Marvel has been very, very good to me this year. First, you had Black Panther. Then, you had Infinity War. Next, you had Deadpool 2. Finally, you had Venom. That’s 4 in 2018 and I enjoyed the hell out of them, Venom included. Now, it seems that Marvel has blessed me with one last great movie this year and this one carries great significance to it, which I’ll elaborate on later. For now, it’s time to talk about one of the best superhero movies of the year, one of the best animated movies of the year and the superlative I never saw coming: the best movie Sony Pictures Animation has done in a very long time and considering the last 2 movies they’ve made, I’m just as shocked as you are that they made something THIS good in a long while. Let’s talk Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse! 

In our universe, there’s only one Spider-Man (look through the credits to see who voices him because it’s a surprise) and he has saved New York more times than you can count. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, a kid named Miles Morales (Shamiek Moore) is living his life and dealing with his policeman father Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyree Henry) & his hospital nurse mom Rio Morales (Luna Lauren Velez) until one night, he’s bitten by a highly advanced spider and wakes up the next day with the same similar powers as Spidey and while making his way back to his school dorm room, he stumbles upon a secret laboratory where imposing crime boss Wilson Fisk AKA Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) has built a particle accelerator design to access parallel universes and where good old Webhead is fighting the Green Goblin (Jorma Taccone) and Fisk’s enforcer Prowler (Mahershala Ali) in order to stop the accelerator. Spider-Man’s Spidey sense tingles when he realizes that Miles has the same powers as he does and offers to train him but when the accelerator malfunctions, Spidey is wounded and as Miles escapes, Fisk killed Spidey. Spider-Man’s death inspires Miles to take up the mantle of New York’s friendly neighborhood crimefighter but he finds himself instantly in over his head but fortunately he’ll get some unexpected help....from another universe. 

Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) is a Spider-Man from another dimension where he has fought crime but his personal life is in shambles: his marriage to Mary Jane Watson (Zoë Kravitz) has dissolved, his Aunt May (Lily Tomlin) has passed and he’s out of shape but he’s the only chance that Miles has to becoming the Spider-Man of his universe. They’ll be joined by other Spider-People from several different dimensions: Gwen Stacy AKA Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), a Spidey from a dimension where she got the powers of a spider and Peter was killed, Spider-Noir (Nicholas Cage), a Spidey from a universe that mirrors that of a 1930s film noir, Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), a young Japanese girl from an anime-style universe that co-pilots the biomechanical suit SP//dr with a radioactive spider and Peter Porker AKA Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), an anthropomorphic pig from a goofy cartoon universe. Together, these Spider-Men (and young women), along with high-tech assistance from the Aunt May of Miles’ universe, will foil Kingpin’s devastating plan to collide every universe imaginable, which could results in catastrophe of epic proportions. 

Firstly, the movie may just have the best logo variation that any Sony animated movie has ever had. When the Columbia Pictures logo shows up, it starts to glitch and you see these glimpses and flashes of past Columbia Torch Ladies and logos. As a logophile, I was geeking out in my seat the first time because I recognized every one of those variants: the Sunburst from the ‘70s, the one from the ‘80s & early ‘90s, the variant from Cat Ballou, the early ones from the ‘20s to the ‘60s, etc. It was so awesome that they did that. It was their best Columbia logo variant yet.

You know how some people say that “such and such is a comic book come to life”? Well, in this case, it works for Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. The look, the feel, the style is a living comic book. There’s even narration blocks, thought bubbles and the like. Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, both of whom serves as producers while Lord handles co-writing duties with Rodney Rothman, who co-directs with Peter Ramsey & Bob Persichetti, wanted to feel like you walked inside a comic book and they succeeded. These guys have crafted an animation style that’s definitely one-of-a-kind and will truly be hard to copy. Meanwhile, the character development of the movie is brilliant. Miles starts off as someone who’s unsure of being New York’s premiere superhero, considering that a gig like that comes with occupational hazards, but with some encouragement, he’s able to step up to the challenge. Peter starts off as this jaded, ragged guy who’s done a lot of superheroics and is tired of the gig but becomes a better hero and a better person thanks to Miles working his hardest to being the hero that the Peter of his universe was. Gwen starts off as someone who keeps people away from her in order to keep them safe but then she builds friendships with her fellow Spider-People, Miles in particular. I can’t wait to see where their relationship goes in the sequel (yes, there is a sequel and spin-offs in development). 

The voice cast does a fantastic job with the main cast bringing the heroes of the Spider-Verse to life with such energy and passion. No disrespect to other voice actors who lent to their talents to voicing Miles Morales but Shamiek Moore IS Miles Morales. The actor, who’s best known for Dope and “The Get Down”, personifies Miles and makes him the most relatable character to ever take up the mantle of Spider-Man but never forgets to make him a normal kid with everyday issues that kids his age go through. Now, I can’t see anyone other than Moore voicing the character. As for Johnson, he plays his Spider-Man as a man near defeat but rises to the occasion as the climax approaches. Major kudos also goes to Steinfeld, Cage, Glenn & Mulaney, who all knock it right out of the park. Erstwhile, Schreiber’s version of Fisk/Kingpin, while not as good as Vincent D’Onfrio’s portrayal on the Netflix Marvel series of shows, is still a formidable foe for our heroes and there’s a glimmer of sympathy for him when we discover his reasoning for his use of the accelerator. Henry continues his hot streak of great performances in 2018, following Paper Boi on “Atlanta” and his film performances in Widows and If Beale Street Could Talk, with a solid and heartfelt turn as Jefferson Davis, who may seem like a tough dad to Miles and doesn’t have a favorable opinion of Spider-Man but he loves Miles more than anything and is tough on him in order to unlock his potential in the world. 

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is indeed a movie that lives up to the hype and is deserving of its Golden Globe and Critic’s Choice nominations (Oscar is definitely next). It also carries great significance because before the release of the movie, Stan “The Man” Lee, the man who helped create Spider-Man and the Marvel Universe, had passed away weeks prior to the release. He has a cameo in the film that has a bittersweet meaning now that he’s left the world. He created Spider-Man with Steve Ditko and both have passed on, knowing that they created a hero that would have a lasting impact on pop culture and the world at large. It’s good to know that this movie pays tribute to these 2 architects of comics and even more touching to feature a small but special tribute to them towards the end because without Spider-Man, many things including this movie wouldn’t exist. Thank you, Stan & Steve, for creating Spider-Man and thank you to everyone involved in the production of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse for creating something truly, truly special. Remember, with great power....you know the rest.