"There's only one Spider-Man."

Rewatching this one in preparation for Across The Spider-Verse this weekend. Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is probably the boldest leap any superhero film has made thus far in wholly embracing the dizzying continuity and the encyclopedic postmodern cross-reference of comic books. The Marvel Cinematic Universe only wishes they could get away with this level of anarchically nerdy fun (and for the record, I did like Spider: Man: No Way Home). But even more impressive than that, this is an extraordinary landmark for modern animation -- a revolutionary fusion of CGI and traditional hand-drawn techniques (not to mention the film's experimental blend of visual approaches ranging from anime to noir chiaroscuro to golden age Tex Avery) to create a dense, hyper-stylized, surprisingly cohesive pop art universe all its own.

It all works toward a thesis that the mythos and core heroism of Spider-Man could exist in perpetuity across all different walks of life, spanning the realm of human possibility and experience. The guy in the suit could be Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker, a promising young student whose alter ego is defined by a sense of moral responsibility. Or it could just as easily be Miles Morales, an Afro-Latino kid from the Bronx trying to carve out his own identity while meeting the no-nonsense expectations of his parents. Or it could be a hard-boiled Depression-era private eye. Hell, Spider-Man could be a Spider-Woman. Or a Japanese robot telepathically connected to a radioactive spider and piloted by a young Japanese girl. Or even a cartoon pig named Spider-Ham.

Will the real Spidey please stand up?

I guess there's a Spider-Man in all of us. Fuck it, let's all stand up!

"We've all been there... For me, it was my Uncle Ben."
"For me, it was my Uncle Benjamin."
"For me, it was my father."
"For me, it was my best friend."

See also: Spider-Ham: Caught In A Ham