Nightmare Fuel / Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

"I'm going to take everything from you... like you took everything from me."

• The promotional image of the Spot fighting Miles and Gwen shows his utterly terrifying design, with his spots styled like ink blots soaking up the other character's limbs and his face obscured by a particularly large blot.
  • A recent trailer shows a glimpse of the Spot's true power, in spite of his goofy nature, that shows him becoming a Humanoid Abomination with how distorted he becomes, with a massive Art Shift as his colors invert and tendrils grow and swirl out of his body that affirm his existential threat to the entire multiverse that firmly establish him as what promotional materials cite him being — Miles's greatest adversary.
• When Miles first arrives in Mumbattan, he catches Gwen in his web but then starts glitching, causing Gwen to fall. Seeing this, Miles panics as he rapidly dives after her and it looks like he's almost too late before Pavitr shows up to catch them both. The allusion to Gwen Stacy's famous death was quite clear at this brief moment and Miles' fear (without even knowing about that) could be felt through the screen.
• The "Go-Home-Machine" that is used to send villains back to their dimension is both awesome and terrifying at the same time (and will likely lean more towards terrifying for most), being a huge mecha-spider complete with eight sets of eyes that sends the villain home by rapidly "spinning" dimensional lines around them like a spider spinning a cocoon around its victim. It's unnerving to look at, to say the least.
  Hobie: It's super humane and not creepy.
• Miguel, after blocking Miles' webs, charges at the teen by digging his claws into the ground for better traction. This, combined with Miguel's Top-Heavy Guy design makes him look like a wild animal — things just got serious.
  • Let's not forget him choke-slamming Miles into the train and maliciously hissing into his ear that he's a mistake who never belonged — never belonged with the Society, and even more painfully, with Peter and the Spider-Gang, and most painfully, with Gwen. All the while, Peter and Gwen seem too paralysed to do anything. Physical and emotional abuse all rolled into one, while your best friends stand by and watch.
  • Also Miguel's fangs. The first shot we got of them is him in shadow and they look like they are several inches to a foot long and he's about ready to tear the Vulture apart like a carnivore devouring food. While we never see them that big again, they seem to be a semi involuntary reaction (as most of the time his mouth is normal) and we never see what they DO. Definitely also makes him more like a wild animal... or a Vampire.
  • He looks drained in the face in some shots when he corners Miles at the teleporter after his pursuit, and his eyes even turn red as a kicker. He's in a good position to try to kill Miles by feeding on him or even lose control of his bloodlust after his escape, especially when he has Gwen restrained. Although according to the comics, Miguel is actually not a vampire, his bite is venomous and causes paralysis. It remains to be seen if it's been changed for the movie or Gwen was unintentionally being an Unreliable Narrator.
    • Or if she was giving him the cliff notes version.
  • When Miguel is violently tearing into the web cocoon the machine is transporting Miles back to his "home" dimension in, Peter B and Gwen manage to catch up, yelling at Miguel to cease before he hurts himself... or possibly even Miles. Miguel doesn't even seem to hear them, focused only on getting to Miles and increasing his savage assault on the thin barrier between them. Seeing this, Peter turns to Gwen with a look of genuine fear and apprehension on his face, seemingly realising just how far gone Miguel's become in his mania to catch Miles and uphold the Canon, but unable to step in whilst he's got Mayday in his arms, only able to watch as Miguel's ferocity seemingly gets closer to violently harming the protege he all but admitted was Like a Son to Me. Upon reintroducing himself, Peter was the one to reassure Miles that Miguel's surly attitude shouldn't be taken too personally and he'd "got no bite". Not only is that literally proven to not be the case through Miguel's paralysing bite, Peter's now faced with the fact that a man he once knew as a friend, somebody who he witnessed go through a traumatic event first-hand, had devolved from that same experience to become violently unstable, and he's afraid of what he's become.
• Most of the Canon Events which the Spider-People of the multiverse have to go through are horrific personal tragedies, like the death of an "Uncle Ben" figure, or a "Captain Stacy" figure, or even both. We see several of these examples play out on screen. And if Miguel is correct, these Canon Events are destined to occur in each Spider-Person's universe or reality itself risks collapsing, meaning that Miles is confronted with the Sadistic Choice of letting his father die or risking the extinction of Earth-1610.
  • On the other hand, if he's not correct then it means that the Spider-Society has allowed thousands of their loved ones to die and traumatised countless heroes for no reason whatsoever. It's hard to tell which option is worse. This hits even harder for Gwen as she realizes she had sided with an insane man to commit indirect murder, the same thing she had been accused of in her world. And worst of all, in the process, she betrays her best friend, breaks his heart, and drives him away from her. Into a world with no Spider-Man, where he's at his Evil Counterpart's mercy.
• The From Nobody to Nightmare scenario that is The Spot.
  • He starts off exactly how he's known for in the comics, a power with a lot of collateral damage potential, but he's just so goofy and inept that he can't do anything intentionally noteworthy with it. The thing is, he knows precisely how goofy and inept he is, and it quickly becomes clear that, not unlike a Spider-Man, his doofy antics are a worn veneer, covering up a metric ton of seething and desperation that's boiling beneath the surface. When he first breaks down the comical "villain of the week" mask, there's hints of a Voice of the Legion as his spreading holes begin to distort the fabric of reality around him, a big red flag, while his fixation on being Miles's nemesis enters a snarling Stalker without a Crush territory...
    The Spot: Because of you... I lost my job... my life... my face! My family won't even look at me! I made you into a hero... you made me into this! (voice begins to distort) Look at me! You did this to me! LOOK AT ME! I WILL MAKE YOU RESPECT ME!
  • When he reenters the scene on the hunt for an Alchemax reactor to pump himself full of more dark matter to create more holes, he's disquietingly fixated on the notion, not even humoring Miles's attempts to settle things any other way or convince him that he's not a joke anymore, bound and determined to mutilate himself further to attain more power. What Spot says right before the Collider activates really spells trouble for Miles and the rest of the Spiders.
    The Spot: This will be good for us, Spider-Man! We're finally going to live up to our potential. You'll finally have a villain worth fighting, and I won't be JUST A JOKE TO YOU!
  • Then, as he and Miles are caught in the transdimensional blast, their perspectives briefly overlap, and Miles sees a flash of The Spot tearing down New York, wreaking havoc wantonly... and ultimately, his father being caught in the destruction. It's then that the true depth of The Spot's obsession with being Miles's nemesis takes full shape: because of what happened to him, his mutilation, the loss of friends, family, employment, any hope of future prospects, Spider-Man is the only thing that he has left. So he intends to be the only thing Miles will have left, too.
    Miles: (unnerved) What— was that?
    The Spot: (In a soft, calm, yet distorted tone) ...Our future. I'm going to take everything from you... like you took everything from me.
    Miles: What...?
    The Spot: See you back home... Spider-Man.
  • A Freeze-Frame Bonus within the Spot’s vision reveals what appears to be the Spot levitating over a destroyed city with the corpses of other Spider-People scattered beneath him. It seems he isn’t even planning to stop at Miles, and that the Spider-Society is in for much more trouble than they expected…
  • All of these visions are topped off by the Spot's positively nightmarish theme. If Prowler's theme sounds like being pursued by an Eldritch Abomination, this song represents how it feels to be cornered by it, with many commenters likening the song's medley of "Psycho" Strings and Drone of Dread to the universe itself begging for mercy. Very fitting considering he's become the most powerful thing in the multiverse.
  • The mere backstory of what leads to the creation of the Spot is also quite unnerving to think about; in the first film, he was just some random guy that Miles happens to throw a bagel at during his escape from the Alchemax lab. Then it turns out he also happens to be there during the final battle with Kingpin, which is the moment he turns into a supervillain that eventually threatens the entire multiverse. To think that any action, however minor, done to any random stranger a Spider-Man comes across in their adventures could have such far-reaching consequences that they may not know about until it's too late is pretty terrifying.
• Miguel's ability to switch between stoicism and almost feral rage is quite unsettling, especially as his claws, fangs and elbow blades make him a viciously animalistic opponent, to the point where Miles even questions outright if he's really Spider-Man with all those traits in mind. His backstory—that he inadvertently caused the destruction of an entire world and watched his daughter disintegrate in his own arms—is also chilling in itself.
• Miguel's backstory is even more disturbing when you realize that the family he has lost wasn't actually his: they were the family of his alternate universe self. Miguel had been watching his alternate in secret, and when the poor guy died, he impersonated him and there is no hint that he had ever told his family what really happened. Even with the kindest interpretation of his actions — that Miguel wanted to spare his alternate's family the pain of losing a loved one — he had still deceived them, sweeping alternate Miguel's death under the rug. At worst, Miguel comes across disturbingly like a jealous stalker who selfishly took someone else's life for himself.
  • Also, depending on how far he took it with the other Miguel's partner, it's rape.
  • Worse still, he's likely projecting his own guilt and self-loathing onto Miles. Essentially, Miguel is trying to force a kid to let his father die, poisoning his best friends against him, and blowing up his insecurities over being an inadequate inheritor to Peter-1610B — all because Miguel can't face up to his own failures. He also comes off as a petulant child enraged at Miles for being the anomaly who got to have a loving family and a relatively stable life (notwithstanding the significant loss of Uncle Aaron).
• While visually stunning, seeing dozens upon dozens of Spider-People coming at Miles is also deeply unsettling as all those allies, all versions of one of the most iconic and beloved superheroes, have turned into opponents at the drop of a hat, and with the ultimate objective of forcing one of them to suffer one more tragedy in his life.
  • And let's not forget that the two people he cares for most deeply — including his mentor and best friend (quite possibly the girl he loves) — are among the army hunting him down.
  • This terror is best demonstrated in the very start of their opposition to Miles. Initially, the introduction to the Spider-Society seems like (and is) a charming ode to the franchise and the history of the character, with Miles all set to make new friends and be the newest member. But once Miles makes it clear he won't allow his father to become a Canon Event, more and more Spider-People start entering the debriefing room, until Miles and the audience recognize the truth: he's completely surrounded. They're not his friends. They're completely loyal to Miguel.
  • There's also the shot of hundreds of Spider-People all clambering up the space elevator, practically climbing over one another in order to get to Miles. At this point, the noble image of an army of Spider-Men has been reduced to a mindless horde only capable of carrying out Miguel's will.
  • Once he manages to finally catch him on the space elevator, watching a man as large and physically intimidating as Miguel thrash a teenager like Miles is very uncomfortable, especially as he uses his greater bulk to pin Miles down while ranting and raving that his very existence was a "mistake" that should never have happened.
  • Perhaps worst of all, he tells Miles that it's his fault his Peter died. Miguel is the leader of an entire army of heroes famous for feeling chronic guilt over the deaths of others, most of all himself for getting an entire dimension wiped out. He knows how much pressing this button can hurt a Spider-Person, and the fact that he does it anyway in a bid to make Miles give up really makes him seem little better than Earth-19999's Mysterio.
• After Miles manages to escape the Spider Society, he sneaks into the Go Home Machine in order to go back to his world. Just when it looks like he might escape, a furious Miguel explodes through the entrance, eyes alit red, and starts tearing asunder the dimensional cage around Miles with his bare hands, looking like he is going to maul the poor kid to death. We even get a shot of Miles's horrified face inches away from the rabid juggernaut that can pry open the membrane of time and space with seemingly nothing but sheer fury just to get to him. Had it not been for Margo's hesitation to turn off the machine, his journey would have ended then and there.
  • Additionally, the fact that Miles' Spider-Sense goes off just before Miguel bursts through the window, suggests that he was in genuine danger of getting mauled or possibly killed by Miguel if not for Margo changing her mind and allowing Miles to escape.
  • If this Miguel is accurate to the comics and he has a paralysing bite, another possibility is that Miguel's intention, had he been able to break the dimensional cage apart, would have been to tear his fangs into Miles and inject him full of venom to make absolutely sure he couldn't escape a third time. Even if not outright mauling him or worse, the thought of Miguel tearing his nearly one foot long fangs into a terrified Miles to inject him full of painful and paralysing venom is disturbing enough on its own. What's more, seeing as Miguel is waiting around Earth 1610 for Miles to show up and he knows the dimensional prison won't hold him, it might be what he still intends to do.
• After Gwen chooses to finally stand up for Miles and calls out Miguel, Miguel forcibly sends Gwen back to her dimension, something she desperately tries not to return to. Not only Gwen has to face being hunted again by her own father but also having to witness his death.
  • As Gwen is getting dragged into the Go Home Machine, Miguel's face, and especially his eyes, are bathed in an eerie red glow. He gives an emotionless stare (possibly even a twisted smile) as Gwen struggles to get loose and coldly tells her: 'Go home, Gwen.'
  • If that wasn't bad enough, following Gwen saying the "We are supposed to be the good guys" line, the Spider Society, at least the named ones, are completely shaken at having just witnessed Miguel exiling a teenage girl out of complete spite. It leaves little wonder why several members abandon the society and join Gwen's band.
  • A Blink And You Miss It Moment is when the screen pays particular attention to Miguel towering over Gwen, you see Gwen was right at the edge to that hole, as if hammering the point Miguel will enforce the Canon Event, even repeating the Death of Gwen Stacy.
• When Gwen finally returns to Miles's dimension, there's something a bit off about her. She steals Scarlet Spider's watch before throwing him into a portal that goes to who knows where. Unless it's confirmed that portal does bring Scarlet Spider back to his own dimension (Word of God says she sent Reilly to her own world, Earth-65B), Gwen intentionally sent him somewhere to painfully glitch out of existence.
  • Even the way she walks towards the watch, kicks it up, grabs it, and crushes it in cold fury is a huge indication of just how immensely PISSED she is at the Spider Society. Gwen is clearly not going to let them anywhere near Miles and his family anymore.
• The entire ending. It is compared to The Empire Strikes Back for very good reasons:
  • Upon making it home, Miles decides to reveal to his mom that he is Spider-Man. She exhibits no reaction, because she has no idea who Spider-Man is. And then to his utter shock, his uncle Aaron, who had been dead for more than a year, walks through his front door. Miles realizes with horror that since the spider that bit him was from a different dimension, he wasn't sent to his home dimension, but the spider's. (Earth-42, to be precise) And to make matters worse…
  • When Miles goes out with his uncle for a "job", he realizes upon witnessing an eerily familiar bit of memorial graffiti that in this universe it was Miles' dad Jefferson Davis who died instead of Aaron.
    • This reveal caps off a number of hints that Earth-42 isn't in great shape. Parts of Brooklyn are actively on fire. The television mentions mandatory curfews and the existence of a "Sinister Six Cartel." It seems that a world without a Spider-Man isn't much fun at all...
  • And as Miles is processing just what the hell is going on, he's suddenly knocked out. When he wakes up, he's chained to a punching bag. His uncle cranks up the stereo. He tries to beg Aaron to let him go but is only met with his uncle's indifference. And then comes the grand reveal...
  • A figure that had been hiding in the shadows descends from the ceiling, slowly approaching the restrained Miles. Catching the Prowler claw from Aaron, the suited figure asks Miles in a mechanical voice about his father. And then he unmasks, revealing that Aaron is not the Prowler — MILES MORALES HIMSELF IS!
    Earth-42 Miles: I'm Miles Morales. But you... you can call me THE PROWLER.
    • With his father's death, it was clear that the Miles Morales of Earth-42 stuck close to Aaron and without a Spider-Man to stop the violence there, Aaron guided his dear nephew into a life of crime without his mom knowing; that alone is enough to drive fear into any parents' hearts. Add to that how unemotional his facial expression and his voice are. He’s not sad, he’s not angry, the kid is BROKEN.
  • To make it worse, Miles has also lost the bracelet that allowed him to not glitch when in a different dimension. He's already frequently doing so on Earth-42, and has to deal with the risk of disappearing, if the Prowler and his uncle don't do him in first… and with Miles restrained and the stereo up, it doesn’t seem to be a quick affair.
    • Then let's remember why he lost that bracelet — because Miguel deliberately snatched it off him. He was perfectly willing to let Miles suffer the pain of glitching — on top of that of being rejected by the Society and chased by his best friends. And if somehow Miles managed to escape and evade capture, Miguel could let the glitching finish the job for him.
  • Before the reveal itself, Miles tries to reason with Aaron by telling him he doesn't have to be the Prowler. This smashes to a cut of the punching bag Miles is tied to being hit by Aaron so hard it explodes and it's shot in such a way many viewers reportedly wondered for a few seconds if he just killed Miles.
  • The Spot arriving back on Earth-1610 is a far cry from the Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain he started out as — now having fully transformed into a Transhuman Abomination and having honed his abilities to their maximum strength — he levitates himself to face the city skyline: specifically, he's turned in the direction of the Morales's home. Making it clear that his intent is to kill Miles's entire family to cement himself as Spider-Man's Arch-Enemy and not merely some "villain of the week". And seeing how much of a monolithic threat to the entire multiverse he's become just by virtue of his existence alone, it is a bone-chilling omen of things to come.
    • This is illustrated by how his physical appearance has changed from a primarily white human shape with blots of black on it to becoming a black humanoid blot with tendrils and only small patches of the white "human" showing in places.
  • What's more, Miguel and Jessica are still hunting for Miles, backed by who-knows-how-many Spider-People, determined to capture him and keep him from saving his loved ones. Despite his friends coming to help him, Miles will still have a hellishly enraged Miguel O'Hara and a whole Spider-Army to contend with. His only solace there being that Jessica seems to be having second thoughts about siding with Miguel and Miles has got back-up on the way in Gwen's new Spider Force.
    • It's also creepy as hell watching Jess stalking Jeff. We normally think of Spiders as heroes and protectors. But these Spiders are fully intent not only on capturing Jeff and Rio's son (and perfectly willing to hurt him in the process), but also on 'indirectly' murdering Jeff (however 'indirect' making sure he dies and kidnapping his son so he's powerless to do anything about it is...).
    • From Miles's viewpoint, every Spider is now the enemy — even his former allies in the Spider Gang, even his mentor and best friend / the girl he loves. The only exceptions being Hobie, Margo, and possibly Pav, Noir, and Porker — all of whom he has no way to contact.
• Funnily enough, 1610 Miles is this to Earth-42's Aaron and Prowler. In a world run by Supervillains (which may include variants of Mysterio or the Chameleon) a stranger who looks just like Earth 42's Miles found a way into his and Rio's apartment and was alone with her for an undetermined time and purpose. And this is after the two have already lost Jeff. In hindsight, it's not incredibly surprising they did what they did.
• The confrontation between Gwen and Captain Stacy is a horrifying recreation of a confrontation between parent and child over something the parent can't accept in the moment. The child is alienated, the parent comes to regret it, but the damage has been done and now the child is alone in a dangerous world.