STAN WOULD BE PROUD

For a long time. My relationship with the Spiderman character has been an interesting one. As I said in my review for Spiderman Homecoming, the reason why Spiderman is my favorite Marvel superhero and why I love him more than the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk and The Wolverine is because he represents the every day working man or who has to make it through a tough but in the end rewarding life with pay offs and also with consequences.

I have loved the Spiderman character since I was a kid. But his representation via media has always been a hit and miss for me. The Fox Animated Series wasn't that great because of how badly dated its become. The two Spiderman games that they released on PS1 back in the late 90s/early noughties (Spiderman and Spiderman 2:Enter Electro) were both really good. The first two Sam Raimi Spiderman films have become two of my favourite superhero films.

But really. That has been it. Since Spiderman 2 (2004) I never really have gotten a Spiderman represented through media as good as that film. I don't hate Spiderman 3 as much as others but even I didn't like the strange direction and choices that film took with the character as well as the overuse of dumb unfunny WTF moments in it. Very much like Superman 3. The Amazing Spiderman films were terrible cash grab films that felt cheap and corporate and nothing else and really turned me off the Spiderman character. The Amazing Spiderman was a shallow copy of Spiderman (2002) with the same story. Only this time it was a much less interesting and less good version of it and The Amazing Spiderman 2 was so fucking terrible I refuse to even talk about that gigantic disastrous turd of a film.

However things started to shine once again for the web-slinger though with news in 2015 that Marvel had finally gotten the rights off of Sony back to use the character in Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe and Spiderman came back with a bang. Swinging onto our screens again in Captain America Civil War, Spiderman Homecoming, Avengers Infinity War and the upcoming Phase 4 Marvel film, Spiderman: Far From Home. After making a short but great cameo in Cap Civil War, Homecoming gave us the first actually good live treatment of the Spiderman character on film since Spiderman 2. Avengers Infinity War also continued the story of MCU Spidey in such a great way and things have never looked better for this version of Spiderman with Far From Home looking very promising.

Outside the MCU, things have also greatly improved for the web-slinger. Especially in 2018 which in my honest to god opinion has been the best year for Spidey since 2004. With Venom being the notable exception obviously. As I already said. Marvel Studios Infinity War, like Civil War and Homecoming before it, continued to give us a great representation of Spidey in live-action Marvel films. Insomniac Games have given us the best Spiderman game in years and the best superhero game since the Batman Arkham games. A game so so good that I wish to god that it was an actual Spiderman film as its easily been my favorite interpretation of the Spiderman character. Yes even more so than the Sam Raimi interpretations of him. It was that good. Prominent Spidey villain, Wilson Fisk/Kingpin has had as just a great year as Spidey has had being portrayed through different versions in media. Whether it be Vincent D'Onofrio's excellent portrayal of the character in the only truly good Marvel Netflix show, Daredevil, in the show's explosively great third and sadly final season. Or Kingpin's presence in Spiderman PS4. Or Kingpin's presence in Into the SpiderVerse. Oh hey!!!!! Speaking of which!!!! Yeah. I really loved this film!!!!!

Into the SpiderVerse is easily my favorite film of 2018 and has become the smartest superhero film I have ever seen. Visually and thematically, the film does a spectacular job of showing us this vibrant comic book world exploding onto the big screen in such a colorful and memorable way. Into the SpiderVerse is everything I could have hoped for and more. Its funny. Its charming. Its witty. Its serious. Its heartwarming. Its suspenseful. Its fun.

The film follows the story of Spiderman protege Miles Morales (A character in which 2018 has also been kind to as he is also featured prominently as a side and playable character in Spiderman PS4) as he learns the trials and tribulations of being the next Spiderman following the death of Peter Parker at the hands of Kingpin. Voiced by Sabretooth himself. Liev Schreiber. The film sees Morales meeting other Spidermans from different universes. An alternate universe version of Gwen Stacy with spider-like abilities. Voiced by Hailee Steinfeld. Spiderman Noir. In other words. 1930's Spiderman. Voiced by Nicolas "pissed blood" Cage. Jake Johnson's Peter B Parker from the future. The reluctant mentor to Miles. Peni Parker with her SP//dr sidekick. Peter Porker/Spider-Ham. And finally Miles's universe Peter Parker/Spiderman, voiced by Chris Pine whose tragic heartbreaking death at the hands of Kingpin spurs Miles to become Spiderman.

So yeah. Into the SpiderVerse was such an amazing outstanding breathtaking film. It's definitely my favourite Spiderman film since the 2nd Sam Raimi one. I even love it more than Homecoming. 5/5.

Oh and do make sure to stick around for the film's post-credits sequence. A sequence so brilliant, so funny and so smart. It had me laughing out loud so hard.