Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse, Finding your Identity in a group of peers.

Into the Spider-Verse, a movie which very much re released as a part of the Indian re release marathon but I couldn't watch because of course I couldn't.

But then again, I had already seen this one in theatres, pretty much everything since The Amazing Spider-Man 2 I had seen in theatres... but then again... I wanted to see it for completionism's sake, and yet life happened, I then thought, how about, I write this review for Christmas....? I mean since this did release around Christmas and has Spidey-Bells... But nope.

Well regardless, it is merry Christmas and a Happy new year so I consider this 5 to 7 days time as one large chunk, fuck you puritans...

And I will talk about this movie because I want to...

Now, if you have read the ultimate comics, or played the Insomniac Games(which actually began right around this movie) then you are familiar with miles as a character, also if you have seen the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon.

Miles Morales, is Ultimate Spider-Man...

Okay let's back that up a bit, back in September 2000, Earth 1610, was envisioned as an alternative to Earth 616, the mainline marvel continuity, for readers wanting to jump in without any of the past baggage, until it went on too long and then had its own baggage, lost its uniqueness, got destroyed but mile survived somehow....

Now there were a lot of things different about this universe, for one, Thor's hammer was implied to be more technological, and is actually the version of the hammer from which the battle-axe Stormbreaker is inspired in the MCU

The comic Stormbreaker was an alternate to Mjolnir given to the Korbinite(an alien species with a horse-like appearance) Bet-Ray-Bill after it became clear that he was worthy of Mjolnir.

And he too became a second Thor alongside the OG Thor.

This Ultimate Universe also had a Spider-Man based on whom there was a game in 2005 and the cartoon Ultimate Spider-Man is based on this version of Peter Parker, that is correct, Peter Parker, he also dated Kitty Pryde for a while... so that was a thing...

It is this version of Peter that the Cartoon and the game are based on, simultaneously, the MCU borrows heavily from this Universe as in both cases, the characters age realistically...

Steamy.

But regardless of all that, this version of Peter, died... like Uncle Ben died...

And to replace him came another Spider-Man with slight alterations to his DNA giving him Bio-Electricity(Venom) and Invisibility(Camo) Powers.

He takes on the Ultimate universe and soon became a fan favorite, he is also pretty much the only survivor of that universe and was brought on to the main 616 timeline to fight alongside the OG Spidey.

Into the Spider-Verse tells a version of this story, where at least initially everything is followed beat for beat, we have this at his peak and strong version of Peter with an unbelievably happy life, who takes on these enhanced versions of the villains as they try to activate a particle collider, and then is killed brutally in front of Miles right after he gains his own powers, and has a sweet moment with Peter...

He goes off and tries to be his own version of Spider-Man while trying his best to live up to all his other expectations, and he seems to fail miserably at it...

So he goes to Peter's Grave...

And that is where everything changes...

In this version, there are other Spider-Men... specifically Miles's new Mentor, Peter B. Parker.

This is the Version of Spider-Man who got to a good place, and then just kept going.... and going.... and going... lost his aunt may(poor kid) split from his wife because he didn't think he could handle kids and then he just kept going straight into depression.

This is a man who has lost all hope in life...

And strangely, it appears that these two people exactly needed each other to give them a new perspective on their lives.

For Miles to learn the more practical side of being a Spider-Man and for Peter to be reminded who he used to be when he was young.

and if it was just at this point then it would have been one thing, but then there is Spider-Gwen, who Miles is smitten with without question and then Noir, Spider-Ham and Penny Parker and her Spider-Bot....

The last three do not exactly play as big of a role as the first three, but they do classify as co protagonists.

And in this sea of Spider-Men, whereas first Miles was just happy to have someone he could look up to and who could be a Mentor, now he has a bunch of people who have done this gig far longer than him, and hence have far more experience and at the same time, there is a ticking time bomb on a crisis as Kingpin prepares to remake his collider so that he can meet his family again...

So now what felt like a comforting presence gives him a serious inferiority complex.

And to make things worse, one of his worst Villains, someone who directly tries to kill him and was there when his original Mentor died, is the person who is the most important to him even more so than his family...

His Uncle Aaron.

Man I gotta tell you, this is one of the saddest Uncle Deaths I have ever seen for any Spider-Man ever, like even worse than the original Uncle Ben death.

So who is Miles in this Vast Multiverse?

No, that's the wrong movie...

When does Miles know, who he is? In this Vast Spider-Verse?

The answer is he doesn't, he just has to take a leap of Faith...

The thing about this movie is that it came at the perfect time to make people believe in both Sony and Animation as a medium, this Film wouldn't have been half as good if it weren't Animated, all the Universes have their own Animation style, the colors in the background reflect the emotions of the scene, and amongst all of this, this movie has one main theme...

Identity, the idea that you can live up to those who came before, be exactly like them and still be your own person.

In fact being your own person is the best way to be like those who came before because that is what they did...

And sometimes no matter how dark the reality of your situation is, you just have to keep going... only then can you save that which is left, and get new things in your life to be excited about...

And while this will be a good place to end this article, I would like to talk about why Kingpin is the perfect villain in this regard, he is a man who is incredibly built, able to deliver killing blows with his bare hands(which somehow don't work on Miles but do on the OG Spidey, but okay...) but in contrast to his physical strength, mentally, he is broken...

And he just wants to see his family again, while the Spider's Sacrifice everything in order to make sure the world doesn't suffer what they do, Kingpin cares Naught for the world, for him, if he can have what he wants, the world may suffer every agony imaginable...

Which is why defeating him is of the prime importance, and marks a new beginning for all the Spider People's lives... as they return home, with new friends, memories, and a new outlook on life.