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Western Animation / Spider-Man: Spider-Verse

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spider_verse.png
Jump into, swing across, go beyond.

"Anyone can wear the mask. You can wear the mask. If you didn't know that before, I hope you do now. 'Cause I'm Spider-Man. And I'm not the only one — not by a long shot."
— Miles Morales

Approved by the Comics Code Authority.

The Spider-Man: Spider-Verse trilogy is a series of computer-animated superhero films by Sony Pictures Animation in co-operation with Marvel Entertainment based on scripts by Phil Lord & Chris Miller and very loosely inspired by the Spider-Verse storyline. In fact, the first one is actually more an adaptation of Spider-Men.

The films tell the story of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a young Afro-Latino American teenager from Brooklyn, New York on Earth-1610. After being bitten by a genetically-altered spider and witnessing the death of his Spider-Man, Miles goes from wannabe hero to savior of the Spider-Verse with the help of Spiders from other universes, including Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) and Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson). However, his troubles are far from over, and even after realizing that anyone can wear the mask, he finds that it's how one wears it that truly matters. After the major success of the first film, the sequels would make an even greater effort at incorporating the Spider-People of other various universes, a theme first explored in Across the Spider-Verse.

Films:

Other media:

Related

Other Spider-Man media featured in Spider-Verse includes:

Alright, let's trope this one last time:

  • Adaptational Mundanity: In the comics, Peter and MJ's marriage ended due to a Cosmic Retcon caused by a Deal with the Devil Peter made to save his aunt. Here, they just got divorced.
  • Affectionate Parody: Despite being adaptations of Spider-Man, the movies are not afraid to poke fun at the character's long history and variations. Everything ranging from past movies, to comic events, to internet memes, and even merchandising has been lampooned. Even then however, the pure love and respect for the character in all his forms is there, and the movies end up being a celebration of him by acknowledging pretty much every corner of his existence, even the silly ones.
  • Alternate Self:
    • The Spider-Verse is full of multiple versions of Peter Parker and at least one alternate Miles Morales.
    • Across the Spider-Verse indicates that the characters in this movie are alternate versions of the comic counterparts, such as Peter B. Parker hailing from Earth-616B, Miles Morales from Earth-1610B, etc. This is also made evident by the fact that the comic multiverse is canon to this multiverse. This is supported by Spidercide from Earth-616 and Tarantula from Earth-1610A make brief appearance, suggesting any reality that uses a canon designation from the comics is simply part of the "B" category of universes. It also makes sense that eventually while designation universes the number would reset with a letter, since an infinite multiverse means eventually the number would get ridiculously long otherwise.
  • Art Shift: All the time to give each universe a unique look and feel. Sometimes the shift is subtle, other times it's more elaborate. This applies to certain characters, too (See Non-Standard Character Design below).
  • Central Theme:
    • What does it mean to be Spider-Man? Are there "rules" one has to follow in order to be considered a "true" web-slinging hero?
    • Fixing the past. The heroes are those who try to repay a moral debt or try to make the world a better place, while the villains only want to undo the past to make it better for themselves.
  • Creator Cameo: Overall, it's been confirmed that crowd shots feature animated versions of animators as background extras.
  • Friendly Neighborhood Spider: Miles and most of the featured Spiders are this, though some are more aloof, including Miguel, Jessica, and Gwen before she defrosts.
  • The Multiverse:
  • Non-Standard Character Design: Many characters (mainly Spider-People) in the films are designed, and in some cases animated, with very different art style, ranging from subtle to intensely eye-catching, with many of their respective art styles being Shout-Outs to popular genres or mediums.
    • Into The Spider-Verse:
      • Spider-Man Noir has an entirely black-and-white color scheme that makes him look like he's in a dimly-lit street even in bright daylight. Also, while every character is rendered at least partially with Ben-Day dots, they're particularly visible on Noir.
      • Peni Parker is much more Animesque than the rest of the cast, right down to the large eyes and exaggerated expressions. She's even rendered in a pseudo-"2D" style, despite being in a CGI film.
      • Spider-Ham's uniqueness isn't just because he's a pignote ; he's rendered to look like he almost walked straight out of a Looney Tunes cartoon, right down to the "2D" look and bouncy animation. Notably, he's also treated as an animated character in-universe.
    • Across The Spider-Verse:
      • Hobie Brown / Spider-Punk, fitting in with his punk anarchist nature, has an overall design making him look as though he's made of newspaper clippings that resemble both something from a punk rock album cover (Sex Pistols being a prime example) and something from an Underground comic book, which constantly shift both shape and color, like a living animated collage. His framerate is all over the place; Hobie himself is animated on threes rather than other Spider-People's ones or Miles's twos, his vest is also animated on threes with a slight delay, his outline is animated on twos, and his guitar is animated on fours. His animators also broke those rules when necessary.
      • Ben Reilly / Scarlet Spider's design stands out by incorporating the drawing and inking style of Tom Lyle, one of the artists who worked on 90's comic book The Clone Saga, as well as the artist responsible for his iconic blue hoodie and red spandex outfit.
      • The LEGO Spider-Man (and his entire universe) are done in CGI animated to resemble stop motion, just like The LEGO Movie.
      • Spider-Man from the 1967 cartoon is drawn in 2D and is complete with Limited Animation, fitting for a character from a cheap 1960s television cartoon.
      • Insomniac Spider-Man is realistically shaded and textured, and animated on ones rather than twos, to match the look of the games he comes from.
      • Peter Parker from The Spectacular Spider-Man animated show has a much bigger and more angular head and flatter feet compared to other characters, given that he's from a show from completely different art style.
      • Non-Spider-Person example: The Spot, in the beginning of the film, is a blank, featureless humanoid with inky black spots all over his body. Looking closer at his design you can see he's literally a blank character design, as you can clearly see thin sketch lines on his body. His spots he creates are also comparable to ink blots spilled on a page. Later in the film, when he powers up and becomes a Transhuman Abomination, that inkiness spreads all over his body, making him look like a living black scribble.
      • Another villainous example: The alternate-universe Vulture who Gwen, Miguel, and Jess fight in the beginning of the film is animated to resemble a Leonardo Da Vinci sketch brought to life, including only being coloured in shades of brown. Gwen even asks if he's made of parchment.
  • Painted CGI: The first film is considered the Trope Codifier of the style for theatrical film.
  • Running Gag:
  • Two-Part Trilogy: Across the Spider-Verse and Beyond the Spider-Verse were produced simultaneously and intended to be one film before being split in two.
  • Written Sound Effect: The films have these all over the place. Some such as "Boom!" and "Ponk" appear in appropriately comic book-style big letters in some action scenes. Others are small, such as little "THWIP"s coming out of the Spiders wrists when web-slinging in some scenes. One notable scene in the first film has a small "Bagel!" appearing when a bagel gets thrown at someone's head, and said person is later revealed to be the second film's Big Bad.

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