‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’ Trailer Swings In With Distinct Art Styles

The real saving graces of 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse were its myriad animation styles, which served as the very first glimpse and a stunning visual explainer of what the multiverse was. They made the concept much easier to grasp when Marvel Studios brought in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

The computer-animated film deservedly went on to receive an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, an award only held by Pixar movies since 2011.

Soon enough, Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) will traverse the depths of your imagination again in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The young street artist of Black and Puerto Rican descent, who was bitten by a radioactive spider while out creating one day, is visibly older since the last time viewers followed him on his adventures.

A cure for the Mondays: a new image from Spider-Man: Across the #SpiderVerse pic.twitter.com/fWyoroV6tk

— Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (@SpiderVerse) November 28, 2022

The official trailer, released on Tuesday, centers around Miles and his mother Rio (Luna Lauren Vélez) having a deep conversation about staying true to himself as they peer into the panorama of New York City.

Excitingly, the trailer already teases six animation styles depicting various iterations of Spider-Man. As Variety points out, the dimension occupied by Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) assumes the aesthetics of Impressionist watercolors, with colors shifting to reflect Spider-Gwen’s emotional state. To bring the look to animated life, Sony filmmakers developed a watercolor simulator for scenes to morph in paint-like strokes. They liken the emotive style to a “three-dimension mood ring.”

The appearances of Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen evolve as they swing through portals, and it is through this universe-hop that we meet the film’s Big Bad for the first time. Across the Spider-Verse introduces Spot (Jason Schwartzman) as an unfinished sketch of sorts at first.

Meet The Spot, Miles Morales's most formidable foe yet. 🕳 Voiced by Jason Schwartzman, see him in action in Spider-Man: Across the #SpiderVerse, exclusively in movie theaters June 2, 2023. pic.twitter.com/1aAmMjMcpX

— Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (@SpiderVerse) June 13, 2022

As the story progresses, the villain will take on more vibrant forms to illustrate a gradual acquisition of power. He’s a “living ink,” if you will.

The trailer additionally previews ‘Mumbattan’, a city in another realm where Manhattan and Mumbai are integrated as one.

The sequel’s producers promise that—as impressive as the original movie was—the next one will be bigger, better, and more “visually groundbreaking.” That’s because Into the Spider-Verse only featured interdimensional characters entering Miles’ world, whereas Across the Spider-Verse will trace his journeys between theirs.

Grateful for this new look at Spider-Man: Across the #SpiderVerse pic.twitter.com/K16OBuKtTW

— Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (@SpiderVerse) November 23, 2022

Be prepared to have your visual senses tingle when Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse heads to theaters on June 2, 2023.

[via CNN, Ars Technica, Variety, images via Sony Pictures Entertainment]