed so Peter B. webs him to a chair in his dorm room to keep him safe. Downplayed in that Peter B. gives Miles every chance to demonstrate control of his powers before webbing him.
  • Anvil on Head: During the climactic battle at the end, Spider-Ham saves Peni from Scorpion in Thwarted Coup de Grâce fashion by dropping an anvil on his head.
  • Any Last Words?: Asked by Doc Ock to Peter B. as he's being strangled by Ock's tentacles. Miles intervenes before the villain can finish Peter off.
  • Apathetic Citizens: When Miles Morales and Peter B. Parker fall flat into a crowded crosswalk, people just walk over them without batting an eyelash or trying to help.
  • Arc Number: 42 appears a lot. According to the director, it's a reference to Jackie Robinson, "a barrier-smashing black superhero" like Miles.
  • Arc Words:
    • "Expectations", with the concept of both external and internal expectations, and how to meet them, being a central theme of the film. It appears when a teacher at Miles' new school discusses Dickens's Great Expectations, then again when his science teacher assigns him an essay about himself, again when Uncle Aaron spots a colorful "Expectations" design in Miles' sketchpad and is impressed by it, and again when Miles takes that same design and makes real graffiti art with it, but amended as "No Expectations" and his own blank silhouette, describing his emotional state at the time.
    • Every instance of "I love you" between Miles and his father highlights a significant change in their relationship. At the beginning, Jefferson makes Miles say it back to him in front of everyone at Vision Middle School. After the death of Uncle Aaron, his father says it to Miles through a closed door, and then says, "You don't have to say it back." Finally, in the end, while in his Spider-Man suit, Miles tells his father "I love you" of his own free will.
    • As mentioned in the page quote, "a leap of faith" shows up several times to describe the moment when you know you're truly Spider-Man: when you choose to be.
    • Each member of the Spider-Gang introduces their respective origin stories with the same phrase, "Alright, let's do this, one last time." Fittingly, Peter Parker of Miles' universe gets the first one, and Miles himself gets the last.
    • Each member of the Spider-Gang refers to themselves as "the one and only" in their respective introductions which serves to emphasize the You Are Not Alone themes of the movie.
      Miles: I'm the one and only Spider-Man. At least that's what I thought.
    • "Get up". A foundation of a Spider-Person's philosophy is that no matter how tough it gets, no matter how hard they are hit, they always get back up. Blond Peter even explicitly mentions it in his "one last time" recap.
      • Miles, being reluctant to embrace being Spider-Man, has to initially learn this lesson and when the Spider-Gang is continually knocking him down they all encourage him to get back up. The fact that he couldn't establishes that he wasn't ready to be Spider-Man yet. During his showdown with Kingpin, Miles seems to have been put down for good but his father's encouragement helps him to ultimately get back up and finish the fight.
      • Peter B needs to re-learn this lesson as part of his character development. The death of Aunt May and his divorce from Mary Jane knocked him down emotionally to the point where he was willing to sacrifice himself to destroy the Super-Collider rather than live to return to his universe and work to correct the mistakes he made there. Ultimately, his relationship with Miles forces him to "get up" and be willing to return to his own dimension.
  • Armor-Piercing Question:
    • Miles gives one to Peter B. when he is uncharacteristically callous about getting back to his home dimension. He at first shrugs it off, but eventually relents.
      Miles: Look, if I don't turn off the Collider after you leave, everyone in this city, my parents, my uncle, and millions of others will die, and you're just gonna go home and leave me here to figure this out for myself? You good with that, Spider-Man?
    • As Kingpin has Miles at his mercy during their fight in the middle of the collider's singularity, multiple alternate versions of Vanessa and Richard Fisk suddenly start appearing, witnessing him fighting with Spider-Man in a repeat of how his own family did just before dying in a car accident. Seeing this and Kingpin's reaction to history seemingly repeating, Miles asks if killing Spider-Man, with his "family" watching and seeing his true colours as a villain a second time, is truly what Fisk wants.
  • Artistic License:
    • The Spider-Gang is able to swing from their webs in places that lack any tall structures such as when Peter B. webs up Miles in his dorm room. There's a solemn shot of Miles looking out the window watching the Spider-Gang leaving him behind even though there are no tall buildings anywhere in sight and they are essentially shooting their webbing into the empty sky as they swing away.
    • When Peter B. sweeps Miles's legs out from under him, he knocks Miles up high enough for him to grab his shirt from the ceiling. A sweep will only result in somebody falling, but the impact the scene has (not to mention the setup for a Call-Back) is more important.
  • Art Shift:
    • Every time Peni, Spider-Man Noir, and Spider-Ham talk about/show their respective worlds, the art changes. Like how Noir is depicted living in a black-and-white world, despite having a Rubik's Cube with color rather than having no color.
    • In The Stinger, everything on Earth-67 is done with the same jerky, limited animation as the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon.
  • Ascended Meme: Several shots in Peter B.'s origin flashbacks and the Creative Closing Credits homage the infamously memetic poses and screenshots from Spider-Man (1967), including a recreation of the "And I'm just sitting here" meme, albeit without the usual masturbation joke. In particular, The Stinger recreates the "Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man" meme.
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: When Miles is freaking out over the scene with Gwen, he briefly stops thinking about how everyone is laughing at him to remark on how unusually tall one of the girls is.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Both Aaron and Jefferson's phone wallpapers are pictures of each other in their younger years, showing they still love each other despite their differences.
  • Badass Bookworm:
    • During the Alchemax infiltration, Peter and Miles enter a cafeteria full of harmless-looking scientists. When they are spotted, everyone in the room draws a gun on them. Cue hectic chase scene.
    • The Peters, Gwen, Penni and Miles themselves, of course. Spidey has always been pretty smart...
  • Badass Normal: The movie shows that Aunt May in Miles' universe helped out Blond Peter with his investigations and stored the "spider-cave" under her property. Although she has no super-powers (and is a senior citizen to boot), she's more than willing to defend her house with a baseball bat... just ask Tombstone.
  • Bait-and-Switch Silhouette: The shadow of a cloaked figure comes up behind Miles in the cemetery, and part of The Prowler's theme music plays. It turns out to be Peter B. Parker wearing a trenchcoat.
  • Bathos: Many times. One of the best moments comes in Peter B.'s backstory, when he mentions that despite everything that happened to him, he "handled it like a champ," and we immediately cut to a shot of him in the shower, sobbing like a baby and still wearing the Spider-Man costume. As heartbreaking as his grief and trauma are, the image of him wearing the full Spider-Man suit in the shower is so abruptly comical that it's hard not to laugh.
  • Beta Outfit: Miles initially uses a Spider-Man costume that is literally a store-bought Spider-Man costume; it's child-sized and fits him badly, the mask has eyeholes cut out of the Spider-Man eyes, and he's still running around in sneakers. He eventually upgrades to the sleeker red/black outfit by modifying the suit Peter wore when he was Miles' age.
  • Beware the Silly Ones:
    • Subverted with Spider-Ham who pulls anvils and giant wooden mallets out of nowhere. It would seem that this would make him an extremely formidable opponent. However, in his battle with Scorpion which should have caused him considerable damage, it turns out that Spider-Ham's Toon attacks left Scorpion more humiliated than injured.
    • The head scientist of Alchemax is a dorky, Granola Girl-looking hipster/nerd who hosts a similarly dorky series of Bill Nye the Science Guy-esque video lectures for schools. She also gushes over Peter B. when she realizes he must have come from another dimension, giddily running tests and performing an impromptu medical exam. It turns out that she's also this universe's Doc Ock.
  • Be Yourself: Miles recognizes that he has some big shoes to fill after his Spider-Man is killed. When Peter B appears, he initially tries to learn by simply mirroring Peter's gestures and movements. Over time, Peter B's less-than-enthusiastic mentorship and Miles' unique powerset (invisibility/venom strike) makes him realize that he should be using his own ideals, strengths, and abilities as the launch point for his "leap of faith." This is solidified when Miles changes to his traditional red and black costume, which is Blond Peter's suit redesigned in the style of his graffiti art.
  • Big Applesauce: Being a Spider-Man story, this film naturally takes place in New York City, specifically the one of Earth-1610B. Miles' New York is notably much larger than the real-life variant, with Manhattan's massive cityscape being visible from many shots of the movie.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • The reveal of Spider-Gwen during the escape from the Alchemax facility, dropping in at the last second to web up Miles and Peter B. to keep them from falling, fighting off Doc Ock AND retrieving the stolen computer singlehandedly, and all without seeming to break a sweat.
    • Just as the villains have the extra-dimensional Spider-Gang on the ropes, Miles swings in time to help, complete with a Theme Music Power-Up.
    • Spider-Ham saves Peni Parker who is inside SP//dr as the Scorpion is breaking through her defenses by dropping an anvil on his head.
  • Bittersweet Ending: More sweet than bitter. Miles's Uncle Aaron and his universe's Peter Parker are dead. But the city is saved, each member of the Spider-Gang is returned to their home dimension, Miles embraces his life and responsibilities as his dimension's new Spider-Man, and he and Gwen find a way to contact each other.
  • Black Comedy: There's an unusually dark moment that's played both for laughs and for drama, but surprisingly more of the former. Peter B. Parker explaining his origin with some enthusiasm starts off similarly to the one from Miles's dimension, and then he gets into how things went terribly wrong (including discussing the death of Aunt May and his divorce of Mary Jane) without skipping a beat. There's also a shot of him going from crying in the shower in his costume which sharply change to him sleeping on the floor with his ass in the air. The corny-cheesy sad piano music that plays over this, and the pizza slice on the corner of the bathtub does not help to change the mood.
  • Black-Tie Infiltration: The Spider-Gang needs to infiltrate the reception given by Wilson Fisk in order to gain access to the elevators. It turns out to be super-easy, barely an inconvenience because all the waiters are dressed in Spider-Man masks. Peter B, Gwen, and Spider-Noir simply add a bowtie to their costumes to go Beneath Notice. Peni and SP//dr simply hide under a bus table. Spider-Ham doesn't appear in the scene, but in a deleted scene is shown to be hiding under the cloche. Said deleted scene also revealed that Tombstone did notice them, calling it in rather than making a scene in public.
  • Bland-Name Product:
    • In Miles' universe, there are similarly named products to those of our world in this movie, including a cola beverage called "Koca-Soda" taking the place of Coca-Cola, a version of FedEx called "RedEx", and a version of T-Mobile called "C-Mobile". Funnily enough, even the NYPD, a law enforcement entity, gets this treatment too, as its letters are switched around to PDNY. The MTA logos on subways are also adjusted to just say "TRAIN" despite using the same automatic announcements used by the MTA in real life.
    • Further shown with the second trailer, where a Coca-Cola sign briefly appearsnote  before switching to the same Koca-Soda sign from the first trailernote , with the NYPD receiving the same exact treatment. As well, the comic Ganke is reading in said trailer is called "Imagine That...", done in a similar manner as Marvel's own What If?.
    • Slightly averted with the 1995-2007 Ford Excursion; although some of the prop cars in the background look closer to actual cars than others (eg. the Mk.3 Volkswagen Golf, second-generation Toyota Prius, Pontiac G6 and Chevrolet Astro expies), the "Excursion" takes the extra step and features a Ford badge on the bottom-right corner of the tailgate, similar to the actual SUV. This can be seen in some frames.
  • Bloodless Carnage: The Prowler gets shot by Kingpin but you don't see any blood or bullet wounds, even after he dies from presumably bleeding out.
  • Blunt "Yes": Peter B. when Miles calls him out for his Refusal of the Call.
    Miles: If I don't turn off the Collider after you leave, everyone in this city, my parents, my uncle and millions of others, will die. And you're just gonna go home and leave me here to figure this out for myself? You good with that, Spider-Man?
    Peter B.: Yeah.
  • Bond One-Liner: After taking down Scorpion, Spider-Ham asks sarcastically, "Did that feel like a cartoon?" before Blowing a Raspberry.
  • Bookends:
    • The movie begins and ends with a "one last time" recap by the current Spider-Man of Earth 1610. It's given by Blond Peter at the beginning and Miles at the end.
      Peter: There's only ONE Spider-Man... and you're looking at him!
      Miles: 'Cause I'm Spider-Man... and I'm not the only one.
    • Our first and last view of Miles is him listening to "Sunflower" on his headphones.
  • Boring, but Practical:
    • This is Peter B.'s case for using public transportation to get to Alchemax, much to Miles' disappointment. Web-swinging there would definitely be more fun, but taking the bus makes the trip easier and doesn't tire them out before the mission even begins.
    • Aside from web-swinging, the only advice Peter B. gives to Miles is to take care of his Spider-Suit; disinfect the mask regularly, and use baby-powder to avoid chafing. Not exactly the city-saving superhero tips that Miles wanted, but it's sound advice nonetheless.
  • Both Sides Have a Point: When the Spider-Gang plans to use the Super-Collider to go back home, Miles argues that he should go along and destroy it because he's from this universe, and if anyone else does it they will have to stay behind and eventually die from cellular disintegration. He points out that this is his city, his Spider-Man made him promise to destroy the Super-Collider, and thus it's his responsibility. The Spider-Gang counters that Miles is inexperienced, he doesn't have control over his powers or demonstrates the willpower to continually get back up after being knocked down. They point out that currently, he is more of a liability to the mission than an asset.
  • Bound and Gagged: Peter B. webs Miles to his dorm room chair and webs his mouth to keep him from following the Spider-Gang.
  • Brick Joke:
    • Outside of Alchemax headquarters, Miles adds a cape to his store-bought Spider-Man costume, only for Peter B. to tell him that "Spider-Man doesn't wear a cape". In Blond Peter's spider-web beneath Aunt May's shed, one of the outfits is What If? #19 Mythology Gag with a caped mantle — which Miles points out to Peter.
    • Both Peter B. and Aunt May refer to Blond Peter's override key as a "goober"; meanwhile, Spider-Man Noir refers to Kingpin's super-collider as a "gizmo". In the Stinger in 2099, Miguel asks if Lyla has completed the "goober" she was working on, whereupon Lyla corrects that "It's not a goober, it's a gizmo."
    • Noir is fascinated by a Rubik's Cube implicitly because it's a very colorful object he wouldn't see in his Deliberately Monochrome universe. When he returns home, he brings it with him and is seen completing it and showing it off to denizens of his universe like it was the holy grail.
    • In the beginning, Jeff comments on the various stickers Miles has plastered throughout the city that he's found and made Miles remove. The ending has Miles place a sticker on the statue head on top of a building, commenting it's a place where his dad will never find it.
  • Briefcase Blaster: A number of Alchemax employees in the company's cafeteria have suitcases that transform into guns that they use as they pursue Peter and Miles.
  • Broad Strokes: During their "one last time" recaps, both Blond Peter and Peter B experience events from the Raimi-verse Spider-Man. Peter B seems to be more accurate to that source (going by the upside-down kiss with MJ), whereas Blond Peter has new takes on key events (such as reversed positions in the upside-down kiss and physically punching away the car thrown into the restaurant).
  • Broken Pedestal:
    • Played for Laughs. The Peter Parker from Miles' universe was a charismatic 26-year-old in a happy marriage, and his heroism made a gigantic impression on Miles. The alternate Peter Parker who takes Miles as his apprentice is still a brave, and capable superhero, but he's also a 38-year-old, cynical, unkempt, out-of-shape, divorced, and largely impoverished loser in every other aspect of his life, which carries into his attitude towards Miles and plays in stark contrast to the hero Miles originally looked up to. Both Miles, and later Spider-Gwen, are less than impressed with him:
      Miles Morales: How'd I get stuck with the janky, old, broke hobo Spider-Man?
    • Later Played for Drama with Uncle Aaron, after Miles learns he's The Prowler. It's more like Freak Out Pedestal, because Miles is too shocked and scared to register the "broken" part.
  • Building Swing: As the movie is a love-letter to the Spider-Man mythos, it's a given that all the members of the Spider-Gang swing from building to building — even the heavy SP//dr mech.
  • Butt-Monkey: Tombstone never gains the upper hand in any confrontation he gets involved in, he gets knocked around a lot, and is embarrassingly batted out of the house by Aunt May herself. Ironically, he is the only villain besides Kingpin, shown surviving the final fight.
  • Call-Back:
  • At one point in the film, Miles' dad makes him say "I love you." in front of the entire school. Later on, Jeff says he loves Miles when he's at the other end of a door, but he "doesn't have to say it back." Later still, Miles (as Spider-Man) tells his dad that he loves him. Jefferson chuckles for a bit before going "Wait, what?"
  • Going to Alchemax, Peter and Miles take the bus instead of web-swinging out of practicality. Later, when the alternate Spiders are off to destroy the Super-Collider, they take the bus for half the trip before properly web-swinging there.
  • Peter B. sticks to the ceiling and holds Miles up off the ground by the collar, demanding him to show his worth by turning invisible on command or hitting him with electricity. Miles later holds Peter in a similar position when the latter tries to sacrifice himself, allowing Miles to drop him back to his home universe while also earning Peter's approval.
  • Aaron teaches Miles the shoulder touch, which Aaron claims is a proven science to get girls interested in him. Miles uses it while trying to talk to "Gwanda" and again as a subtle middle finger to the Kingpin before he uses his Venom Strike to save the day and avenge Aaron.
  • Olivia pointedly establishes that only her friends call her "Liv". Later, when she breaks into Aunt May's house, May pointedly exclaims, with some exasperation and disgust, "Oh great, it's Liv," showing that she's aware of the "Liv" nickname. It's unclear if this implies they were previously friends or if May learned about the nickname from working with her Peter and is just being snarky and antagonistic since "Liv" just broke down her door.
  • During an early talk with "Gwanda", Miles accidentally gets his hand stuck on her hair due to Power Incontinence, which eventually leads to her hair being cut to get him free. She is later shown having a buzz cut on the side of her head to conceal the damage from that incident, and she says that Miles is not allowed to like it. Still later, just before sending Spider-Gwen back to her home dimension, Miles asks if he's allowed to like her haircut now.
  • When Miles and Peter B. first suit up together, Miles decides to wear a cape on his own costume, which Peter B. tears off and tells him that Spider-Man doesn't wear a cape. When they end up in Miles's Peter's hideout, Miles sees that his Peter had a costume with a cape on it and smugly points it out to Peter B.
  • While trying to figure out his powers on his own, Miles screams "AAAAAH", which follows his path down as he falls. While web-swinging with his new costume, the same font is used to scream "WOOHOOO!" while he's rising into the air.
  • The anvil Spider-Ham uses to stop Scorpion attacking Peni reappears as being the last thing to get sucked into the Super-Collider.
  • Peter B.'s "one more time" recap has him mention a drone flying into his face as part of his life going downhill. Guess what happens to Miles during his "one more time" montage at the end of the film?
  • During Stan Lee's cameo selling Miles the Spider-Man costume, he says "It always fits... eventually." During the triumphant "What's Up Danger" sequence, it cuts back to May giving Miles his own pair of webshooters, where she says "They fit perfectly."
  • Blond Peter and Peter B both saying "That's a no-no" when their masks are removed.
  • In the opening "one last time" recap, Blond Peter mentions that one of his many endeavors was making a Christmas album. This joke gets a payoff when Miles accidentally plays "Spidey Bells" while in the school security office and then a later pay off when it's played over the last part of the credits.
  • The Cameo:
  • Camera Abuse:
    • When Miles makes graffiti with spray paint, some of the paint gets splattered on the screen.
    • When Peter takes a bite from his burger, some of the sauce in it splashes on the screen.
  • Cannot Kill Their Loved Ones: When the supervillain Prowler catches Spider-Man (who is actually his nephew Miles) at Aunt May's house, Miles (knowing that his beloved Uncle Aaron is the Prowler) takes off his mask. Aaron is so shocked that he takes off his own mask, leaving both of them completely revealed. When he puts Miles' mask back on at Kingpin's urging to kill him, it's ambiguous if it's to make killing his nephew easier or to keep him protected if anybody sees them. In the end, he can't go through with it...and pays with his life.
  • Carnivore Confusion: In his introduction sequence, Spider-Ham, despite being an anthropomorphic pig, is shown eating a hotdog. Subverted in that pigs are Extreme Omnivores that will eat anything; plus his origin story reveals that he's actually a spider that was bitten by a radioactive pig, which muddles the possibility of Black Comedy Cannibalism.
  • Cast of Snowflakes: There's nary a reused character model to be seen among the citizens of Miles' New York, with not only the faces but also the physical builds of almost everyone being completely unique and distinctive. The Spider-Gang also embodies this, with each of them having not only a totally distinct costume, but three of them even having a unique art style:
  • Casual Danger Dialogue:
    • Peter B. sounds practically bored during the Alchemax infiltration, mocking the dramatic doom speeches, pointing out the mandatory "24-hour deadline" and dismissing the veritable army of villains, despite getting pounded by Doc Ock and shot at by laser-wielding scientists.
    • During the intense Final Battle, Gwen finds time to compliment the new Spider-Man on his fashionable black suit.
  • Catchphrase Interruptus: Peter B. Parker can't stand his own catchphrase, and interrupts Miles quoting it.
    Miles: With great power comes great...
    Parker: Don't you dare finish that sentence. Don't do it! I'm sick of it.
  • Ceiling Cling:
    • Miles performs one to evade the oncoming train in the subway tunnel.
    • In Miles' dorm room, the Spider-Gang does a collective ceiling cling to avoid being seen by Ganke Lee. It fails, causing Lee to Faint in Shock.
  • Celebrity Paradox: There are a few blink-and-you-miss-it shots in Times Square of a billboard for Hi, Hello, a Broadway comedy starring John Mulaney. Mulaney provides the voice for Spider-Ham in the film. It's also a nod to Mulaney's real-life Broadway show Oh, Hello.
  • Central Theme: Anyone can be Spider-Man. A 26-year-old grad student from Queens, a 38-year-old divorcee, a teenage girl, a 1930s Hardboiled Detective, a 32nd-century Japanese Gadgeteer Genius, a cartoon pig, or an Afro-Latino boy from Brooklyn. No one can tell you whether you can or can't be a hero: as long as you believe you can be a hero, you can be.
    Peter Parker: That's all it is, Miles: a leap of faith.
  • Chained Heat: At the graveyard, when Miles is webbed to Peter B. Parker and has to drag him along with the cops on their heels.
  • Chekhov's Classroom: One of Miles' classes that we actually see is a video lecture about — naturally — the quantic theory of Alternate Universes, given by one Olivia Octavius. Guess what, this study matter is going to be important later, and Miles even mentions the video directly.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: The quirky female scientist we see giving a Chekhov's Lecture in a video during Miles' Physics class happens to be more important than you'd guess at first glance. Not only is she the head of the Alchemax laboratory visited later by Miles and Peter, but she's also this universe's version of Doctor Octopus.
  • Clean Dub Name: In the Italian version, Peni Parker is changed to Penny Parker, due to the fact that "Peni" literally means "Penises" in Italian.
  • Closed Door Rapport: Occurs when Miles' dad tries to reach out to his son through the closed door of his dorm room. What he doesn't know is that Miles is silent because he's been bound and gagged with webbing by Peter B, who decided that Miles was not ready to handle the Super-Collider.
  • Cold Equation: The Spider-Gang's calculations when they write Miles off: five Spiders need to go home to live, but one needs to stay behind and destroy the Super-Collider or everyone dies, so someone has to make a Heroic Sacrifice. Naturally, all of them volunteer to stay behind immediately; they are superheroes, after all!
  • Combination Attack: During the Final Battle, Peni, Spider-Ham, and Spider-Noir deliver a coordinated attack to take down Scorpion.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Peter B. Parker's attempts at light flirtation as a distraction with Olivia go completely over her head. When his status as "dimension-hopping alternate universe version" becomes clear to her, Olivia is successfully distracted, but purely with him being evidence of the multi-dimension theory being correct. This doesn't deter Peter from continuing to try, even as she's poking him around like a lab sample and ignoring every line he tries to throw at her.
  • Comic Books Are Real: The original Spider-Man of Miles' universe officially licensed his life story for an in-universe comic book series known as "True Life Tales of Spider-Man" — which is represented by actual early Spider-Man comics. It presumably has enough differences (such as changing his face and name) to keep his identity and such secret. The theme song of Spider-Man (1967) is also referenced, implying that the cartoon exists in some form as well.
  • Computer Equals Monitor: When Miles decides to grab Olivia's whole computer to sort out later the data they need, he needlessly picks up the monitor too. Peter, more savvy, tells Miles to ditch it, as they only need the central unit.
  • Continuity Cameo: The Spider-Cave's String Theory setup has photos of the Shocker, Hammerhead, Chameleon, the Rose, and the Enforcers.
  • Cop/Criminal Family: Jefferson Davis, the protagonist Miles' dad, is a very By-the-Book Cop. Jefferson's brother, and Miles' uncle, Aaron, encourages Miles' love of graffiti and is later revealed to be the Prowler, an enforcer to the mob boss the Kingpin. Jefferson is unaware of Aaron's alter ego until Aaron is killed by Kingpin for failing to murder the new Spider-Man. Despite his brother's criminal status, Jefferson is heartbroken. This dynamic also plays into Miles' development. At first, Miles is not fond of his father's strict attitude, and would rather hang out with his Cool Uncle, who is much more laid back. But as the movie goes on, he eventually learns the importance of responsibility, like his father.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Alchemax scientists go to lunch heavily armed, and they have tactical training. Since they're Mad Scientists in a superhero universe, this seems like a perfectly sensible precaution, even if they didn't specifically expect two superheroes to walk into their cafeteria.
  • Creation Sequence:
    • On the artistic side, we have a lengthy scene of Miles Morales painting an elaborate graffiti on a subway wall with the help of his uncle.
    • On the scientific side, Peni Parker uses the tools of her SP//dr mech to build a second version of the goober (to replace the broken one) in an extended Technology Porn sequence.
  • Creative Closing Credits: The credits zoom around Garry's Mod-style arrangements of duplicates of the various Spider-Gang, with psychedelic patterns in the backgrounds.
  • Creator Cameo: J. Jonah Jameson in The Stinger is voiced by the film's Associate Production Manager Adam Brown.
  • Creator Thumbprint: The style of the montage of Peter Parker summing up his backstory and heroics would not seem out of place in The LEGO Movie and SPA's own Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which producers Phil Lord & Chris Miller previously wrote and directed.
  • Credits Gag: Most of the credits roll has fitting music playing over it... until the end, where "Spidey Bells", one of the songs on the Christmas album mentioned early in the movie, is played until the post-credits scene starts.
  • Cringe Comedy:
    • At the beginning with most of Miles' interactions at his new school, which can be summed up with "How much can Morales humiliate himself in front of his schoolmates?" Starting with his father bringing him to school in a police car and forcing his son to say "I love you..." before the other students.
    • When Miles' superpowers are starting to awaken, and he blames it at first on puberty... out loud. The cringe factor goes up when talking to Gwen and Miles' Power Incontinence leads to a Sticky Situation between the two in front of the whole school.
    • Peter B. Parker's lame attempts at trying to charm Olivia to distract her while Miles breaks into her computer, and not really noticing that she's more fascinated by him being from another dimension.
    • When Peter B. Parker spots Mary Jane, he's compelled to go and talk to her, even as the rest of the Spider-Gang realizes it's a bad idea. Mary Jane has no idea who he is, as he begins babbling like a fool while pretending to be a waiter. She asks him for more bread and he just launches into a grand apology using "bread" as an analogy for their relationship.
  • Crisis Makes Perfect: When Peter and Miles are getting chased by Alchemax scientists with laser cannons, Miles struggles to web swing and tries to run away on foot. Peter tells him that he'll just get caught if he doesn't web swing to safety and lampshades this on the way down.
    Peter: [while swinging] Everyone knows that the best way to learn is under intense, life-threatening pressure!
  • Crossover Alternate Universe: Played with. Miles' home universe was created for the movie and is separate from any existing continuity. However, it serves as the collection point for the Spider-Gang to be pulled into for this story and will apparently be the universe where Miles's subsequent adventures will occur.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • Spider-Ham vs. Scorpion. Spider-Ham doesn't even get scratched.
    • Spider-Man Noir vs. Tombstone. Spider-Noir finishes the fight in seconds.

    Tropes D to L 
  • Dance Party Ending: Sort of. A moment during the Creative Closing Credits shows each Spider-person and a team of clones performing on stage, with Peter Parker(s) performing in a rock band, Spider-Man Noir as a '30s jazz quartet, a whole troupe of Gwens dancing ballet, and so on.
  • Darker and Edgier: It's more serious than previous Animated Adaptations of Spider-Man as well as previous films from Sony Pictures Animation and producers Phil Lord & Chris Miller. While it still has a great deal of humor, it puts a strong emphasis on action, storytelling, and character development, and is not afraid to explore that personal tragedy is the common bond for the members of the Spider-Gang.
  • Darkest Hour: Downplayed. Miles has learned that his beloved uncle was trying to kill him, only to be killed by the Kingpin when he refused to finish the job. The Spider-Gang leaves him behind to deal with the Super-Collider themselves, leaving him webbed up to a chair in his dorm room, with the realization that one of the Spider-Gang is going to have to sacrifice themselves get the others home and destroy the Super-Collider after they're gone. Even Peter B, who showed the most faith in him, decided he was not ready and was the one who webbed him to his chair.
  • Dead Alternate Counterpart:
    • The Peter Parker of the universe Miles Morales heralds from dies within the first thirty minutes of the film. The Peter B. Parker from a different universe, however, is alive and well.
    • The Peter Parker from Spider-Gwen's universe is dead too.
    • On the opposite side, Peter B. Parker's Aunt May has died of unspecified causes (note that everyone is about 12 years older in this universe).
    • Kingpin's whole plan is to effectively bring back his wife and son from the dead by replacing them with their equivalents from another universe.
  • Dead Guy on Display: Implied Trope. A Freeze-Frame Bonus on a Daily Bugle headline reveals that after Blond Peter's death, Kingpin had his body dumped in front of their office.
  • Death by Origin Story: Apparently, one of the earliest lessons every member of the Spider-Gang learns is that they can't save everyone. Peter's uncle Ben, Gwen's best friend, Peni's father, and Spider-Man Noir's uncle Benjamin all fell victim to this trope, as do Miles' version of Peter Parker and his uncle.
  • Deconstruction:
    • We're told that one of the fundamental tenets of being a Spider-Person is they embody the Heroic Spirit in that no matter how many times they are hit, they always find a way to get back up. Peter B. Parker's back-story shows that he has had a long and world-weary life being Spider-Man. After two major emotional hits of his Aunt May dying and his divorce from MJ, we see the deconstruction of a Spider-Man stuck in the rut of "not getting back up". This turns him into a depressed and jaded slob that has stopped taking care of himself, lives in a crappy apartment, and on some level, is tired of being Spider-Man.
    • Kingpin's backstory deconstructs Even Evil Has Loved Ones by showing the effects of having a super-villain secret identity. As Fisk, he had an apparently loving relationship with his wife and son who were unaware of his identity as the Kingpin. When they accidentally discover this other side of him, they were naturally horrified and ran away, resulting in the car crash that killed them. Kingpin's attempt to get them back at any cost is what sets the story in motion and, ironically, results in alternate versions of his wife and son running away from him again as they watch him beating up Miles. The story reflects that sometimes even when evil has loved ones they, like most normal people, are going to be repulsed by that evil.
    • While partially played for laughs, Miles's ordeals after first gaining his spider powers does a good job with How Do I Shot Web? by showing Miles having extreme difficulty consciously controlling sticking to things or becoming overwhelmed by his Spider-Sense. As part of the story, ultimately the Spider-Gang decides he's not ready for the mission to destroy the Super-Collider because, no matter how much he wants to help, his inability to control his powers makes him a liability in the field.
  • Desk Sweep of Rage: Miles takes his anger out on his room's belongings following his uncle Aaron's death.
  • Die or Fly: Lampshaded. When they flee the Alchemax facility, Miles tells Peter B. that he doesn't know how to swing. The latter responds that the best way to learn is under intense life-threatening pressure.
  • Different World, Different Movies: There are posters for a Shaun of the Dead sequel, a Clone High movie, and a parody of Bridesmaids.
  • Discontinuity Nod: Peter rather ashamedly refers to his infamous street dance from Spider-Man 3.
    Peter: And, uh... I did this. We don't really talk about this.
  • Dissimile: Occurs when Miles asks Peter B. how his home base compares with Blond Peter's Elaborate Underground Base.
    Peter B: Mine was like this, but take away the jeep, the plane. Imagine it way smaller. Imagine a futon.
  • Disturbed Doves: At the end of Blond Peter Parker's "one last time" introduction, he does a massive swing into the air with the line "There's only one Spider-Man... and you're looking at him." Cue a flock of doves flying behind him, followed by a wink at the camera.
  • Divorce Is Temporary: After returning to his home dimension, Peter B. visits Mary Jane, hoping to reconcile. Judging from the expression on her face, she's at least willing to hear him out.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Miles' powers activating leads to him growing several inches overnight, sweating profusely, and, after some Power Incontinence, getting his palm covered in hair. He even dismisses all of these effects as "a puberty thing."
  • Don't Think, Feel: Downplayed, but when Peter B. first teaches Miles to webswing, he shouts off about half a dozen things to remember, goading Miles to just do it.
    Peter B.: Aim with your hips! Look where you want it to hit! Square your shoulders! Don't forget to follow through! Don't shoot off your back foot!
    Miles: That's too many things!
    Peter B.: Then stop listening to me!
  • Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment:
    • Peter B. Parker ends up meeting with the Aunt May of Miles' universe, which causes both to stare in shock because the other's counterpart in their universe is dead. However, May already knows what's going on, as she's already met three other members of the Spider-Gang.
    • Peter B. married but divorced his own Mary Jane over whether or not to have kids. When he meets Blond Peter's Mary Jane, his side of the conversation is clearly a poorly disguised apology and promise to do better. It leaves the other Mary Jane confused as she thinks Peter B. is just a waiter, but it shows that he is ready to say the same to his own Mary Jane once he gets back.
  • Double Meaning: Peter's advice from the second trailer of "What makes you different is what makes you Spider-Man" can be taken to mean that, of course, the powers that set every Spider-Man apart from the rest of humanity is what makes them Spider-Men... or that Miles' own unique differences from other Spider-Men are what will define how he lives up to the legacy.
  • Do Well, But Not Perfect: Inverted — Miles bombs a true-or-false test in the hopes of being kicked out of school, but his teacher points out that the odds of getting every question wrong on such an exam is so statistically unlikely he had to know the actual answers and intentionally choose the opposite. She gives him a perfect score instead.
  • Drama-Preserving Handicap: Each of the alternate Spideys are super-capable fighters, but because they do not belong in Miles' dimension their bodies often randomly "glitch" painfully, leaving them helpless when they're in an intense battle with the bad guys in the climactic battle.
  • Dramatic Drop: May Parker drops her baseball bat when she sees Peter B. standing in her front yard.
  • Dramatic High Perching: At several occasions do characters stand on ledges looking out into the city.
  • Dramatic Irony:
    • Those familiar with the comic will know the Prowler is Miles' uncle long before the reveal.
    • Similarly, some audience members will quickly realize that "Gwanda" is clearly Spider-Gwen. Which makes the question for the ones who figured it out before the reveal not "Who is she?" but "How is she already here?" and "What does she want with Miles?"
  • Dramatic Unmask:
    • The Prowler when he unknowingly removes his mask to reveal his true identity to Miles.
    • When The Prowler unmasks Spider-Man to find his nephew underneath.
  • Dramatic Wind: Spider-Man Noir is introduced with his trench coat blowing in the wind.
    Peter B.: Where is the wind coming from? We're in a basement.
    Spider-Noir: Where I go, the wind follows... and the wind? It smells like rain.
  • Dress Hits Floor: A variation occurs when Dr. Olivia Octavius reveals that she's Doc Ock. She discards her lab smock and we cut to behind her feet to see the smock tumble to the ground around her legs with Peter B. framed between them. However, it reveals that she's wearing a powered suit underneath with tentacles extending from a housing on her back. The scenario is played with because the scarf and dress she was also wearing conveniently vanish when the smock drops and somehow her previously exposed hands and arms are now completely covered with leather gloves.
  • Drone of Dread: Central to Prowler's leitmotif and symbolic of Miles' feelings over Taking Up the Mantle of Spider-Man putting him in the sights of people who want him dead.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: The Stinger shows Spider-Man 2099 on Earth-67 conforming to the universe's artstyle; in this case, becoming a flat-shaded character with Limited Animation. While implied to be due to making a controlled universe leap, rather than an accidental one like the other Spideys, this never happens again even with controlled leaps in the sequel, which instead plays heavily into the Art-Style Clash of each Spider-Person retaining the style of their home universe.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Miles manages to prove his worth as Spider-Man as well as reconcile with his father, the Spider-Gang gets to go home, Peter B. might get back together with Mary Jane, and Kingpin is finally exposed as a criminal.
  • Elaborate Underground Base:
    • The Peter of Miles' universe has one underneath Aunt May's shed, accessed by an elevator, where he keeps alternate costumes, a computer, lab, and diagrams of criminal connections. Peter B. is noticeably jealous of this, as his base back home just consists of the garden shed itself.
    • Kingpin's vast super-collider lab underneath Brooklyn.
  • Eldritch Location: Due to the Super-Collider causing universes to collide, the final battle takes place in what can only be described as a psychedelic, constantly swirling, and shifting mass of cityscapes and Kirby Crackle.
  • Enemy Eats Your Lunch: During the Alchemax escape, Peter B. takes some time out of his busy schedule to swipe a bagel from the cafeteria. He ends up passing it off to Miles, who chucks it at some unimportant scientist.
  • Epic Fail: Miles attempts to fake one by getting a zero in his assessment test, and thus get kicked out of Visions Academy. The failure is on Miles, though — his teacher correctly points out that the odds for failure of that level are so astronomically high that the more reasonable possibility is that Miles is willfully sabotaging himself and passes him.
  • Epigraph: In the mid-credits, there is one from the late Stan Lee: "That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero."
  • Epileptic Flashing Lights: People have expressed concern over several sequences of flashing lights seen throughout the film caused by the various representations of the "glitch effect" caused by the Reality Bleed that's part of the storyline. Some are petitioning to have a warning added to the film similar to what occurred with Incredibles 2.
  • Equal-Opportunity Evil: Kingpin's minions include two African-Americans (Tombstone, Prowler), a Latino (Scorpion), and a woman (Doctor Octopus).
  • Establishing Character Music: Miles Morales is introduced listening and half-singing along to Post Malone's "Sunflower", establishing him as your normal urban teenager.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
    • Kingpin's Start of Darkness stems from the deaths of his wife and child in a car accident. While it in no way justifies his actions — as the film makes abundantly clear when Alternate Timeline versions of said wife and child, whom he is trying to re-unite with, are repulsed by his actions — it does make him powerfully sympathetic.
    • Kingpin orders Prowler to murder the new Spider-Kid who got away. When Prowler — who is secretly Uncle Aaron — discovers that his beloved nephew Miles is that Spider-Kid, he defies a direct order and lets Miles live. And as he meets his Mentor Occupational Hazard, he absolves Miles of any responsibility for his death.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Downplayed with Liv, but part of the reason she wants more time is that she says that the device as is could destroy the city. She still goes through with fixing the Super-Collider, though.
  • Everyone Is Armed: The Alchemax scientists carry briefcases that transform into laser cannons with them to their lunch breaks. Miles and Peter find this out the hard way while fleeing for their lives with the computer they need to create a new goober.
  • Exact Eavesdropping: When Peter B. and Miles sneak into the Alchemax via Air-Vent Passageway, they overhear Doc Ock talking about the dangers of the Super-Collider and when it will next be fired up.
  • Faceless Masses: Background characters are sometimes blurred out of focus in crowd scenes when their expressions are irrelevant to the events of the scene.
  • Facepalm:
    • As Miles attempts to unstick himself from the ceiling by singing "Sunflower", Peter B. initiates a double facepalm that rivals those of Jean-Luc Picard.
    • Gwen has her palm firmly stuck to her face while watching Peter B. makes a fool of himself before this universe's Mary Jane (who believes he's just a waiter).
  • Faint in Shock: Miles' Muggle roommate Ganke Lee faints when he looks up to find six Alternate Universe versions of Spider-Man, one of them a Talking Animal, clinging to the ceiling of his dorm. Miles tucks him into bed before leaving.
  • False Reassurance: When Kingpin and his men start searching the wreckage of the Super-Collider explosion, Blond Peter tells Miles to run and hide and assures him that he'll join him when he can. His tone of voice makes it clear that he doesn't expect to survive when they find him and was only behaving bravely so as not to worry Miles.
  • Family-Friendly Firearms: Uniquely zig-zagged in this film. It's played straight with the Alchemax scientist mooks, who fire laser guns that don't seem to do lethal damage. Yet, tragically averted when Kingpin fatally shoots Miles' Uncle Aaron.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: Even in kid-friendly animation, the Kingpin is a terrifying foe, as seen when he kills the badly wounded blond Peter Parker by slamming a double-fisted blow into him so hard it cracks the concrete underneath.
  • Fastball Special: The Spider-Gang pull this off multiple times as part of them chaining their powers together in battle. The most prominent is likely during the final battle when Miles webs a falling Gwen, Peter B. webs Miles back up, and Miles then throws Gwen into Doc Ock, and each of them subsequently punch her in the face.
  • Fatal Flaw:
    • All of the members of the Spider-Gang have an inherent flaw with their I Work Alone habit. While they do team up to infiltrate Kingpin's place to get to the Super-Collider, they don't want to get anyone else involved because they don't want to lose the people they care about. Working with Miles helps them overcome that because Miles insists on helping.
    • For Miles, it's his Deer in the Headlights approach to life and avoiding things that seem challenging. At Brooklyn Visions, he tries to deliberately fail out because he'd rather be at his old school with his friends than take the opportunity for a better education; a teacher catches on, calls him out for it, and tells him he can do better if he knows what he wants in life. When he gets his powers, he freezes up when he sees Spider-Man fighting Goblin and is no help, resorting to reading comics to learning the ropes. He finally overcomes this in the climax when he makes the decision to fight his way.
  • Fat Flex: Peter B. Parker, in his post-midlife crisis, gains a huge gut with all the Comfort Food he gets addicted to, but when he wears his suit, he looks as muscular as any other Spider-Man would.
  • Felony Misdemeanor: The Alchemax scientists chase after Peter and Miles for trespassing... and, as one scientist shouts, because Peter stole a bagel from the cafeteria.
  • Five-Second Foreshadowing:
    • Olivia's office at Alchemax features octagonal light fixtures and several prototype tentacles, about two minutes before it's revealed that she's this universe's Doc Ock.
    • If you pay attention, the crack in Spider-Man's mask after the Super-Collider incident shows he has blue eyes, which indicates he doesn't look like the regular Spidey.
    • When Miles is hiding out at his uncle's apartment he sees a silhouette outside the window. A look of relief washes over his face as he assumes it's Aaron, but it turns to dread when he realizes it's the Prowler and fears he may have been tracked. The look then turns to shock and horror when the Prowler unmasks and Miles discovers that his Uncle Aaron IS the Prowler.
  • Five Stages of Grief: Several characters experience or are stuck in various stages:
    • Kingpin is stuck between Anger and Bargaining. He's furious with Spider-Man and takes his anger out on them for the loss of his family, but also desperately trying to get replacements to his lost wife and son, no matter what the consequences.
    • Peter B. spends most of the film in the Depression stage over the loss of Aunt May and divorce from MJ, with some aspects of Denial (generally refusing to address or act on his feelings). By the end of the movie, it seems he's moved into Acceptance for Aunt May and tries to reconcile with MJ.
    • Miles goes through Depression and Bargaining after his uncle's death. He first is understandably heartbroken and distraught after it happens, then moves into anger (demanding that they let him "make Kingpin pay"). It isn't until he reaches Acceptance that he's finally able to control his powers and become Spider-Man properly.
    • Most of the Spider-Gang are in Acceptance over the loss of one of their loved ones that motivated them. Aunt May and Mary Jane are also in this stage over Peter's death.
  • Foil: Miles and Kingpin are diametrically opposed in their relationship to family. Miles is driven by his desire not to let his family down; Fisk is haunted by the fact that he already has. Miles is driven by the idea that "Our family doesn't run from things"; Fisk is haunted by the fact that his, empirically, does.
  • Follow Your Nose: When the other Spider-people ask Miles if he has any special abilities, Spider-Ham asks him if he can "float in the air at the smell of a delicious pie" while doing exactly that.
  • Forced to Watch:
    • Miles from a scaffold helplessly watched as Kingpin killed his universe's Spider-Man. There really was nothing he could have done since he had no control of his powers, and the Prowler then nearly kills him.
    • In the climax, Jefferson can only watch as Kingpin fights the new Spider-Man, who he can tell is a child by the size proportion.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • As the Peter Parker of Miles' universe goes over his back-story at the start of the film, he has distinctly blond hair and blue eyes. In addition, it shows Blond Peter doing the infamous dance scene from Spider-Man 3 but doing it in full costume instead of his street clothes. These, plus additional altered details — MJ being the one upside-down during the kiss; Spidey's reaction when Doctor Octopus throws a car at his head in Spider-Man 2 — let the audience know that this universe isn't exactly the one we're familiar with.
    • During Miles' walk to Brooklyn Visions at the start, one of his friends mentions an earthquake that Miles had slept through. A few days later, after Kingpin has run his super-collider, there's mention of another earthquake. This indicates that he's run the super-collider at least once before Spider-Man's intervention, explaining the origins of the "glitching" spider that gives Miles his powers.
    • The cover of Miles's copy of Great Expectations features Pip being grabbed by Magwitch in a cemetery, foreshadowing Miles and Peter B's first encounter in a cemetery later on.
    • When the spider that will bite Miles is crawling over the spray cans, its color shifts to match the lids it is on, foreshadowing Miles' power to turn invisible.
    • When Miles accidentally starts sticking to Gwen's hair with his new powers and can't unstick, she tells him that he needs to relax. It's the same advice that Peter B. gives him later. That along with her green ballet shoes and expertly executed judo-throw clue you in that Gwen is an alternate universe Spider-person who is a lot tougher than she looks.
    • After Miles bumps into Gwen at Visions Academy, he notes that she's new here and that they both "got that in common." Gwen agrees, noting "Yeah. That's one thing." We later learn Gwen had been stalking Miles and has spider-powers like him.
    • Aaron mentions he worked on a recent engineering job near the subway. This foreshadows his involvement in Fisk's Super-Collider project, being constructed just a few tunnels away.
    • When Miles flees in a panic from the Collider with Prowler hot on his heels, he passes by the mural he painted with Aaron in the tunnels earlier, the camera giving it a Meaningful Look, as a subtle hint as to who his purser is. A brief P.O.V. Shot from Prowler has him using thermal goggles built into his mask to keep track of Miles in the darkness, able to make out his moving silhouette to chase down. As shown at Aunt May's house, Aaron's reaction would have been very different if he'd been able to make out the unmasked Miles he was chasing down.
    • When gearing up to infiltrate the Alchemax lab, Miles tries to add a Superman-esque cape to his hero costume, defending his choice to Peter B that he thinks it looks cool. Amongst all of Kingpin's enforcers, the only one who wears a Badass Cape is the Prowler, showing that it's a Shared Family Quirk.
    • Two for the "Bicycle Lady": during the video shown in Miles' class, we can see early on that her name is "Olivia O-", with the majority of her last name blocked by Miles. Couple that with her octagonal glasses frames, and the aforementioned tentacles seen in her lab, and an eagle-eyed viewer can easily guess her identity early on.
    • The inclusion of Alchemax, instead of more well-known corporations of the Spider-Man mythos like Oscorp or Roxxon, teases the appearance of Miguel O'Hara (aka Spider-Man 2099) in the post-credits scene.
    • Sneaking into Liv's office, Miles knocks a model of the supercollider offscreen, breaking it.
    • Sharp-eyed viewers will notice how The Prowler and Uncle Aaron share the same distinctively tall, lanky silhouette. Additionally, the scene in his apartment with Miles shows that Uncle Aaron literally has a painting of a panther with the word PROWLER above his couch and he's wearing a t-shirt from the Brooklyn Muay Thai club with a panther on it. Also, after Prowler enters the film, Uncle Aaron becomes incommunicado with all attempts to reach him getting his voice mail stating "I'll be out of town for a few days."
    • While Peter is "teaching" Miles how to web-swing, Miles complains that "I run better than I swing!" When Miles finally takes the Spider-Man identity for his own, his web-swinging incorporates aspects of Le Parkour to create a sort of webbing-assisted free-running.
    • Several examples of foreshadowing set up in this film and paying off in Across:
      • When Miles meets his world's Spider-Man, his Spider-Sense is initially colored purple and green before transitioning to red and blue. The second movie reveals that the spider that bit Miles came from another universe, Earth-42, in which he has taken the mantle of The Prowler. His Spider-Sense changing colors symbolizes that him meeting Spider-Man is what diverted him from the path of villainy he was destined to head down.
      • Blonde Peter tells Miles that the only thing standing between oblivion and stability is him. Even as he takes up the mantle of Spider-Man and protects his universe, the second movie reveals that the very spider that gave him his powers was transported from a universe where Miles was meant to be Spider-Man, robbing the universe from him and making it into a Crapsack World.
      • During the sequence when Miles gets his superpowers, the radioactive spider was glitching and labelled as Alchemax 42. In Across, it pays off as it's revealed that the spider actually came from Earth-42 (and was glitching because it came from another universe), and it was a result of the Alchemax experiments as indeed, their former scientist Jonathan Ohnn said that he was working behind the experiments when he accidentally brought the spider over to Miles's universe.
  • For Science!: Seemingly Olivia Octavius' only motivation for partnering with Kingpin to build the Super-Collider.
  • Frame Break: When Spider-Man Noir, Peni, and Spider-Ham are simultaneously telling their origin stories, the screen changes into a tri-panel frame illustrating their stories. There's a break in the now expected dialog of "I was bitten by a radioactive spider" when Peter Porker's narration comes a split-second behind with "PIG". This causes Noir and Peni to pause and give a puzzled look over at Spider-Ham's frame.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus:
    • Miles has a poster of a heroic-looking figure in blue tights, red boots, and a cape, alongside a smaller poster of a silhouetted figure with pointy ears and glowing eyes.
    • When Miles is looking at a dead genetically-altered spider, it briefly phases into a green version with the Alchemax logo on it.
    • When we see Miles' attempt at deliberately failing a true-or-false test, not only did he get every question wrong on purpose, but he also wrote the date as Decembruary 2, 2018. We later see on a poster in Miles' dorm that his universe has normal months, so it means that he tried so hard to fail he even wrote a nonexistent date.
    • A scene from the Community episode "Anthropology 101", featuring Troy in a Spider-Man costume, can be spotted playing on the television of Aaron's apartment. This shot was one of the main inspirations for Miles Morales' existence, as fan reaction to it — not to mention the fact that Glover was pushed on Twitter for the lead role in The Amazing Spider-Man — showed Marvel that there was both room and desire for a black Spider-Man. It's also a reference to a joke in Donald Glover's stand-up routine, "Weirdo".
    • After Kingpin kills Spider-Man, he commands "Get rid of the body". In a blink-and-miss-it moment when Miles first approaches Peter's grave, there's a copy of the Daily Bugle lying among the memorial offerings and the headline reads "Spider-Man Dead. Peter Parker, 27, kept New York safe for years. Found Dead in front of Daily Bugle".
    • When Fisk is seeing alternate versions of his family flickering into reality in the train in the climax, his son briefly transforms into what appears to be a young Matt Murdock.
    • As the Super-Collider is destroying itself, the FLDSMDFR from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs can be seen, a film the producers and studio also worked on.
    • Jefferson Davis' phone when he tries to call Miles mid-way through the movie show that he has the name "Steve Ditko" in his contacts list.
    • Miles' contact list includes his creators Brian Bendis and Sara Pichelli, but also numerous Spider-related characters, such as Cindy Moon, Jessica Drew, Billy Braddock, Karn, Ezekiel Sims, and Monica Chang.
    • An advertisement for a sequel to Clone High, called Clone College, can be seen in a few scenes.
    • The advertisements seen in the background contain a treasure trove by themselves. At one point in the newscast about Spider-Man's death the running line "Bitcoin hits new high" is immediately followed by "Bitcoin hits new low".
    • In the scene where Ganke and Miles fist bump after Miles reveals to him that he's Spider-Man, the sound effect above the bump says "Best Buds" implying that Miles and Ganke's friendship will blossom like it does in the comics.
    • Peter B's "one last time" recap shows him being clobbered by a city bus being driven by Tombstone.
    • The Daily Bugle's highly unfavorable review of "TGI Spideys" reveals that some of its menu items include "spider-web nachos", a "spider-burger" and the house drink called "web-fluid" that is reminiscent of a cucumber-creamsicle.
    • After Miles' does his walk around the outside of the school building, he stumbles into his dorm room and a copy of "True Life Tales of Spider-Man" lands on him. On the rear cover is an "advertisement" for the "Vignali Reader Program". Marcel Vignali is the artist who created the comic in the style of Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr and the top of the page asks "Do you know at least 10 people?" and underneath is a series of caricatures of the various writers and producers of the movie. Going from left to right there's: TBD, Rodney Rothman, Avri Arad, Christina Steinberg, TBD, Phil Lord, Chis Miller, TBD, Peter Ramsey, and Bob Persichetti.
    • When Miles accidentally electrifies Peter B. Parker in the cemetery, it momentarily shows an outline of his nervous system (rather than the more commonplace skeleton outline).
    • As a despondent Miles walks to his uncle's apartment, he passes by two businesses named after Spider-Man creatives: "Bendis' Used Books" and "Romita Ramen". John Romita, Sr. is a classic Spider-Man artist, while Brian Michael Bendis is a longtime Spider-Man writer and the co-creator of the Miles Morales character.
    • During the final battle, when Miles delivers his shoulder touch, you can see the Kirby Crackle behind him coalesces to spell out "Hey" just as he delivers this as his Pre Ass Kicking One Liner.
    • On the living room mantle in Aunt May's house is a triangular veteran's case displaying the American Flag along with three silver stars, medals, and a small photo of a man in uniform implying that Uncle Ben was a veteran. Although knocked off the mantle by Tombstone during the fight at May's house, it can be seen on the floor, apparently unbroken, when Miles is chased by The Prowler through the living room after the rest of the fight spills out into the street.
    • The PC desktop of Olivia Octavius is... less than organized. While most of the images and folders are named "Untitled" or "Untitled Folder", some are slightly more organized like: several labeled "Test Results", "Old Plans", "Secret Plans", "New Plans", "New Beakers", "Dinner Plans"; some for "Tree Pictures", "Fish Pictures", "Cute Animals", "2016 cow pics", "Pics From Toronto Trip"; some for "Fantasy League", a file name ending in the classic convention of "final final FINAL", an image of "Best sandwiches", an image of "SPA ART", oh, and several folders of "Evil Plans", and one file named "doomsday". Also the folder "alt dimensions" is right below the folder for "SPIDer man"... near the folder marked "pool party".
    • When infiltrating Alchemax, Miles gets stuck on the lights in the lead scientist's office. Just as he frees himself and his head drops out of frame, one single frame shows his bugged-out eyes still floating in mid-air right before the rest of his body falls.
    • In the mother of all freeze-frame moments, Stan Lee has a final cameo as a passenger on the train Miles-as-Spider-Man bounces off of during his "once last time" recap at the end of the film. Stan is on screen for literally a single frame but when you catch it right, you can see him clearly through the train window note 
  • Friendly Shopkeeper: Stan Lee cameos as a costume shop owner who tells a skeptical Miles that his costume will fit "eventually" when Miles asks if he can refund it if it doesn't fit. Then the screen pans over to a sign that says, "NO Refunds or Returns. EVER."
  • Funny Background Event:
    • When Miles hounds Peter B up an apartment building wall, a neighbor spills his coffee in a variation on No More for Me.
    • While the Spider-Gang is crawling on the wall trying to avoid Ganke's line of sight, you can see Peni getting really red in the face as she's squeezed between Miles and Gwen.
    • When Peter and Miles flee from Alchemax, Miles throws the bagel Peter stole at their pursuers, and it hits one of the scientists square in the face. Bonus points for the sound effect, drawn in-panel at the moment of impact, being "BAGEL!!!"
    • When the Alchemax scientists in the cafeteria noticed Peter and Miles and pull out their guns in near unison, one of them who has just finished adding cream to her coffee rolls her eyes and slumps forward with an annoyed look on her face apparently resenting that her coffee break is now ruined.
    • After Peni fixes the goober, she rolls into Aunt May's living room on heelies and gives it to Peter B. with a goofy anime smile. According to the audio commentary, this was done because the shot wasn't long enough for Peni to walk into the room and give the goober to Peter B.
    • When Miles barges into Aunt May's house rambling about the Prowler, you can see two question marks over Noir's head as he looks up at him from the couch.
    • During the fight at Aunt May's house, right after Gwen launches herself from the kitchen to punch Doc Ock and retrieve the goober, you can see Spider-Ham in the background clocking Tombstone over the head with an entire porcelain toilet.
    • During the climactic fight in the Super-Collider, Miles duplicates the massive swing he learned from Blond Peter. Toward the end of his swing, a dolphin can be seen floating in the chaos of the Reality Bleed. It's particularly notable because its chirping can be heard over the movie's soundtrack note .
    • When Miles arrives at Aunt May's house to tell the Spider-Gang that his Uncle Aaron is really The Prowler who just tried to kill him, Spider-Noir approvingly comments how that's a pretty hardcore origin story. Peni then slaps him on the arm at his insensitivity while the others glare at him.
  • Fun with Subtitles: In a form of comic style throughout the movie.
  • Genre Relaunch: Ever since the failures of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet, and Titan A.E., it had become standard for animated action movies to be advertised as comedies to ensure their success. Into the Spider-Verse brought the genre back by proving that an animated action movie could be promoted as such and still be successful.
  • Gilligan Cut:
    • When Miles protests the idea of following his uncle to a new spraying spot. Cut to them in the subway tunnel.
    • The Spider-Gang are trying to figure out how to infiltrate Kingpin's gala and notice that the waiters are all wearing Spider-Man masks.
      Spider-Noir: This can't be that easy.
      [cut to them wearing bowties walking around the party]
      Spider-Noir: It's that easy.
  • Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: In The Stinger, Spider-Man 2099 and Spider-Man 67 get into an argument after one of them accuses the other of pointing at each other.
    Spider-Man 67: How dare you point at me!
    Spider-Man 2099: You were pointing first!
    Officer: Which one pointed first?
    Jameson: Spider-Man pointed first obviously!
  • Glass Smack and Slide:
    • Peter B. arrives in Miles' dimension at high speed. He gets slammed into a billboard where he remains motionless for three seconds before falling down.
    • When Miles Morales and an unconscious Peter B. Parker are dragged across New York by a stray webline stuck to a tramway, at one point they smack against the window of an eatery and are dragged in slow motion with the usual sound — with Peter's face stuck inside a snowman's head flattened against the glass, to boot. Yes, It Makes Sense in Context.
    • A very short take on it with the Flashback to the rest of the Spider-Gang's arrival: a Split Screen shows SP//dr, Spider-Ham and Spider-Noir all squashed flat against a Broadway billboard upon their arrival in this dimension.
  • The Glomp: Miles hugging his father at the end while disguised in his black Spider-Man suit.
  • Gut Punch:
    • The movie initially has the tone of an Affectionate Parody with how it summarizes Blond Peter's origins and successful career as Spider-Man and how it shows Miles suffering Cringe Comedy at his new school especially after he gets bitten by the spider. Then Spider-Man is brutally killed in front of Miles by Kingpin after the Super-Collider explodes. Miles experiences understandable trauma and guilt over this death and refuses to let Peter B die on his watch..
    • The scene where Peter B. and Aunt May meet. Before, his nervousness about seeing her was Played for Laughs. Then she opens the door and sees him. There's a brief second of hope when she drops her bat and asks "Peter?" but realizes she's seeing a doppelganger of her deceased nephew. Then Peter B.'s voice cracks on greeting his deceased aunt for the first time in years.
    • When the Prowler refuses to kill Miles despite Kingpin's orders, he is shot by Kingpin for his disobedience. Miles then flees with the Prowler to a nearby alley where he bleeds out. Before he dies he apologizes to Miles saying he let him down. Since the Prowler is Uncle Aaron, Miles suffers his "Uncle Ben" moment like virtually all Spider-Men do.
  • Hammerspace: Literally. In addition to using the standard from-nowhere toon combat implements, as a parting gift Spider-Ham gives Miles a giant wooden mallet, assuring him, "It'll fit in your pocket."
  • Hell Is That Noise: A hellish, animalistic screech accompanies The Prowler whenever he's on-screen. And sometimes when he's not. Word of God on the audio commentary confirms that it is a trumpeting elephant.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The Spider-Gang realizes that one member of the team will need to stay behind to destroy the Super-Collider and eventually die from cellular decay after the rest of them use it to get home. Naturally, they all volunteer. The trope is subverted with Peter B. because while he insists to be the one who remains behind, his character arc shows that he has reached a point in his career where he's been knocked down by personal tragedy and has grown weary of constantly getting back up. Therefore his sacrifice is not purely motivated by heroic valor but has a strong mix of being a Death Seeker who feels he has less to live for than the others.
  • He's Back!: One of the fundamental tenets of being Spider-Man is that no matter how many times you are hit, you always find a way to get back up. At the start of this story, however, Peter B. was dealt two strong emotional hits with the death of his Aunt May and his divorce from MJ and he has not gotten back up. Instead, he has become jaded, cynical, and depressed with the toll of being a super-hero for decades weighing heavily upon him. His mentoring relationship with Miles and his encounters with alternate versions of Aunt May and MJ start to pull him out of his despair. His final moments with Miles who tells him that he also needs to take the leap of faith and go home ultimately motivates him to "get back up" and take the risks necessary to put his life back in order. Our last glimpse of Peter B. is him showing up at MJ's apartment with flowers in hand.
  • History Repeats:
    • As with most of the Spider-Gang, Miles ends up losing a loved one which is one of the events that pushes him to take up the Spider-Man mantle.
    • Kingpin's wife and son walk in on him as he's brutally fighting Spider-Man, revealing to them his monstrous, criminal nature. They flee and end up dying in a car accident which leads him to become single-minded in building a Super Collider that will allow him to find an alternate version of his loved ones. During the climax, when fighting Miles, multiple alternate versions of Vanessa and Richard Fisk suddenly start appearing and witness him brutally fighting Spider-Man and see his true colors as a villain, then flee to an ambiguous end apparently ruining his own second chance.
  • Hope Spot: A tiny one emerges when Peter B. is caught when the head scientist enters their office and doesn't call for security or even freak out. Peter B. tries to keep her distracted and she seems reasonable enough, just being curious about this alternate universe Spider-Man. Then she straps him in a chair and says she can't wait to see him disintegrate from being in this dimension for too long. As Peter B. nervously asks for her name, she reveals she's Olivia Octavius, a.k.a. Doctor Octopus.
  • How Do I Shot Web?:
    • After gaining his spider powers, Miles has trouble unsticking his hands from things, including Gwen's hair, which requires them to go to the nurse's office to shave part of her hair off to get them unstuck.
    • In the forest, Miles has a lot of trouble learning how to swing with Peter's web-shooters. He eventually gets the hang of it after a few minutes, with Peter telling him "you're a natural".
    • Miles has the power to turn invisible and can release an electric venom blast, but, at first, he can't control either ability, only able to trigger them while under stress. His lack of control over his powers is one of the reasons the Spider-Gang decides he should not accompany them to the Super-Collider as his inexperience is likely to get him killed.
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: The trope is in full play for every member of the Spider-Gang. It becomes the common bond each member shares with the others. Ironically, in none of the multiverses does that universe's version of Gwen Stacy seem to have died.
    • All three Peters (Blond Peter, Peter B., and Noir) lost their respective Uncle Bens.
    • For Gwen, it was her best friend, her Peter Parker, who she was actively involved in the death of by fighting him too hard while he was the Lizard.
    • For Miles, it's two-fold; he witnesses his Spider-Man's death while helplessly watching from a scaffold, and then his uncle dies when refusing Kingpin's orders to kill him.
    • Peni Parker lost her father, the previous SP//dr who died while on duty.
    • While we never learn the specific loss of Spider-Ham, he sadly and poignantly sums up the trope for Miles when he tells him that the downside of being a Spider-Man is "you can't always save everybody."note 
  • I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Spider-Man of this world gives Miles the "goober" needed to destroy the Super-Collider and tells him to run. He doesn't say he's dying, though, because he wants to make sure Miles doesn't get caught by Kingpin.
  • I Meant to Do That: Miles, showing off to the neighborhood as the new Spider-Man, briefly fails to stick onto a building, causing him to fall off. He recovers and says that he did it on purpose.
  • Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: The group of lab scientists with their laser weapons shooting at Miles in the forest don't get a hit on him even from close range.
  • Implausible Deniability:
    • A variation from when Miles is confronted by a security guard who noticed that he had snuck out the previous night:
      Guard: I know you snuck out last night, Morales.
      Miles: [thinking] Play dumb. [out loud] Who's Morales? [thinking] Not that dumb!
    • Miles also attempted this earlier on his father. Saying that it might not have been him who put up the sticker his father just saw him put up.
    • He doesn't exactly deny it, but Peter B. pretends he isn't Spider-Man while dressed in full costume and in plain view.
      Alchemax employee: ... Spider-Man?
      Peter: You know, it's funny? I get that a lot.
  • I'm Standing Right Here:
    • While the Spider-Gang huddle around to talk about Miles' inexperience, Noir points out that Miles is staring at them while they talk about him.
    • Spider-Ham says this almost word for word when Gwen calls Kingpin a pig.
  • Incurable Cough of Death: Played with. The Spider-Man of Miles' universe coughs a few times after taking heavy damage from the Super-Collider explosion, likely caused by internal bleeding. Whether the cough was actually indicating a mortal injury is rendered moot when Kingpin kills him with his bare hands.
    Spider-Man: The coughing's probably not a good sign...
  • Insistent Terminology: Any gadget designed to stop whatever doomsday machine is about to destroy the world is always referred to as a "goober" by Spider-Man for convenience, regardless of which dimension he's from/in. Even Aunt May calls the broken USB drive Miles is holding a goober. In the stinger, Spider-Man 2099 also calls his new wrist gadget a goober, much to the annoyance of his A.I. assistant Lyla, who insists that it be called a "gizmo" instead.
  • Instantly Proven Wrong: When Doc Ock has Peter B. in the Shackle Seat Trap, the latter assures her that he is not glitching. Guess what happens next.
  • Insult Friendly Fire: Listening to Kingpin's fake eulogy for the man he murdered, Gwen calls him a pig. Spider-Ham replies, "I'm right here."
  • In the End, You Are on Your Own: Tying into the overall theme of being unique and not letting anyone else define you, Miles deliberately sends all of the alternate Spiders back to their own universe before having a final extended confrontation with Fisk by himself.
  • Intra-Franchise Crossover: Just like in Spider-Verse, the movie is about Spider-Men from different universes fighting together against an enemy in common and struggling to get back to their own dimensions.
  • Ironic Echo:
    • After being called out for being late to class, Miles retorts, "Well, Einstein says time is relative". He tells Gwen the same thing at the end after she notes that she's a year older than him.
    • After Miles' first interaction with Wilson Fisk, he goes home where his mother tells him "Our family doesn't run from things." Later, Aaron tells Fisk "You know me, sir. I don't ever quit," as Miles discovers his identity.
    • Peter B. Parker's first lesson to Miles is "Don't watch the mouth, watch the hands", before revealing he's untied himself. Miles tells Peter the same thing in the climax after revealing he's stolen back the "goober".
  • Is That the Best You Can Do?: During his fight with the Prowler early on, Spider-Man shakes off a powerful punch and asks him "That all you got?" Subverted in that as Spider-Man launches himself toward the Prowler, he is slammed to the ground by the Green Goblin followed by a Drool Deluge.
  • It's a Long Story: Parodied:
    Peter B.: How did you get here?
    Spider-Noir: Well, it's kind of a long story. [cut to SP//dr, Spider-Ham, and Noir all arriving in the same manner] Maybe not that long.
  • I've Heard of That — What Is It?: Miles when his uncle mentions the shoulder touch.
    Uncle Aaron: You know about the shoulder touch?
    Miles: 'Course I do. [Beat] But tell me anyway.
  • Jumped at the Call: After a very short period of trepidation, Miles wants to run headfirst into being Spider-Man, and demands that Peter B. train him. But when the other Spiders realize that he has no control over his powers yet, they have to tie him up to keep him from following them to the final battle.
  • Kid Hero: Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and Peni Parker are all members of the Spider-Gang who are clearly not adults.
  • Kind Restraints: When Miles volunteers to destroy the Super-Collider so that they can go home, the Spider-Gang starts challenging him to fights, and asking what he can do, because they don't want him to get killed on the mission. This backfires, however, since he ends up going to his uncle for advice and finds out Uncle Aaron is the villain trying to kill him. Realizing that Miles will come anyway, Peter B. simply resorts to webbing him to a chair after telling him he's not ready for the mission.
  • Kirby Dots: The energy emitted by the Super-Collider, and thus the portal between the worlds, is represented with interlocked dots of various colors. They are everywhere in scenes taking place when said Super-Collider is activated.
  • Knuckle Cracking: Miles cracks his neck before taking his first jump between buildings.
  • Labcoat of Science and Medicine: All of the Alchemax scientists, but specifically the head scientist, Olivia, who drops her lab coat to the floor dramatically on her reveal as being the supervillain, Doctor Octopus.
  • Laborious Laces: Early on Miles says that leaving his shoe untied was a choice (representing his irresponsible nature). He trips on his shoelace while training, causing him to break the goober. When he commits to the responsibility of being Spider-Man, his shoes are tied.
  • Lampshade Hanging: In his attempt to convince Peter to start mentoring him, Miles starts to recite the "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" mantra. Peter cuts him off and tells him he's sick of hearing that phrase. This is a common real-life criticism due to the number of Spider-Man reboots in such a short time frame.
  • Last Day of Normalcy: We're introduced to Miles Morales as he prepares for his first day at Visions Academy, introduced to his father, with whom he has a loving if difficult relationship, his desire not to be in Visions in the first place (trying to fail a test on purpose, and his teacher catching him at it), and his friendly relationship with his Uncle, who encourages him with his street art. Then Miles gets bitten by a radioactive spider, and well...
  • Last Disrespects: During the climax, Fisk throws a Spider-Man-themed party above the location where the Super-Collider is about to be fired up. He does this under the guise of paying respects, but in reality, this is one final dig at his fallen foe.
  • The Last of These Is Not Like the Others:
    • A visual variation. When the fight breaks out in Aunt May's house, the scene shifts to a four-panel composition with each panel sequentially showing a glimpse of the ensuing destruction and May's reaction to it. The first three show the typical collateral damage expected during a super-hero/super-villain fight but the last panel shows Spider-Ham, all alone and intentionally breaking a plate over his own head. Bonus points in that we see Spider-Ham keeps hold of a plate shard in his hand like a shiv.
    • During the split-screen presentation of the merged origin-stories of Spider-Man:Noir, SP//dr and Spider-Ham, there's a break in the expected dialog of "I was bitten by a radioactive spider" where Peter Porker's narration comes a split-second behind with "PIG". The last frame actually shows a radioactive pig biting a spider, and both Noir and Peni pause to give a puzzled look at his frame.
  • Last Stand: The Spider-Gang arrives at the Collider just in time, but when they are ambushed by Kingpin's cronies, they are forced to fight them off before they can go home, while a cluster of cityscapes appears in the middle of the Amazing Technicolor Battlefield.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
    • The official trailer ends with Miles asking how many more Spider-People are gonna show up, to which Peter tells him to save his questions for Comic-Con. The trailer was released about a month before the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con, which revealed Spider-Ham, Spider-Noir, and SP//dr in addition to a lot of people cosplaying as Spider-Man.
    • As an apparent side effect of gaining spider-powers, Miles' thoughts are now much louder and shown by onscreen comic-book-style narration boxes. One scene has him double-taking to look at some other students behind him, apparently looking at the box that just popped up over them.
    • Peter introduces himself to the audience in a narration... then tells them they probably already know what his story is.
    • Spider-Man Noir regularly leans into meta-commentary of the pulp fiction tropes that make up his life. He also apparently can't even comprehend the various colors of a Rubik's Cube, coming from a completely two-tone world.
    • In general, everyone seems to be sick of recounting their Superhero Origin, referencing how many adaptations Spider-Man has already gone through and have already told the "bitten by a spidernote " story. The Arc Words "Alright, let's do this one last" before every explaination of their stories may the movie's way of saying that this is (supposedly) the last time that they'll go through Spider-Man's origin story.
    • Before returning to his dimension, Spider-Ham says, "That's all, folks," prompting Peter to ask, "Can he say that? You know, legally?"note 
    • In the post-credits sequence, Spidey 2099 says he was "gone for less than two hours" while Lyla monitored the events of the film's climax. The movie is a hair shy of two hours. Lyla also chastises Miguel for being late. In other words, she's disappointed that Miguel's appearance is only in the post-credits scene and not with the other Spider-People.
  • Let's You and Him Fight: Parodied. In The Stinger, whatever dire mission Miguel O'Hara wanted to recruit 60's Spider-Man for, is quickly put aside as the two devolve into an argument about pointing at each other.
  • Lighter and Softer: While not without its fair share of death and drama, at least only one Spider-Man dies in this story compared to all the ones killed in the original crossover.
  • Limited Animation: Played with in many ways throughout the film for artistic effect.
    • The animation itself is gorgeous — however some scenes have an intentionally low frame rate to give the movie a "Comic Book" feeling of movement.
    • Peni Parker's movements and speech pattern are intentionally rendered Animesque, complete with limited amounts of lip movement that don't match how she's speaking.
    • Played for Laughs in The Stinger, which is animated in the same style as the '60s Spider-Man cartoon.
  • Logo Joke:
    • The first trailer has the Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, and Marvel logos colored dark red and set against a black background, the colors of Miles Morales' Spider-Man suit. The second trailer has more traditional blue/red Spidey colors.
    • The film itself opens with the various production and sponsorship logos (Columbia Pictures, Marvel, Sony Pictures Animation, and Pascal Pictures) glitching out and undergoing Reality Bleed, showing what they look like in different universes, with the Columbia Pictures glitches including past versions of the logo. One of the Sony logos is tagged with a Miles graffiti nametag. After the production logos is a stamp of "approval" from the long-gone Comics Code.
  • Look Both Ways:
    • Played with during the final battle in the Super-Collider. Although there was no "street" to speak of, Doc Ock's villainous charge is cut short by a semi-truck appearing out of nowhere.
    • During a flashback, we see that Vanessa and Richard are killed in a Surprise Car Crash while they were driving away in a panic causing them to run a red light where they were T-boned by a truck.

    Tropes M to Z 
  • Meaningful Echo:
    • The Spider-Gang saying "You're like me" after they first meet each other.
    • Early in the film, Aaron advises Miles on picking up chicks, telling him to put his hand on Gwen's shoulder and say in a smooth voice, "Hey." During the final battle, Miles puts his hand on Kingpin's shoulder and says "Hey." right before shocking him, defeating him, and avenging his uncle.
    • When Miles buys a Spider-Man costume to hide his identity, the shop owner (Stan Lee in cameo) tells him "It always fits... eventually" with a Twinkle Smile. Indeed, the costume is an awkward fit for Miles as he struggles to act like Spider-Man and often fails badly. As his character arc develops, leading to the "What's Up Danger" sequence, there's a flashback to Miles returning to the Spider-Lair where Aunt May gives him a set of web-spinners and tells him "They fit perfectly" with a smile and a wink, indicating that Miles is now ready to accept the mantle of Spider-Man.
    • When Peter B. Parker bars Miles from helping the Spider-Gang due to his inexperience, Miles asks, "When will I know I'm ready?" Parker responds, "You won't. It's a leap of faith." At the climax, Miles is holding Peter B. over the collider, about to let him go and return him to his universe. In a moment of sadness and fear, Peter B. asks how he'll know he's "not gonna mess it up again"; Miles simply says, "You won't", and he gets the message.
      "Right... it's a leap of faith."
  • Medium-Shift Gag: Peter's description of his "so-so popsicle" is accompanied by an actual photo of the popsicle in question, which is rather deformed and partially melted.
  • Mistaken for Murderer: Jefferson sees Miles, who's in a Spider-Man costume, kneeling next to the corpse of Aaron Davis after he died from the gunshot wound inflicted by Kingpin, and mistakes him for being the murderer. In the end, however, he realizes that Spider-Man wasn't responsible for the death.
  • Mood Whiplash: In Peter B. Parker's introduction sequence, Peter starts narrating his life story normally, showing montages of Spider-Man fighting bad guys and kissing Mary Jane. The montage then suddenly shows Peter going broke because of a failed investment, visiting Aunt May's grave, signing divorce papers with Mary Jane, moving into a shabby apartment, and crying in the shower in full Spider-Man costume, all while he is still narrating in the background without missing a beat.
  • More Hero than Thou: Peter B. and Miles in the climax fighting over the one-man-task to face the Kingpin and save the day.
  • Multitasked Conversation: At the lab, when Miles forgot the last two digits of the password, Peter B. tells Doc Ock that she doesn't look a day older than 35!
  • The Multiverse: The very first mainstream cinematic superhero movie to openly play with this concept. Miles' universe is identified on-screen as E-1610, referencing his comic book counterpart's original setting Earth-1610, even if the portrayal and depiction are otherwise entirely original and has nothing to do with Ultimate Marvel. note  Venom's post-credits ending mentions that both movies are happening at the same time in their respective different universes. Interestingly The Stinger uses the designation Earth-67 for the world of the 1967 cartoon, which was also used in the Spider-Verse comic.note  This means that the film crossed over with the comics.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: The moment the Prowler realizes he is strangling his own nephew he looks absolutely horrified.
  • My Greatest Second Chance:
    • Miles gets a downplayed example as he was just learning about his powers. He really wasn't in a position to actually help Blond Peter in his encounter with the Green Goblin or Kingpin, which leads to Blond Peter's death. However, we see that Miles' inaction weighs heavily upon him. Later, when Peter B. Parker goes to infiltrate Alchemax Labs and tells Miles to stay behind, Miles follows Peter into the Air-Vent Passageway once he sees Kingpin arrive explaining that he can't just sit idly by and do nothing.
    • Peter B gets one in the climax. After refusing to have kids with his Mary Jane, he gets the opportunity to be a parental figure to Miles while the latter is trying to understand his powers. Once Miles reaches full circle with his abilities, Miles then imparts what he has learned back on to Peter B (similar to how a child reflects on his lessons to his parent), finally allowing Peter B some closure with his fears (in that his experience with Miles shows he can be a good parent) and ultimately reconciling with his Mary Jane at the end of the movie.
  • Mysterious Cube of Rubik: Spider-Noir, coming from a Deliberately Monochrome universe where color does not exist, is fascinated and mystified by the colors on a Rubik's Cube. In the end, he brings it back to his home dimension, where he manages to solve it and advertises it as a wonder of the senses to his likewise monochrome compatriots.
  • Mythology Gag: Everywhere in the movie, thus this trope has its own subpage.
  • Namedar: Peter immediately knows what Miles' electroshock ability is called (Venom Strike), even though it doesn't involve venom.
  • Neck Lift:
    • Doc Ock to Peter B. Parker twice. The first time, she grabs him and then throws him hard enough to break the chair he's strapped into.
    • The Prowler, pursuing Miles on top of a roof, grabs him by the neck and dangles him over the edge above the ground. That is, until Miles pulls up his Spider-Man mask and reveals his face to his uncle.
    • During the climactic fight, the Kingpin grabs Miles by the neck and holds him up, about to give a killing blow. But he's distracted by the sight of alter-dimensional version of his wife and son.
  • Nerds Are Sexy: Discussed by Aaron when asking Miles about his new school, telling his nephew that "smart girls are where it's at."
  • Never Mess with Granny: During the fight scene at May Parker's home, May gives Tombstone a taste of her baseball bat.
  • Never Trust a Trailer:
    • The second trailer goes out of its way to make it seem that Peter B. is the Spider-Man of Miles' universe and the story will be equally following both Peter B. and Miles. The trailer even goes so far as to have Jake Johnson (the voice of Peter B.) read lines from Blond Peter's "one more time" recap (actually spoken by Chris Pine). Also, scenes of Blond Peter (while masked) are intermixed with scenes of Peter B (both masked and unmasked) to imply that there's only one Peter Parker/Spider-Man mentoring Miles.
    • The Brazilian trailer has Peter B. Parker being voiced by Manolo Rey, who also voiced Spider-Man in the Raimi trilogy. However, in the movie itself, Manolo only voices the Spider-Man from Miles' universe.
    • The first trailer has scenes with Peter B. Parker teaching Miles to "save one person" as opposed to "save the world" and advising "don't do it like me, do it like you" implying he's an Older and Wiser mentor-type in a movie that would be The Karate Kid meets Spider-Man. This was an early animation test made before Peter B.'s personality was locked in. In the final film, Peter B.'s character is the opposite; he's too jaded to do any heroism, much less tutoring until the stakes of the matter become more apparent.
    • Subverted in that the trailers state that if Kingpin's plan goes through, the entire multiverse will be destroyed. However, in the actual movie, the stated threat is the Super-Collider opening a black hole, which would destroy the planet, but not the entire universe and much less any other universe. The stinger and the sequel do elaborate that the multiverse could have collapsed due to the events of the film's finale.
  • No Name Given: Oscar Isaac and Greta Lee are credited as voicing "Interesting Person #1" and "Interesting Person #2" to avoid spoiling The Stinger, where they voice Miguel O'Hara (Spider-Man 2099) and Lyla. Jorma Taccone's role as 1967 Spider-Man is similarly listed as "Last Dude".
  • Non-Standard Character Design: Several of the alternate Spider-People have different designs reflecting the universe they come from.
  • Nothing Is Funnier: When Spider-Ham is introduced, he tells Miles that his hands are wet because he just washed them. "No other reason." We're left to wonder what other reason there could be.
  • Nothing Personal: Zig-Zagged with Doc Ock. She seems to have no grudge against any of the Spider-Gang, not even Miles who stole her computer, but she does find their interference annoying. Whenever she talks with them, she's a vicious fighter but always polite. To summarize, fighting them is just her job, and she is enthralled at seeing proof of the multiverse theory more than anything else.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Miles tries it time and time again, but always fails by acting too dumb. The best example is when he flunks on a true or false test by getting everything wrong. As his teacher points out, making wild guesses on every question would result in at least some correct answers, averaging out to 50%. Getting everything wrong is so statistically unlikely that he'd have to know the answers and intentionally do wrong.
  • Object Ceiling Cling: When Peter B. is pulled from his dimension through the ceiling, the pizza slide he was about to eat remains behind stuck to the ceiling.
  • Odd Name Out: Gwen Stacy, the only member of the Spider-Gang who doesn't have an Alliterative Name.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Miles has a series of these reactions as he accidentally stumbles on this Spider-Man's fight with the Goblin at the beginning of the film.
    • Peter B. has this reaction when he learns the scientist that strapped him into a chair is this universe's Doctor Octopus.
  • Ominous Visual Glitch: When Kingpin's Super-Collider is turned on, New York City experiences some... funky consequences. The alternate universe Spider-Gang also experience this repeatedly, a sign that staying too long in a foreign universe will cause cellular disintegration that will eventually kill them. The radioactive spider that bites Miles and gives him powers also has this, implying that it too came from another universe.
  • Once More, with Clarity: When Gwen does her "one last time" recap, we see a brief replay of Miles bumping into her in the school hallway. This time, the camera angle clearly shows that Gwen purposely caused him to bump into her.
  • Only One Finds It Fun: When Miles cracks a lame joke about Einstein's relativity of time when coming late to class, the only person finding it funny is Gwen. Subverted later when we find out that she did this on purpose to get Miles' attention.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After Miles experiences a personal tragedy, all of the Spider-Gang, who went Drill Sergeant Nasty on him the first time they met to show he was not ready to handle a field mission, comfort him by detailing their own personal tragedies. Spider-Ham, in particular, tells Miles, with the utmost seriousness, the harsh truth about being a hero.
    Spider-Ham: [tearfully] Miles, the hardest thing about this job is... you can't always save everybody.
  • Overly-Nervous Flop Sweat: Miles' sweaty face during his Meet Cute moment with Gwen at school. Justified by him still being affected by the spider-metamorphosis.
  • Painted CGI: This film is sometimes considered to have kicked off the popularity of this style. In order to look more like a comic book, the shading often uses effects such as screentone or stippling, and the 3D models have hand-drawn outlines to them to give a comic-book feel, as well as the use of 2D effects (such as explosions) and textures.
  • Painting the Medium: After Miles gets bitten by the spider imbuing him with powers, the movie becomes even more like a comic book, with dialogue boxes narrating Miles' thoughts, onomatopoeia, and wavy lines indicating that Spider Senses are tingling.
  • Papa Wolf:
    • While Peter B. starts out as very dismissive of Miles, he quickly becomes attached to him over the course of the movie, awakening his suppressed paternal instinct.
    • Spider-Noir and Spider-Ham work together to protect Peni when Scorpion gets the upper hand and begins to thrash her robot. Spider-Noir then carries her protectively.
  • Parental Bonus: Due to his Power Incontinence, Miles' hand becomes stuck to Gwen's hair and she is forced to cut parts of her hair off, Miles leaving the room with hair still stuck to his hand. This is a play on "hairy palms", an adult bonus that will soar over most kids' heads.
  • Parents as People: It's clear that Miles' dad loves him dearly, but he doesn't really get him, and he's also perhaps a bit too strict with him, resulting in Miles feeling like he can't express himself. Ironically this also causes him to look to his uncle as a role model, which is exactly what his father is trying to avoid.
  • Le Parkour: When Miles takes his "leap of faith" at the climax, his first major web-sling with his own web-shooters is combined with free-running off trucks and sides of buildings as well as leaps from rooftop to rooftop.
  • Platonic Declaration of Love:
    • Peter B. tells Miles he loves him when the latter finally joins the climactic fight against the Kingpin. This leads to a funny moment when he wonders aloud if this means he actually wants kids now.
    • Spider-Noir tells the other Spiders he loves them before returning to his own dimension.
  • Plot Device: Parodied — Peter has dealt with so many thingies he needs to save the day that he just calls them "goobers". The USB drive Spider-Man prime created to destroy the Super-Collider is the main goober, but it gets destroyed mid-way by Miles accidentally falling on it. In turn, this makes the head scientist of Alchemax lab's personal computer the new MacGuffin mid-movie, as the data it contains is needed to create a new goober.
  • Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: After the fight at Aunt May's house and Miles loses his Uncle Aaron, Peter B. decides to restrain him for his own good before taking the rest of the Spider-Gang to the Collider.
  • Point of View: The film is told almost exclusively from Miles' point of view, with only a few scenes (the fourth-wall-breaking character intros, Kingpin's Back Story, the start of the confrontation at Aunt May's house, the Spider-Infiltration in Act 3) that he is not in present in, or at least in the next room over. This has the side effect of not adding any character to the story until Miles himself meets them.
  • Politicians Kiss Babies: Played with. At the end when Miles cheers with the crowd, a man is holding up his baby boy. Miles fist-bumps the little man.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: The original Spider-Verse is a typically comic-book, sprawling storyline that benefits from pre-established knowledge of Spider-Man mythos and comics lore. The movie relegates all that to Mythology Gags for those who already know and to cultivate curiosity, but it's primarily intended as a vehicle to introduce Miles Morales, a character who was actually a small part of the event, but is celebrated for being Spider-Man's most famous Legacy Character.
  • Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Before going to town on Scorpion, Spider-Ham gives a rather offended-sounding "You got a problem with cartoons?" when the villain laughs at him.
  • Precision F-Strike: "What the hell!" Kingpin also describes the Super-Collider as "a hell of a freakin' light show".
  • Prepare to Die: When Miles faces Scorpion in Aunt May's house, they have a brief exchange in Spanish before they fight, with Scorpion telling Miles "niñito dale" (go ahead little boy), and Miles responding "preparate a morir" (prepare to die) in a fake deep voice to try and intimidate Scorpion. It just makes Scorpion laugh, partly because it's very obvious Miles is just an inexperienced kid, and also because he has couch cushions stuck to his hands at the moment.
  • Pretender Diss: During their showdown, Kingpin disses Miles as not being the real Spider-Man and calls him a "nothing".
  • Production Foreshadowing:
    • Well before the first trailers came out, a Marvel Legends wave of Spider-Man-centric figures included classic characters like Doc Ock and a Build-a-Figure of something much more recent... SP//dr (in its comic appearance, since this time a proper figure line for this movie, including movie-appearance SP//dr, was later released.)
    • Despite being intended to be a standalone movie, the production team managed to slip in a number of subtle hints towards plot elements that would be fleshed out in Across the Spider-Verse.
      • When Miles first meets Peter A., the two of them "synchronize" and gain coloured backgrounds which slowly fade into each other. While Peter has the traditional red and blue of Spider-Man, Miles' has a purple and green one that slowly becomes red and blue. The reveal in the sequel that Miles was never supposed to get bitten casts this in an entirely new light, as this scene becomes a symbolic representation of Miles' destiny changing from becoming the Prowler to becoming Spider-Man.
      • The Alchemax spider that bites Miles has an odd, electronic look to it and glitches out frequently. The reasons behind this go unexplained within the movie itself, but the glitch effect implies it is from another dimension (since the same glitch effect happens to the rest of the Spider-Gang when they are out of their home dimensions for too long). Across confirms this, as the spider was pulled from Earth-42.
  • Product Placement:
    • Alternate universe Peter Parker passes by a Coca-Cola board in his dimension. Amusingly, the same thing is a "Koca-Soda" board in Miles' universe.
    • Additionally, Miles wears Sony branded headphones.
    • Miles prominently wears Nike Air Jordan 1's throughout the entire movie, with Nike dropping a limited run of Spider-Verse-themed AJ1s timed to coincide with the release. More subtly, Peter B. Parker also wears Converse for a large portion of the movie, a Nike sub-brand.
    • Among the billboards in Miles' universe are a Water Polo game by EA Sports and an ad for Synchrony Bank, both of which are seen when Gwen is transported into the same dimension.
  • The Promise: Miles is determined to keep the promise he made to Spider-Man before he died.
  • Rapid-Fire "No!": Uncle Aaron during the Rooftop Confrontation when he discovers that it was Miles in the Spider-Man costume.
  • Reality Bleed: Fisk's Super-Collider is what brings Peter B. Parker into this universe, along with the other Spider-People, and its continued operation threatens to destroy Brooklyn. Its activation mashes up landmarks that are on the same spot; a corner streetlight becomes fused with other street lights and a lot of variously colored fire hydrants, piling up into a vaguely Christmas-tree-like shape.
  • Reality Has No Subtitles:
    • Miles is an Afro-Latino teenager and the film shows both English and Spanish being spoken in his household. However, the Spanish-language conversations between Miles and his mother Rio aren't accompanied by subtitles. This was an intentional choice by producer and co-writer Phil Lord, who wanted to accurately represent the fabric of Miles' community and family life to the audience. The DVD/Bluray release honors the creator's intention so that when the movie is watched with subtitles on, the Spanish dialogue is displayed in Spanish.
    • The closest thing to subtitles that are used is the introduction of Scorpion, who speaks Spanish translated by an onscreen speech bubble, complete with brackets and a footnote explaining the translation. This alludes to the same practice in comics.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: The teacher that wouldn't fail Miles because she realizes he intentionally tanked the test and is trying to quit the school.
  • Rebuilt Pedestal: Despite Peter B. not making the best first impression on Miles, by the end of the Alchemax heist as he's able to talk Miles through using the web-shooters and it looks like they're going to make a clean escape with what they came for, Miles is clearly more impressed by him and even calls him "amazing".
  • Refuge in Audacity: While trying to escape from the Alchemax lab, Peter B. and Miles find themselves in a large cafeteria filled with Alchemax employees. They decide to "act supernormal" and just walk straight through them, hoping that their extreme nonchalance will confuse the employees long enough to let them pass. It's subverted because the employees quickly recover and suddenly pull out all manner of blaster rifles and begin to chase after them.
  • Refusal of the Call:
    • Miles initially resist his call and doesn't want to take on the mantle of Spider-Man. This gets expressed in the scene where Blond Peter encounters Miles and senses that the boy has spider powers.
      Blond Peter: I thought I was the only one. You're like me.
      Miles: I don't wanna be.
      Blond Peter: I don't think you have a choice, kiddo.
    • When Peter B comes to Miles' dimension, he's initially more interested in finding the Super Collider just so he can go home. When he learns how dangerous the collider is, he instead promises to destroy it on the way home but he still won't take Miles as his apprentice.
  • Reverse Polarity: We are informed this has occurred after Miles inserts the goober and takes control of the Super-Collider beam.
    Computer: Alert! Quantum Polarity has been reversed!
  • Rewatch Bonus:
    • During the opening prologue scenes, there are a few brief shots of Peter Parker without his mask on. They're either from behind or blink-and-you'll-miss-it, but it's clear that he has blond hair — indicating that he's an Alternate Universe version of Peter Parker. This is a good half-hour before this fact is pointed out in the film proper.
    • The conversation between Miles and "Gwanda" when they meet in the hallway between classes has a new meaning on second viewing.
      Miles: So you're, like, new here right? We got that in common.
      Gwen: Yeah, that's one thing.
    • When Miles returns to the tunnels under Alchemax looking for the spider that bit him, he experiences a deluge of sensory input that coalesces into his first true spider-sense warning. As this happens, the wavy spider-sense lines appear about his head and the words "LOOK OUT" appear in the windows behind him just before a huge chunk of metal hurled by the Green Goblin comes crashing through.
    • After Miles is bitten by the radioactive spider, we cut to a Time Passes Montage showing Miles asleep in his bunk bed. The early part of the montage shows him sleeping in a relaxed, comfortable position. As the night goes on and the spider's bite is taking effect, Miles' movements become more fitful and chaotic, with him even curling into a fetal position at times.
    • After Miles has his embarrassing "I think I hit puberty" moment in his dorm room with Ganke, the scene cuts to the school hallway with Miles only shown from the knees down still trying to get his too short pants to fit. Right behind him is a girl shown from the waist down, getting stuff from her locker who is wearing green ballet slippers. This scene lines up perfectly with Gwen's "one last time" recap at the moment she says "My Spider-sense told me to head to Visions Academy."
    • When the particle accelerator starts the first time, you can hear Liv's voice saying that five separate dimensions have opened up. When the Green Goblin causes the Super-Collider to explode, we cut to a long-distance shot of the explosion emerging from the Fisk building. You can see five distinct colored blobs shooting out of the shockwave before it hits the city causing a momentary blackout. This explosion scene is repeated during every "one last time" recap to reinforce that the blobs are the members of the Spider-Gang being thrown out into the city.
    • In the scene where Miles watches Kingpin arrive at Alchemax, a closer review of the parking lot shows no less than 8 hulking, thuggish looking "scientists" complete with white smocks vigilantly watching for intruders and looking completely out of place.
    • In the sequel, Miguel O'Hara tells Miles that Miles himself is an anomalous version of Spider Man because the spider that bit him was supposed to be from a different universe. Miguel also says that because of this, the Peter Parker of this Universe ends up dying. When you rewatch the first encounter at the collider, you will see that Miguel was correct. Due to Miles inadvertently getting involved in the fight, Peter Parker must abandon his effort to destroy the collider to save him, triggering a series of events that ultimately sees him seriously injured and ultimately killed at the hands of Kingpin.
  • Rooftop Confrontation: The Prowler apprehends Miles on the rooftop of May Parker's house, leading to a Dramatic Unmask moment.
  • Runaway Train: During Blond Peter's "one last time" recap, there's a shot of him stopping a runaway train, meant to be a reference to the iconic scene in Spider-Man 2 where he stops a runaway train during his fight with Doc Ock.
  • Running Gag:
    • Each time a new Spider-Ma... Spider-Person is introduced, they will narrate their origins more or less the same way with the scene shift to their first comic-book appearance. And each one starts with some variation of "OK, for one last time..."
    • Someone commenting in a roundabout way how out of shape Peter B. Parker is.
    • Miles' refusal to tie his shoelaces and characters commenting about it.
    • "Spider-Man?" Many, many times throughout the film when Spider-Man appears to other people they'll say "Spider-Man?" in a questioning way as if it's a total surprise that he would ever drop by. Despite the movie being about Spider-Man and being set in a universe where Spider-Man is greatly admired and constantly protecting New York.
    • Random New Yorkers catching sight of Spidey-related weirdness through the windows, and variously reacting with surprise, shock, fright, puzzlement, or dulled indifference once the Gag has played itself out.
  • Scenery Porn: The film's version of New York is animated with astonishing attention to detail. From the wall-to-wall skyscrapers of downtown Manhattan to the crumbling tunnels of New York's subway system, to the graffiti-tagged neighborhoods of Brooklyn, this version of the city is a wholehearted, affectionate celebration of one of the United States' largest melting pots.
  • Self-Deprecation: Peter B. Parker mentions that he made some dicey money choices, and then advises us not to invest in a Spider-themed restaurant. This was a subtle jab at Marvel Comics' bankruptcy from 1996: one of the things done to deal with it was the "Marvel Mania" restaurants, which lasted for less than a year. Note that this can be either Self-Deprecation or Biting-the-Hand Humor, according to the perspective used to understand the relation between Marvel Comics and Sony.
  • Self-Offense: When Peter B. first shows up, his shadow matches Prowler's, and it even starts to play Prowler's music. Miles hits him with a venom strike before realizing he's not a threat.
  • Sequel Hook:
    • The final shot of the movie is Miles in bed at home, at peace with his life... then a portal opens and we hear Gwen calling to him for one more adventure.
    • The Stinger itself teases that dimensional travel can now be voluntary, as opposed to accidental and forced by the Super-Collider, thanks to Miguel O'Hara, who is apparently trying to recruit other Spider-Men from different Earths.
  • Shackle Seat Trap: At the lab, Doc Ock hurls Peter B. into a chair which subsequently shackles his arms and legs, allowing Doc Ock to take a cell sample from his cheek.
  • Share Phrase: "You're like me", used when a Spider-Person meets another Spider-Person (and they're conscious enough for their Spider-Sense to go off).
  • Shifting Situation Duel: As reality collapses around the two in the final battle, Miles Morales and the Kingpin are forced to traverse randomly appearing buildings, trains, and bridges, while fighting each other at the same time.
  • Ship Tease: Between Miles and Gwen throughout the movie, with the writers noting that they were initially planned to get together at the end before one of the producers pushed them to make it just friendship instead. A sequel is in development that will focus on developing a romance from there, however.
  • Short-Distance Phone Call: At the end, Miles calls his father while looking at him from the ledge of a building.
  • Shoulder Teammate: After losing her Mini-Mecha in the Final Battle, Peni Parker takes a ride on Spider-Man Noir's shoulder.
  • Shout-Out: They have their own sub-page.
  • Shower of Angst: In Peter B. Parker's flashback to his past as Spider-Man, along with his Unreliable Voiceover, he notably mentions after his divorce with Mary Jane, "I handled it like a champ". Then we see Peter curled up and crying in the shower while still wearing his Spider-Man costume.
  • Showing Up Chauvinists: When Peter B. outlines the steps of his infiltration plan of Alchemax Labs to obtain the plans for the Super-Collider that is threatening to destroy Brooklyn, he assumes the head scientist is male. He learns that Evil Genius transcends gender as the head scientist is a frizzy-haired hipster woman. This prompts him to add a step to "re-examine my personal biases".
  • Shrine to the Fallen: Both Peter's grave and Aunt May's house have flowers and gifts paid in homage to the webbed hero. Miles accidentally messes some up by the grave, and it can be assumed the fight at Aunt May's house trashes the rest.
  • Silent Credits: Downplayed. While music does play over most of the credits, there is none over the dedications to Spider-Man creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
  • Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Since the promotion was focused primarily on all the Spider-Men, very little focus was given to the villains, with Doc Ock not even being alluded to.
  • Skewed Priorities:
    • As Peter and Miles escape Alchemax, one of the scientists can be heard shouting their concern — only it's not that Spider-Man has infiltrated their facility or that he's leaving with a workstation that likely contains proprietary data, but rather that he took a bagel.
    • While Peter B. is eating pizza in his apartment, an unexpected dimensional portal opens right above him. His first reaction is to watch the portal while trying to finish his pizza slice. When the portal drags him in, he's shown webbing his mask and the slice of pizza to come with him, the former makes it through the portal in time, while the latter is left behind.
  • Slow-Motion Fall: When the Prowler gets shot by the Kingpin, he falls backwards in slow motion.
  • Small Steps Hero: Peter seems to be teaching Miles to be like this. In a scene that didn't make the theatrical cut, when Miles asks how he's supposed to save the world, Peter answers that he shouldn't focus on that but on saving one person at a time.
  • Snow Means Death: Miles visits Peter Parker's grave while it's snowing.
  • Someone Has to Die: The Spider-Gang's conclusion after realizing Miles isn't up to the task, is that one of them is going to have to stay behind. Naturally, being a team of superheroes, they all volunteer at the same time.
  • Something Something Leonard Bernstein: Miles doesn't know most of the lyrics to Post Malone & Swae Lee's "Sunflower" beyond "...nevertheless, callin' it quits now, baby, I'm a wreck," faking his way through the rest when he sings it.
  • So Much for Stealth: Miles secretly witnesses Kingpin killing Blond Peter from some distance. Then a piece of debris falls down giving his presence away and a Chase Scene ensues between him and the Prowler.
  • So Proud of You: Peter split up with MJ because he didn't want kids; but, during the climactic battle, he's so impressed with Miles that he considers changing his mind.
  • Spectator Casualty: When Doc Ock breaks in the door to Aunt May's house, a tentacle goes flying straight toward Peter B. who just manages to deflect it with his arm... and knocks it straight toward Aunt May coming out of the kitchen with some tea as the Spider-Gang looks on in alarm. Thankfully subverted in that the deflection removed some of the tentacle's momentum and the tea tray takes the brunt of the impact shielding Aunt May.
  • Spikes of Villainy: The Scorpion is the biggest offender, being covered in spikes, but several other villains have a spiky motif, including the Prowler and Green Goblin.
  • Split Screen: When a fight between heroes and villains erupts in Aunt May's living room, all she's focusing on is the damage to her house, which is illustrated by the screen being split in four, each featuring some furniture getting smashed up — and in the last one, Spider-Ham breaks a plate on his own head.
  • Split-Screen Phone Call: A heartwarming one between Miles and his father at the end.
  • Springtime for Hitler: Miles attempts to get kicked out of Visions by purposely failing a test, but it does not work because the teacher realizes that he has to know the correct answers in order to get every question wrong on a true-or-false test. She gets Miles to admit that even someone who was just guessing would have gotten at least some of the answers right by random chance. She then gives him a perfect score.
  • Stable Time Loop: A Downplayed case. The Collider explosion by the film's first act displaced the various Spaider gang members not just dimensionally, but chronologically too. Peter B, Peni, Noir and Spider-Ham are all shown to arrive in Miles' dimension by impacting the exact same Koca-Soda billboard, but at different points in time, with Peter revealing his arrival was only a few hours after the explosion. Gwen specially was literally "blown into last week", and showed up at Visions academy following a hunch by her Spider-Sense before the event that stranded her dimensionally had ever occurred. Accordingly, nothing Gwen did could have stopped the Collider's activation without causing a Reality-Breaking Paradox, and after the event has occurred, the "glitching" destabilisation that affects all the foreign Spider people starts to get more pronounced once they're all chronologically in sync, despite Gwen not showing any signs of glitching prior.
  • Stage Whisper: At Alchemax Labs, Peter and Miles converse by whispering loudly behind Doc Ock's back but she doesn't seem to notice.
  • Steal the Surroundings: Miles logs into the Alchemax head scientist's computer to download the files needed to shut down the Super-Collider, but he doesn't have time to locate them on the messy desktop and takes the entire computer (along with the monitor).
  • Stealth Sequel: Both the Spidey of Miles' Earth and Peter B. are, in a Broad Strokes sense, the version from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy. Peter B.'s story up until he gets sucked into Miles' universe in particular loosely reflects some of the plot points that would have been in a potential fourth Raimi movie.
  • Sticky Situation: Miles has problems dealing with his new spider-powers, as his hands repeatedly get stuck to various objects and he has no idea how to turn the "cling to walls" ability off.
    • Most notably, when unwittingly touching Gwen's hair and staying stuck to them, leading to a weird dance in the middle of the hallway with the students looking, where Miles is pulling her around while Gwen resists and urges him to stop, and certainly NOT to pull harder. This finally ends up in the nurse's office, where Gwen has to cut some of her hair (leaving a hand-shaped mark in them; her hair remains asymmetrical for the rest of the film), leaving Miles with a handful of blond hair which he still can't pry from his fingers.
    • Another time, inside Olivia's office, Miles has trouble coming down from a light fixture on the ceiling, and when Peter tells him to just try and do what he does to relax, Miles starts poorly singing Post Malone's "Sunflower", to Peter's chagrin. And when he finally gets unstuck in the middle of a verse, Miles botches the landing hard.
    • While facing Scorpion in Aunt May's living room, Miles' Badass Boast is a bit ruined by the couch cushions sticking to his hands.
  • The Stinger: Spider-Man 2099 speaks with Lyla about other dimensions. Later, he finds himself in the 1960s cartoon and gets into an argument with that universe's Spider-Man.
  • Stock Scream: A variation of the Wilhelm Scream is heard when Spider-Noir punches a bad guy in his origin story.
  • Stock Sound Effects: When Miles unlocks the computer at the lab, we hear a dial-up modem sound.
  • String Theory: At Blond Peter's underground base, there is a wall with photos of villains connected by red strings.
  • Superhero Origin: Gets played within this movie. Every Spider-Person gives an introduction via a comic-book-style flashback of how they got their powers and how they came to terms with their guilt over the person(s) who died so they would understand With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. By the time we get to Gwen's, it's done with a knowing wink. When we get introduced to Peni, Noir, and Spider-Ham their origin retellings overlap to where the whole thing becomes a Deconstructive Parody. However, it's played straight at the end of the movie, when it becomes Miles' turn to tell his own origin because it signals that he's at last ready to carry the mantle of Spider-Man.
  • Supernatural Sensitivity: It's a given that all members of the Spider-Gang possess Spider-Sense that alerts them to danger. However, the movie introduces that when two or more Spider-People get together, each person's Spider-Sense goes off in a way that lets them know the other has spider-powers as well. Gwen appears to be even more receptive to this on an intuitive level, as she explains how her Spider-Sense guided her to Visions Academy where she was able to connect with Miles.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
    • One that's played for laughs is when Miles and Peter B. are stealing the computer data needed to shut down the Super-Collider from Alchemax. Miles takes the tower and the monitor; Peter B. tosses the monitor out since they don't need it, averting Computer Equals Monitor.
    • The twisted reality fusion when the Super-Collider is re-fired is incredibly chaotic and dangerous, with cars, trains, and buildings flying everywhere. Doc Ock is taken out of the fight when a semi-truck blind-sides her. Despite the expectation that, as a supervillain, she'll be part of final fight, but without the Spider-Gangs' Spider-Sense, she doesn't last long in the reality storm.
    • Miles wants to help the older and more experienced Spider-Gang take down the Super-Collider and one expects the newest Spider-Man to be part of the climatic fight, but they quickly realize that he is so new to his powers that he will be a liability in the field and will likely get hurt or killed. Peter B. webs Miles to a chair to keep him from following.
    • In a deleted scene for the movie, Tombstone confronts the Spider-Gang trying to get into the Spider-Man themed gala in full costume, whereas the actual employees only wore masks. When out of earshot, he immediately tells his superiors that they snuck in, noting how stupid it would be to fall for that.
    • One of the key tenets of Spider-Man is that no matter how many times they are knocked down, the always get back up. As the oldest Spider-Man, one would assume Peter B. Parker has mastered that lesson. However, after a series of injuries, financial misfortunes, and growing marital tension, Peter B is hit hard by two emotional tragedies that knock him to the ground; the death of his Aunt May and his divorce from Mary Jane when she wanted kids. He is unable to get back up from these blows and descends into a jaded mindset, a burnt-out work ethic, and a pizza-fueled potbelly.
  • Take That!:
    • The infamous "Emo Dancing" scene from Spider-Man 3 is referenced by the Peter of Miles' universe early on, with him explicitly noting "We don't really talk about this."invoked
    • The well-known Spider-Man popsicles with gumball eyes gets a jab from this film in the form of Peter Parker calling it "so-so," accompanied by a Real Life photo of a rather deformed one.
    • The opening of the movie mockingly assures us that it's approved by The Comics Code Authority, a.k.a. the Censorship Bureau that was seriously challenged for the first time by a handful of Spider-Man issues in the early 1970s that forced the CCA to lighten its stance, and by 2001 Marvel had abandoned it completely. Needless to say, much of the film's content would not pass CCA restrictions. note 
    • While fighting with the Green Goblin, Spidey says that he doesn't want Brooklyn to be swallowed up by a black hole. If you listen closely, he says, "Staten Island, maybe, but not Brooklyn."
    • A soft jab is made at themed casual restaurants (like T.G.I. Fridays) and sensationalist media (like Mad Money) as they result in a financial failure for Peter B.
    • Near the end of the movie, Jefferson believes his phone count on him. He immediately blames C-Mobile.
  • Take Up My Sword: Much like in the original comics, Miles takes up the mantle of Spider-Man after the death of Peter Parker, the original.
  • Tempting Fate:
    • Upon meeting Spider-Noir and SP//dr, Peter says things couldn't get any weirder. In comes Spider-Ham, who answers back "It can get weirder."
    • As Miles writes in his note to Aaron how he wishes he was here, the Prowler suddenly appears and unmasks to reveal that he is Aaron himself.
  • Theme Mobile: The Spidermobile and a spider motorcycle can be seen in Blond Peter's underground base.
  • Thinks of Something Smart, Says Something Stupid: Miles, confronted by a security guard about leaving campus without permission, tells himself to play dumb. His verbal reply has him chastising himself for it being too dumb.
    Guard: I know you snuck out last night, Morales!
    Miles: [thinking] Play dumb. [out loud] Who's Morales? [thinking] Not that dumb!
  • Three-Point Landing:
    • Miles sticks one instinctively after getting hit by a taxi, to the bystanders' applause. It's the final straw that makes him acknowledge all the weirdness as powers, not puberty.
    • Peni Parker makes her grand entrance atop SP//dr in this iconic pose... while the Mini-Mecha is doing the same! (Just with the pose inverted.)
    • Miles assumes the pose before and during his Final Battle against the Kingpin.
  • Time-Compression Montage: Miles' first day at the new school is captured in a couple of key shots, including a ticking clock on the wall.
  • Time Passes Montage: After Miles has been bitten by the spider, we see a time-lapse shot of his dorm room with Miles sleeping and his roommate, Ganke, working throughout the night.
  • Toon Physics:
    • Spider-Ham has the power of cartoon physics, which he weaponizes against villains. It makes him a formidable threat.
    • During the fight in Aunt May's house, when Peni Parker goes to enter the SP//dr mecha-armor, she easily leaps 30 feet into the air complete with multi-colored background to land dynamically in the mecha's cockpit even though the living room ceiling is barely taller than the mecha-armor.
  • Tough Love: Jefferson admits to Miles that he's tough on him because he sees the spark of potential and brilliance in his son, and wants him to take advantage of life as much as he can. This "toughness" includes refusing to let Miles transfer back to his regular school.
  • Train Escape: When Miles is chased by the Prowler, a train gets between them, allowing the former to get away.
  • Training from Hell: More of a test of character, but when Gwen, Miles, and Peter meet the other Spiders at the lair, they all decide to test the newbie... by kicking his ass and screaming questions to disorient him. What they want to see is if he's tough and determined enough to get back up and continue to fight regardless of the sudden pressure. However, Miles gets quickly overwhelmed, leading the Spider-Gang to conclude that he's still too new to his powers and that they should do the mission without him.
  • Trainstopping: During Blond Peter's Opening Monologue where he recaps his feats, we see him stopping a runaway metro which is a clear homage to the second film of Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.
  • Trash Landing: Miles lands in a bunch of trash bags while fleeing from his uncle's apartment.
  • Triumphant Reprise: Throughout the movie, the Prowler's Drone of Dread became the musical representation of Miles's fear and anxiety. When he takes his leap of faith, "What's Up Danger" begins to play, with Prowler's drone layered into the song. While the drone is not musically changed, the song's upbeat composition with bold lyrics about willingly being In Harm's Way starts to overshadow it. When the "Can't stop me now!" crescendo hits, the drone is completely overpowered and signifies that Miles has fully taken on the mantle of Spider-Man. By the end of the song, the drone is still there but has been beaten into submission.
  • Truer to the Text: Into the Spider-Verse is a fair bit more accurate to multiple iterations of Spider-Man on some details:
    • Its portrayal of Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen is truer than the animated series running at the time, Marvel's Spider-Man, where both are teen contemporaries of Peter. Originally, Miles was a few years younger than the still teenage Ultimate Peter Parker who briefly "died" and returned two years later as an eighteen-year-old while Miles was still fifteen while after transplanting to the 616 Universe, Miles became the teenage Spider-Man as a contrast to the adult Spider-Man of the mainline universe, who graduated from high school and college way back in issues published in the '70s. It's also truer than Spider-Man (PS4) which came out the same year, where Miles enters Peter's life after his father Jefferson died when the comics have Miles distinguished from Peter by having a lot of family and relatives in his life.
    • While still aged-down to being a teenager rather than a college dropout, Spider-Gwen is shown to have the same backstory as her comic book counterpart, being a sardonic drummer who was pointedly not a love interest for her Peter Parker, being platonic best friends (though he may have had feelings for her).
    • Into the Spider-Verse is the first version of any cinematic Peter to show him as an adult superhero which is what the vast majority of the mainline comics has covered since 1966 (Peter graduated from high school in Issue #28 and was no longer really a teenager from around Issue #33 or so) whereas previous adaptations had emphasized Peter as either a high-schooler or college student. Both versions of Peter that we see in the film married Mary Jane Watson, who was his wife in the mainline continuity for twenty years (1987-2008) until a Cosmic Retcon, as well as a number of long-lived alternate versions (the newspaper strip, Spider-Girl, The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows).
    • This is the first adaption of Spider-Man since Spider-Man: The Animated Series to use the radioactive spider bite origin for Peter, as after Ultimate Spider-Man was released every adaption since has used the genetically altered origin for the spider. However, this is played with since the radioactive spider origin is used for every spider-themed hero in the film, including Miles and Gwen who in the comics were bitten by genetically altered spiders, and Spider-Man Noir who was bitten by a magical spider.
  • A True Story in My Universe: Miles' universe features a popular comic series called "True Life Tales of Spider-Man". The comics give Spidey a fictional alter-ego named "Billy Barker," who happens to look exactly like the 1960s version of Peter Parker (and absolutely nothing like the real Spider-Man).
  • Underestimating Badassery: Scorpion only smirks when Spider-Ham shows up to fight him. Spider-Ham then proceeds to deliver the pain — loads of it.
  • Underside Ride: When the Spider-Gang (minus Miles) are sneaking into Kingpin's lair to destroy the collider, Peni and the SP//dr are rolling under a food trolley with a white blanket.
  • Unfolding Plan Montage: Peter B.'s plan to infiltrate the lab is shown in animated comic-book panels.
  • Unreliable Voiceover: Peter B. Parker's voice-over during the flashback showing his life as Spider-Man in his universe doesn't always match the scenes we see on the screen. Among other things, he pretends that he handled his divorce "like a champ", only for a cut showing him in the middle of a Shower of Angst. He also says that he kept doing half-crunches and push-ups to keep in shape afterward, while the movie shows him lazing about and gorging himself in Comfort Food, resulting in a sizable gut that is mocked throughout the film.
  • Unsound Effect:
    • During their escape from Alchemax, Miles throws away the bagel Peter B. stole. It hits one of the scientists in the head as the word "BAGEL!!!" pops up above him.
    • During Miles' "one last time" recap, there's a scene where he and Ganke fist bump after Miles reveals that he's Spider-Man. The sound effect above the bump says "Best Buds", implying that Miles and Ganke's friendship will blossom like it does in the comics.
    • During the climactic fight, after Gwen and Miles deliver a double-punch to Doc Ock with the label "BYYYEE", they then give each other a celebratory fist-bump with the label "DAP" appearing above it.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: In order to reinforce the fact that New York collectively has Seen It All, a weird glitch sculpture created by the various dimensions merging is casually written off as a Banksy.
  • Verbal Backspace: When Miles finds himself walking on the security office ceiling, he tells his feet, "Stop sticking!" A moment later, he falls out the window, finds himself standing on a brick wall, and changes it to "Keep sticking!"
  • Visible Invisibility: We still see Miles' transparent outline while he is completely invisible to characters in-universe. It's Subverted in the Final Battle, to indicate Miles has gained control of this ability and also to give him his Big Damn Heroes moment when he starts attacking Doc Ock.
  • Vocal Evolution: In the beginning, Miles' voice was still developing from his pre-teen voice which sounded sheepish and submissive. When Miles becomes a worthy successor to the original Spider-Man, his voice sounds notably more mature and confident.
  • Wait Here: When Peter B. goes to sneak into the lab to steal the files for a new goober, he tells Miles to stay behind. The latter is not excited about it and decides to follow Peter when he sees Kingpin arrive.
  • Watch Out for That Tree!: Miles' first attempt at web-swinging under duress ends up with him slamming hard into a tree. He subsequently tries to flee on foot, against Peter's advice.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: The Spider-Man of this world has precious few minutes of screentime, where he tries to stop Kingpin from wiping out Brooklyn with the Super-Collider, realizes Miles is hiding there and is like him, and offers to mentor him. Then he gets badly damaged and pinned to the ground under the rubble when the Super-Collider explodes, and Kingpin murders him.
  • Wham Line: The geeky-looking scientist who works for Fisk revealing who she truly is to Peter right after she straps him to a chair:
    Doctor Olivia Octavius: If you stay in this dimension too long, your body's gonna disintegrate. Do you know how painful that would be, Peter Parker? [...] You can't imagine. And I, for one... can't wait to watch.
  • Wham Shot:
    • The Prowler taking off his mask, revealing himself to be Aaron Davis, Miles' uncle.
    • During The Stinger, a banner popping up naming the location as Nueva York, from the Marvel 2099 comics, followed by Spider-Man 2099 putting on what appears to be a universe-jumping Web Watch from the comic book event the film is named for. This is ultimately Played for Laughs, though.
  • What Have I Become?: Parodied in the "Spidey Bells" song that plays over the credits, where Peter questions going from super-heroics to holiday music albums.
    Peter: Oh, Spidey Bells, Spidey Bells ...Is this who I've become? Selling out my good name for an impulse-buy album?
  • When You Snatch the Pebble: The scene of Miles finally becoming his version of Spider-Man has him going through various locations where he utterly failed to succeed earlier in the film due to his own lack of confidence in himself: He swings through the street with the train where he crashed into multiple cars while trying to escape the cops with a passed out Peter, flips off the flagpole he previously smacked into when he broke the first "goober", and easily leaps between the two buildings he was too scared to try jumping across when he first wanted to test his powers.
  • "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The closing scene shows all members of the Spider-Gang going about their day back in their home dimensions.
  • Wingding Eyes:
    • Peter B. gets the X.X version for a split second when he hits a tombstone face-first.
    • Peni gets spiraled circles when she glitches in the spider-cave.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Invoked several times; only natural, given that it's something of a Central Theme of the Spider-Man canon:
    • An archive audio recording of Cliff Robertson's reciting of the line appears in the prologue retelling the origin of Miles' universe's Peter.
    • While bemoaning Spider-Man's vigilantism on the way to Brooklyn Visions Academy, Jefferson mangles it as "with great ability comes great accountability"; Miles then lampshades that this is not how the phrase goes.
    • Miles tries to invoke it on Peter B. when trying to convince him to help train him, but Peter B. cuts him off halfway and tells him not to finish the sentence as he's "sick of it", an early sign that this Peter is very different from his own.
    • When trying to convince the other Spiders that he is the one who must shut off the Super-Collider and send them home, Miles states that he made a promise to his universe's Peter, that it is his home and family at stake and thus his responsibility. They are still skeptical, though.
  • Worthy Opponent: When Doc Ock fights the Spider-Gang, she usually sports a Grin of Audacity whenever they land a hit on her.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Both Peter B. and Miles have no issue with smacking around Doc Ock... mostly due to her formidable nature in battle.
  • Written Roar: "AAAAAAAA" and "WOOOOOO" trail behind Miles as he falls past the screen during two particular points in the movie.
  • Written Sound Effect: All over the place. Some such as "Boom!" and "Ponk" appear in appropriately comic-book-style big letters in some action scenes. Others are small, such as little "THWIP"s coming out of the Spider-Gang's wrists when web-slinging in some scenes.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
    • A running belief about Miles, from his parents to a teacher who calls him out when he intentionally gets a zero score on a true/false test to his Uncle Aaron who describes him as "the best of all of us". Peter and Gwen believe he has great potential to help them destroy the Super-Collider. This is the theme of his character arc.
    • At the end of the movie, Peter B. gets a pep talk like this from Miles who tells him that he won't make the same mistakes before he returns to his own dimension.
  • You Are Fat: A running gag is that Peter B receives many comments about his depression-fuelled pizza-gut from various characters like Miles, Aunt May, and Liv (who even pokes at it).
  • You Are Not Alone: The overall theme of the movie is the message that anyone can be Spider-Man, or, more broadly, that anyone can be a true hero.
    • In the story itself, the other Spiders go to the traumatized Miles Morales to tell him that they are some of the only people that know exactly how he feels after his uncle dies in front of him, shortly after being revealed as a villain. Each character then talks about the people they could not save, and the pain it caused them.
    • Considering Peter's reaction to Miles being another person with spider-powers, it's implied that Peter feels alone due to nobody being able to understand the stresses of being Spider-Man. Peter sounds pretty thrilled to finally find someone "like [him]" and starts looking forward to mentoring him.
    • Near the end of the credits, there is a quote from Stan Lee that expresses how anyone who strives to help someone else is a true superhero. This is followed by a tribute thanking the then-recently passed away Stan Lee and Steve Ditko for showing us that we are not the only ones struggling to do good.
  • You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
    • Line said by Peter B. after realizing Miles has taken the goober from him.
    • The entire Spider-Gang (minus Miles, who has yet to catch up) when they realize that the "party" that Kingpin is holding in his building is meant to be a memorial service for that Universe's Spider-Man.
  • You Know I'm Black, Right?: Played for Laughs. When the Spider-Gang are spying on Kingpin as he's making a self-aggrandizing speech at a banquet to honor Spider-Man's memory, this exchange happens.
    Spider-Gwen: What a pig!
    Spider-Ham: I'm right here!
  • You Wanna Get Sued?: When Spider-Ham exits with "That's all, folks!"
    Peter: Can he say that? You know, legally?
"Anyone can wear the mask. You can wear the mask. If you didn't know that before, I hope you do now. 'Cause I'm Spider-Man... but I'm not the only one—not by a long shot."

 
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Which Answers Are Right

Miles Morales failed a true/false quiz with a shocking score of "0." But, as his teacher points out, realistically the only way someone could get all the answers wrong on a true/false quiz is to have known which ones were right. She changes his score to a 100, telling him he's trying to quit and she's not going to let him.

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Springtime for Hitler

Spider-Man

The Prowler

Miles Morales

Peter B. Parker

The Death of Sp...

Spider-Man's Fu...

Spider-Ham

Peter B. Parker

"You guys don't...

S-M ItSV [Miles...

My enemies call...

Spider-man vs. ...

Stan Lee [Spide...

Peter B. Parker

Death of Uncle ...

Miles Morales d...

Spider-Man: Int...

Peter B Parker ...

Miles Morales

Harry Palms

Spider-Man: Int...

Spider-Man: Int...

Spider-Man Noir

Spider-Man Noir

Rubik's Cube

The Prowler

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Which Answers Are Right

Miles Morales failed a true/false quiz with a shocking score of "0." But, as his teacher points out, realistically the only way someone could get all the answers wrong on a true/false quiz is to have known which ones were right. She changes his score to a 100, telling him he's trying to quit and she's not going to let him.

How well does it match the trope?

4.97 (86 votes)

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Which Answers A...

Spider-Man

The Prowler

Miles Morales

Peter B. Parker

The Death of Sp...

Spider-Man's Fu...

Spider-Ham

Peter B. Parker

"You guys don't...

S-M ItSV [Miles...

My enemies call...

Spider-man vs. ...

Stan Lee [Spide...

Peter B. Parker

Death of Uncle ...

Miles Morales d...

Spider-Man: Int...

Peter B Parker ...

Miles Morales

Harry Palms

Spider-Man: Int...

Spider-Man: Int...

Spider-Man Noir

Spider-Man Noir

Rubik's Cube

The Prowler