Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a 2018 American animated superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Miles Morales/Spider-Man, produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Marvel Entertainment, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It was the first animated film in the Spider-Man franchise. Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman (in Persichetti and Rothman's feature directorial debuts) from a screenplay by Phil Lord and Rothman, it stars Shameik Moore as Morales, alongside the voices of Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Vélez, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, and Liev Schreiber. Inspired by the Amazing Spider-Man story arc "Spider-Verse", while also taking inspiration from the Ultimate Marvel comics "The Death of Spider-Man" and Spider-Men that served as Miles Morales' debut, the film's story follows Miles as he becomes the new Spider-Man and joins other Spider-People from various parallel universes to save his universe from Kingpin.
Plans for an animated Spider-Man film by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were leaked in 2014 and announced in April 2015. Persichetti, Ramsey and Rothman joined over the next two years, with Moore and Schreiber cast in April 2017. Lord and Miller wanted the film to have a unique style, combining computer animation with traditional hand-drawn comic book techniques inspired by the work of Miles Morales co-creator Sara Pichelli. The film required up to 140 animators, the largest crew used by Sony Pictures Animation on a feature film. The film is dedicated to the memories of the creators of Spider-Man, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, who both died in 2018.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse premiered at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles on December 1, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 14. The film grossed $384.3 million worldwide against a $90 million budget and received critical acclaim. The film won Best Animated Feature at the 91st Academy Awards—being the first non-Disney/Pixar film to win the award since Rango (2011) and was similarly successful at the 76th Golden Globe Awards, the 72nd British Academy Film Awards, and the 46th Annie Awards.
A sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, was released in 2023 to similar critical and greater commercial success. A third film, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, and a spin-off film focused on female Spider-related characters are in development, with a television series being considered.
Plot
New York City teenager Miles Morales struggles to live up to the expectations of his father, police officer Jefferson Davis, who sees Spider-Man as a menace. Miles' uncle Aaron Davis takes him to an abandoned subway station to paint graffiti to cheer him up. There, Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider and gains abilities similar to Spider-Man. Returning to the station, he discovers a collider built by the Kingpin, who hopes to access parallel universes to bring back his late wife and son. Spider-Man attempts to disable the collider while fighting Kingpin's henchmen, Green Goblin and the Prowler.
Green Goblin shoves Spider-Man into the collider, causing an explosion that kills Goblin and wounds Spider-Man. Spider-Man gives Miles a USB flash drive designed to disable the collider, warning that the machine could destroy the city. After watching in horror as Kingpin kills Spider-Man, Miles flees. As the city mourns Spider-Man's death, Miles tries to honor his legacy and become the new Spider-Man but inadvertently damages the drive. At Spider-Man's grave, he meets Peter B. Parker, an older and worn-down version of Spider-Man from another dimension.
The two infiltrate Kingpin's research facility to steal data for a new flash drive. They are confronted by mad scientist Olivia Octavius, who discovers that Peter will die from cellular decay if he remains in their dimension. Miles and Peter are saved by Gwen Stacy, a Spider-Woman from another dimension. They visit Spider-Man's aunt, May Parker; she is sheltering more Spider-people who slipped into Miles' universe from other dimensions due to the collider explosion - Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker, and Spider-Ham - who are also deteriorating. Miles offers to help the others return home but they tell him he lacks experience.