Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: Difference between revisions

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a 2018 American computer-animated superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Miles Morales / Spider-Man, produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Marvel, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the first animated feature film in the Spider-Man franchise,^[5][6] and is set in a shared multiverse called the "Spider-Verse", which has alternate universes.^[a] The film was directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman from a screenplay by Phil Lord and Rothman, and stars Shameik Moore as Morales, alongside Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Kimiko Glenn, John Mulaney, Nicolas Cage, Luna Lauren Velez, and Liev Schreiber. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Miles Morales becomes one of many Spider-Men as they team up to save New York City from the Kingpin.

Plans for an animated Spider-Man film to be developed by Lord and Christopher Miller were first revealed in 2014, and officially announced in April 2015. Persichetti, Ramsey, and Rothman joined over the next two years, with Moore and Schreiber cast in April 2017. Lord and Miller wanted the film to have its own unique style, combining Sony Pictures Imageworks' computer animation pipeline with traditional hand-drawn comic book techniques inspired by the work of Miles Morales's co-creator Sara Pichelli. Completing the animation for the film required up to 140 animators, the largest crew ever used by Sony Pictures Animation for a film.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse had its world premiere at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles on December 1, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 14, 2018, grossing over $306 million worldwide against a $90 million budget. It has received critical acclaim for its animation, characters, story, voice acting, humor, and soundtrack. The film won Best Animated Feature Film at the 76th Golden Globe Awards and 24th Critics' Choice Awards, and earned numerous other awards and nominations. A sequel and a spin-off are in development.

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Miles Morales is a teenager who admires Spider-Man, who also struggles to adjust to his elite boarding school and live up to the expectations of his parents, nurse Rio Morales and police officer Jefferson Davis, the latter of whom sees Spider-Man as a menace. After becoming attracted to one of his classmates named Gwanda, Miles seeks advice from his uncle Aaron Davis, who encourages him to pursue Gwanda and his passion for graffiti and shows Miles a disused subway station where he can paint. While there, Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider and develops spider-like abilities.

Unable to contact Aaron, Miles returns to the station and unintentionally finds a secret laboratory belonging to Wilson Fisk, who has built a particle accelerator to access parallel universes and reconnect with alternative versions of his wife and son, who died in a car accident while trying to escape from Fisk after catching him battling Spider-Man. Spider-Man then arrives to disable the accelerator and fights Fisk's enforcers, Green Goblin and Prowler. During the melee, Spider-Man meets Miles and senses they are alike. Green Goblin attempts to kill Spider-Man by forcing him into the accelerator’s energy stream but instead causes it to malfunction. The resulting explosion kills Green Goblin and gravely wounds Spider-Man, who gives Miles a USB drive to disable the accelerator and informs him that the machine could destroy the city if turned on again. Spider-Man tells Fisk that his plan will fail and that his family is gone forever, and Fisk kills him. Miles watches terrified from the distance and escapes Prowler when he goes after him.

As the news of Spider-Man's death spreads all over New York, Miles, inspired by his sacrifice, buys a Spider-Man costume and attempts to master his new abilities, but inadvertently damages the USB drive. Miles is later approached by Peter B. Parker, an older and jaded Spider-Man from another dimension who has separated from his ex-wife Mary Jane Watson and whose Aunt May has died. Peter has been brought into Miles's dimension by the accelerator and needs to return home, so he begrudgingly agrees to train Miles in exchange for help stealing data to create a new drive. While breaking into Kingpin's research facility, Miles displays the unique abilities of invisibility and an electric "venom blast" that can disable enemies by touch. They are confronted by Fisk's Chief Scientist Dr. Olivia Octavius, who reveals that Peter will eventually deteriorate and die the longer he stays in their dimension. Miles and Peter are then rescued by "Gwanda," revealed to be another dimension-displaced heroine whose real name is Gwen Stacy. Gwen leads Peter and Miles to May Parker, who is sheltering Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham, and Peni Parker and SP//dr. They are revealed to also be deteriorating, so Miles offers to disable the accelerator to send the other Spider-People home.

After attempting to teach Miles how to control his powers, an overwhelmed Miles retreats and discovers that Aaron is Prowler. Peni repairs the drive while Miles returns to May's house; however, he is followed by Prowler and the group is suddenly attacked by Fisk and his enforcers: Prowler, Octavius, Scorpion and Tombstone. Miles flees May's house during the battle but is captured by Prowler, who prepares to kill him. Miles unmasks himself, causing Aaron to realize he has been hunting his own nephew. Aaron refuses to kill Miles, prompting Fisk to shoot Aaron, who later dies of his injuries. Jefferson sees Spider-Man over Aaron's body and radios in an APB for Spider-Man.

Meanwhile, a depressed Miles returns to his dorm, with the Spider-People following him and telling him that they, like Miles, have all experienced losing someone they love. As they leave to face Fisk, Peter restrains Miles and leaves him behind for his own safety, deciding to sacrifice himself by taking Miles's place in deactivating the accelerator. Jefferson arrives outside Miles's door to tell him about Aaron's death and, assuming Miles does not want to speak to him, apologizes for his mistakes. Finally gaining control of his powers, Miles heads to May's house and spray paints one of Peter's suits as his own. He then joins the other Spider-People and helps them defeat Octavius, Scorpion and Tombstone, though Peni’s SP//dr is destroyed. Miles activates the USB drive and sends all the Spider-People back home. Fisk and Miles then fight throughout the accelerator, attracting Jefferson's attention. In the fight, Jefferson realizes that Spider-Man is not the enemy and encourages him (while he is nearly killed), giving Miles the motivation to withstand Fisk's attacks and knock him out with his venom blast, which also destroys the accelerator. The authorities arrest Fisk and his enforcers, Jefferson recognizes Spider-Man as a hero and Miles embraces the responsibilities of his new life. Back in their own dimensions, Peter attempts to reconcile with Mary Jane, Peni rebuilds SP//dr and Gwen finds a way to contact Miles across dimensions.

In the after-credits scene, in another dimension, Miguel O'Hara's assistant, Lila, informs him of the crisis and gives him dimension-hopping technology. He decides to "go back to the beginning", and ends up arguing with that universe's Spider-Man.

File:Brian Tyree Henry May 2017.jpg

Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Nicolas Cage, and Liev Schreiber.

• Shameik Moore as Miles Morales / Spider-Man: Template:Cast list break
• Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man: Template:Cast list break
• Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman: An alternate universe version of Gwen Stacy who takes up the alias of "Gwanda".^[8]
• Mahershala Ali as Aaron Davis / Prowler: Miles's uncle, who moonlights as an enforcer for Wilson Fisk.^[9]
• Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis: Template:Cast list break
• Luna Lauren Velez as Rio Morales: Miles's mother, a nurse.^[8]
• Lily Tomlin as May Parker: Peter's aunt, who is dead in Peter B. Parker's universe, and acts as a mentor to Miles.^[8]
• Zoë Kravitz as Mary Jane Watson: Peter's wife in both universes.^[10]
• Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker / SP//dr: A young teenage Japanese-American girl from an alternative anime-like universe who co-pilots a biomechanical suit with a radioactive spider that she shares a telepathic link with.^[11]
• John Mulaney as Peter Porker / Spider-Ham: An alternate funny animal version of Spider-Man from an anthropomorphic universe, who was once a spider, bitten by a radioactive pig.^[12][11]
• Nicolas Cage as Peter Parker / Spider-Man Noir: Template:Cast list break
• Kathryn Hahn as Olivia "Liv" Octavius / Doctor Octopus: The head of Alchemax from Miles' universe, who is working for Wilson Fisk.^[10]
• Liev Schreiber as Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin: The benefactor of Alchemax in Miles’s dimension.^[13][8]

Additional voices for the film include: Lake Bell as Vanessa Fisk, Jorma Taccone as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin and the Earth-67 Peter Parker / Spider-Man (who is credited as Last Dude),^[10] Krondon as Tombstone,^[14] Joaquín Cosío as Scorpion,^[15] and Post Malone (who contributed to the film's soundtrack) as a bystander in Brooklyn.^[16][10] Archival recording of Cliff Robertson from the 2002 film Spider-Man was used for a flashback scene involving the character Ben Parker. Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee appears in a posthumous cameo, as a character named Stan who sells a Spider-Man costume to Morales. Lord and Miller said it was important to give Lee a bigger moment in the film rather than just a passing cameo, because he was, "so integral to the spirit of this movie", and the role was "extra meaningful" following Lee's death in November 2018.^[17][18]

Cameos during the film's post-credits include: Oscar Isaac as Miguel O'Hara / Spider-Man 2099, an alternative version of Spider-Man from a futuristic universe established at the end of the 21st century;^[19] and Greta Lee as O'Hara's AI assistant Lyla (both of whom are credited as Interesting Persons #1 and #2).^[20] Stan Lee also voices the Earth-67 version of Peter Parker's boss J. Jonah Jameson during that same scene replacing the late Paul Kligman, something that actually accomplishes Lee's wishes to portray that character since the eighties due to Jameson being based on Lee himself and marking the second and last time Lee played a character he created after his appearance as Willie Lumpkin in the 2005 film Fantastic Four.^[21] Donald Glover also appears in a background TV screen as Troy Barnes in Spider-Man pajamas.^[22] Miles Morales' best friend and roommate Ganke Lee appears. However, he is not named and does not speak. His name was confirmed in the special promotional magazine Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse The Official Movie Special^[23] and in the film's script. Some characters have cameos in this film that do not have any talking lines, such as Captain Yuri Watanabe, and Felicia Hardy aka the Black Cat.^[24]

Rodney Rothman and Peter Ramsey at ComicCon

Following the November 2014 hacking of Sony's computers, emails between Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal and president Doug Belgrad were released, saying that Sony was planning to "rejuvenate" the Spider-Man franchise by developing an animated comedy film with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Sony executives were set to discuss the project further in a discussion regarding several Spider-Man spin-off films at a summit in January 2015.^[25] At the 2015 CinemaCon in April, Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman announced that the animated Spider-Man film had a July 20, 2018 release date, and would be produced by Lord and Miller, Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Pascal, with Lord and Miller also writing a treatment for the film. Rothman said that it would "co-exist" with the live-action Spider-Man films, though Sony soon stated that the film would "exist independently of the projects in the live-action Spider-Man universe,"^[26] as it is set in an alternate universe from those films without the version of Spider-Man as seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.^[27]

That December, Sony moved the film's release date to December 21, 2018.^[28] By June 2016, Lord had written a script for the film, and the studio chose Bob Persichetti to direct.^[29] Miller said the film would feel different from previous Spider-Man films, and "will stand on its own as a unique filmgoing experience."^[30] It had also been rumored to focus on the Miles Morales version of Spider-Man,^[29][30] which Sony confirmed at a presentation for its upcoming animated films in January 2017. Peter Ramsey was co-directing the film by that point.^[31] The next month, Alex Hirsch was revealed to have contributed to the film's story along with Lord and Miller, and Christina Steinberg was said to have replaced Tolmach as a producer on the film.^[32][33] In April 2017, the film's release date was pushed up one week from December 21, 2018, to December 14, 2018.^[34] Lord and Miller announced in December that the film was titled Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and revealed that multiple Spider-Men would appear in the film. By then, Rodney Rothman was also co-directing the film.^[35] Lord described directors Ramsey as "the action guy", Rothman as "the comedy guy" and Persichetti as "the poet".

The film's script is credited to Lord and Rodney Rothman from a story by Lord, making this the first film where Christopher Miller didn't collaborate on a screenplay with Lord.^[36] Persichetti noted that there had been several Spider-Man films made already, so the first step was to decide why this film needed to be made, and the answer for the creative team was to tell the new and unique story of Miles Morales, who had yet to appear in any film.^[37] Brian Michael Bendis, co-creator of Miles Morales, consulted on the film adaptation.^[38] The first full cut of animatics and storyboards for the film was over two-hours long, which is uncommon for animated films, and the directors attributed this mostly to Lord and Miller and their approach of adding as many elements to the film as they could at the outset with the intention of seeing what it could "handle" and then shaping the film from there. They said that the final runtime would be between that and 90 minutes, the standard length of an animated film, with a balance having to be found between the expectations of an animated film that will have a large child-based audience and the requirements of the story which the directors felt was similar to the live-action Spider-Man films especially due to the large number of characters in the film.^[37] The film was originally set to feature a romance between Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen.^[39] While the idea was scrapped, Spider-Gwen was still featured prominently in the film, mostly due to the efforts of producer Christina Steinberg,^[39] with Lord saying that "Christina kept us honest, [a]s five boys making a movie, it was really good to have another filmmaker there going, 'I don’t think you guys want to do it like this.'"^[39]

By August 2018, the directors had considered what a potential post-credits scene for the film could be, given that audiences have come to expect them from Marvel films.^[37]

Shameik Moore was cast as Morales in April 2017, along with Liev Schreiber as the film's unspecified main villain.^[13] A month later, Mahershala Ali and Brian Tyree Henry joined the cast as Morales's uncle Aaron Davis and father Jefferson Davis, respectively.^[9] That December, Lord and Miller revealed that an adult Peter Parker / Spider-Man would appear in the film, as a mentor to Morales,^[40] and Jake Johnson was cast in the role in April 2018.^[41] At that time, it was revealed that the characters Green Goblin, Kingpin, and Prowler would also be appearing in the film, with their designs based on the Ultimate Marvel comic series.^[42]

In June 2018, Sony confirmed the full cast for the film, with Schreiber revealed to be voicing Kingpin. Announced as joining the cast then were Hailee Steinfeld as Spider-Gwen, Luna Lauren Velez as Morales's mother Rio, and Lily Tomlin as Parker's Aunt May.^[8] A month later, Nicolas Cage was revealed to be the voice of Spider-Man Noir,^[43] and John Mulaney and Kimiko Glenn were announced as the voices of Spider-Ham and Peni Parker, respectively.^[11] The casting of Chris Pine as the Peter Parker of Miles' universe and Oscar Isaac as Spider-Man 2099 were revealed in November 2018.^[44][19] Lord and Miller explained that the alternate Spider-Man characters were chosen based on the comics they had read as well as research done on the Marvel Wiki, with the intention of including actual characters from the comics who "were as diverse as possible".^[17]

Daniel Pemberton was announced as the film's composer in July 2018.^[45] A full soundtrack album was released by Republic Records on December 14, and was curated to represent what a teen like Morales would listen to.^[46] Artists on the soundtrack include Juice WRLD, Post Malone, Swae Lee, Nicki Minaj, Ski Mask the Slump God and Lil Wayne and Ty Dolla Sign's "special guest" XXXTentacion. A separate album containing Pemberton's score was released by Sony Classical Records on December 17.^[47] On December 20, Sony Pictures Animation announced an extended play album, A Very Spidey Christmas, based on a throwaway joke at the beginning of the film and consisting of five Christmas songs performed by cast members Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, and Chris Pine. The EP was released on digital platforms the next day.^[48][49]

Lord and Miller wanted the film to feel like "you walked inside a comic book", and were excited to tell the story in a way that the live-action films could not.^[40] Persichetti concurred, feeling that animation was the best medium with which to honor the style of the comics, allowing the production team to adapt 70-year-old techniques seen in comic artwork into the film's visual language.^[37] It took around a year for two animators to create 10 seconds of footage that they were happy with, and then animation work on the film developed from there.^[50] During the initial development, the directors worked with a single animator to establish the look of the film. This number eventually grew to 60 animators during production, but it became clear that this would not be enough to complete the film on time and so the crew was expanded further. The number had reached 142 animators by August 2018, the largest animation crew that Sony Pictures Imageworks had ever used for a film. Animation work was completed in October 2018.^[37]

The CGI animation for the film was combined with "line work and painting and dots and all sorts of comic book techniques" to make it look like it was created by hand, which was described as "a living painting".^[40] This was achieved by artists taking rendered frames from the CGI animators and working on top of them in 2D, with the goal of making every frame of the film "look like a comic panel".^[51][52] Lord described this style of animation as "totally revolutionary",^[32] and explained that the design combines the in-house style of Sony Pictures Animation with the "flavor" of comic artists such as Sara Pichelli (who co-created Miles Morales) and Robbi Rodriguez.^[32][17] To make it feel more like a comic book, it was animated without motion blur, and rather than using animation principles like squash and stretch they came up with substitute versions of them; "so that in texture and feel it felt different, but it still achieved the same goal — to either feel weight or anticipation or impact or things like that".^[53] Different comic styles were emulated throughout the film for the different characters, with Spider-Gwen's animation based on the designs in her comics, Spider-Man Noir having a black-and-white color scheme, and Spider-Ham being designed as "cartoony" as possible. Shiyoon Kim served as overall character designer,^[54] while Craig Kellman designed the exaggerated look for Spider-Ham. ^[52] Justin K. Thompson served as production designer after having done so on the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films for Lord, Miller, and Sony Pictures Animation. Danny Dimian served as visual effects supervisor after having worked on both the 2002 Spider-Man film and the first Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs film, and also compared the approach Imageworks took with the film to the 2000 film Hollow Man.^[55] Animation co-director Patrick O'Keefe said that committing fully to each Spider's unique art style was like "making five movies".^[52] In-universe comic-books in the film were designed as a combination of the artwork of Steve Ditko and John Romita.^[17] Chris Pine's Peter Parker cover was designed by Keith Pollard, Erik Larsen designed the cover for Jake Johnson's Peter Parker, and Miles Morales' co-creator Sara Pichelli, also contributed art for the film.^[56]

The film's directors all felt that the film would be one of the few that audiences actually "need" to watch in 3D due to the immersive nature of the animated world created, and the way that the hand-drawn animation elements created specifically for the film create a unique experience; Persichetti described this experience as a combination of the effects of an old-fashioned hand-drawn multiplane camera and a modern virtual reality environment.^[37] One scene in Aaron Davis's apartment includes an image of Donald Glover in the background, which references Glover's part in fan campaigns to see a non-white version of Spider-Man.^[17] Glover also portrayed Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming.^[57]

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was released by Sony Pictures Releasing under its Columbia Pictures label on December 14, 2018.^[58][34] In April 2015, Sony had made its first official announcement that a new animated Spider-Man film was in development, scheduling release for July 20, 2018.^[6] It would be the first animated Spider-Man feature film, and would be independent of the timelines of other Spider-Man universe films.^[6] At the end of 2015, the release date was changed to December 21, and two years later, moved up one week.^[26][28][34] Sony premiered the film at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles on December 1, 2018, and included tributes to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.^[59][5]

A thirty-second sizzle reel from the film was shown at a Sony Animation presentation in January 2017, revealing that the film focuses on Morales. Scott Mendelson at Forbes said the footage "looked incredible [sic] stylized and resembled a cross between an Alex Ross image and a psychedelic [comic] cover", but felt the most significant element of the presentation was the confirmation of Morales, meaning "2018 will offer another comic book superhero movie featuring a hero of color, during the same year as Marvel's Black Panther."^[31] A teaser trailer for the film debuted at the 2017 Comic Con Experience, before being released online.^[35] Chris Cabin at Collider felt the trailer "looks much better than it ever needed to. The style and design that is on display ... is vibrant and immediately engaging on a visual level, showing a genuine sense of personality to the production."^[60] io9's Julie Muncy called the trailer's visual design "elegant" and "fresh", and highlighted the use of music by Vince Staples, which was also used for the Black Panther trailers.^[61]

The official trailer for the film was released online at the start of June 2018, and was praised by Chaim Gartenberg of The Verge for its "absolutely gorgeous" art style. He also highlighted the non-Peter Parker Spider-Men appearing in the trailer, Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy.^[27] For Cartoon Brew, Amid Amidi praised the trailer for focusing on drama rather than action, and for seemingly targeting "a slightly hipper, more urban, and teen-oriented crowd", feeling that animated films were usually focused on pleasing "all-ages, all-audiences" which marked this film as a "radical change for United States feature animation".^[62] Dani Di Placido of Forbes praised the trailer for inspiring interest in the Spider-Man property after several different incarnations of the character had appeared in films. He said it achieved this by leaning into the comic storyline of the Spider-Verse and having multiple versions of the character in one film, and by its "beautifully rendered" visuals that differentiated it from other major animated films. Placido said, "it's nice to see a movie just go nuts and embrace the weirdness of comic books and their eternally shapeshifting storylines."^[63] The trailer generated 164 thousand conversations across social media platforms within a day of its release, and in three days had been viewed 44 million times making the film one of Sony's most viral, alongside Sausage Party (2016).^[64]

Sony released a second trailer for the film in October 2018,^[36] ahead of a panel to promote the film at New York Comic Con where the first 35 minutes of the film were shown.^[36][65] Lord and Miller explained that they chose not to show various clips from throughout the film because they would lack context for the audience, so went with an extended sequence for the presentation even though it had some unfinished animation and music.^[65] At that time, Sony's film Venom was released in theaters, featuring another extended clip from Into the Spider-Verse as a post-credits scene. The scene confirmed that the shared universe that Venom is part of is one of the universes connected within the "Spider-Verse" multiverse.^[7]

In November 2018, Sony launched Spider-Verse Web AR Experience, a mobile augmented reality experience created by 8th Wall and Trigger to run on Amazon Web Services. Inspired by the film, the AR experience allows users to include Spider-Man in photos that they take of their environment.^[66] The film also received a $115 million promotional "boost" from various companies—one of the largest such campaigns for a Sony film—including the Ad Council, who included the film's characters in an anti-bullying campaign; McDonald's, with a unique Happy Meal TV spot created in the film's animation style, as well as a special "double height" Happy Meal box for Australian McDonalds locations designed like a skyscraper that the characters can swing from; Synchrony Bank as part of their "Save Like a Hero" campaign; Nike, who sold the Air Jordan shoes that Morales wears in the film; General Mills cereal; official toy lines from Hasbro; themed cruises with Genting Cruise Lines; a "comprehensive" social media-based campaign in China by Tencent QQ, a brand that can be seen in the film; and other technology partners eBay, Vodafone, Garmin, Adobe, and Wacom.^[67]

On December 29, 2018, Sony published the film's screenplay online.^[24]

As of January 17, 2019^[update], Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has grossed $150.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $155.8 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $306.1 million, against a production budget of $90 million.^[4]

In the United States and Canada, Into the Spider-Verse was released alongside Mortal Engines and The Mule, and was projected to gross $30–35 million from 3,813 theaters in its opening weekend.^[58] It made $12.6 million on its first day, including $3.5 million from Thursday night previews, and went on to debut to $35.4 million, finishing first at the box office and marking the best-ever December opening for an animated film.^[68] The film made $16.7 million in its second weekend, finishing fourth behind newcomers Aquaman, Bumblebee and Mary Poppins Returns, and then $18.3 million in its third weekend, finishing fourth again.^[69][70] In its fifth weekend the film made $13 million, finishing in fourth for a third straight week.^[71]

The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval rating for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse based on 326 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse matches bold storytelling with striking animation for a purely enjoyable adventure with heart, humor, and plenty of superhero action."^[72] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100, based on 50 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[73] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 90% overall positive score and an 80% "definite recommend", as well as a rare 5 stars rating.^[68]

David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a "B+" and called it "hilarious and ultimately even poignant", writing: "An eye-popping and irreverent animated experience from the marvelous comic minds who brought you 21 Jump Street... Into the Spider-Verse is somehow both the nerdiest and most inviting superhero film in a long time; every single frame oozes with fan service..."^[74] Oliver Jones of The New York Observer gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars and wrote, "The greatest triumph and biggest surprise of the film is that it is an LSD freak-out on par with 2001: A Space Odyssey."^[75] Johnny Oleksinski of The New York Post gave the film a 3.5 rating out of 4, hailing the film as "the best stand-alone film to feature the iconic character so far", and praising Miles's characterization as "more fleshed out than the usual Marvel heroes".^[76] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "...the freshest and most stimulating aspect of the film is the visual style, which unites the expected Marvel mix of 'universes' (it used to be assumed there was only one universe in creation) with animation that looks both computer-driven and hand-drawn, boasts futuristic as well as funky urban elements, moves the 'camera' a lot and brings together a melting pot of mostly amusing new characters."^[77] Ryan B. Patrick of Exclaim! gave the film 9/10, writing, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sticks the landing; it is probably the best, most faithful representation of a comic book on film to date."^[78]

William Bibbiani of The Wrap felt the film "represents some of the best superhero storytelling on the market", and that it "captures the sprawling interconnectivity of comic-book universes in a way that no other feature film has", calling it the best Spider-Man film since Spider-Man 2.^[79] Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times said that "[w]hat distinguishes Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in the end is that it takes its mission seriously, even when it's being transparently silly".^[80] David Sims of The Atlantic said that the film "somehow, through sheer creative gumption, does something new [in the superhero genre]", particulary praising the use of comic book's "visual language", as well as the characters' dynamic, and felt that the "anarchic fingerprints" of producers Lord and Miller were "all over [the] movie".^[81] Katie Walsh of Tribune News Service said that the film is "unlike any other superhero or animated film that has come before", comparing the animation to "watching a comic book come to life", and feeling that the film "firmly exists in a post-Deadpool environment, where it seems the only fresh way into a century-old superhero is to skewer the tropes, make fun of the merchandising and acknowledge the cultural significance of it all in a cheeky and self-reflective manner", and that Lord, who wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay, was "[t]he key to the balance of self-aware and sweet" present in the film.^[82]

Tom Holland, who plays Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, praised the film as "one of the coolest films [he has] ever seen,"^[83] while Holland's MCU co-star Chris Pratt, who worked with Lord and Miller in The Lego Movie films, called it an "emotionally moving, cutting edge, progressive, diverse, funny, meta, action-packed, silly, visually stunning masterpiece!"^[84] Patton Oswalt called the film "brilliant" and continued "[...] This has been a non-stop year for me and I’m glad I’m ending it in such a cinematic high-note. Not only is it the best superhero film ever made, it’s flat-out a game-changing MOVIE. Seeing it again tomorrow!"^[85] Kevin Smith reviewed the film on his podcast Fatman Beyond, stating "I always liked Spider-Man but this movie made me love Spider-Man on a Batman-type level", and continued saying "It just goes to show you that any character in the right hands can be a transformative experience."^[86] Barry Jenkins, director of the Academy Award-winning film Moonlight, praised the film calling it "magnificent"; citing it as the best Spider-Man film, one of the best films of 2018, and the best tentpole film since Edge of Tomorrow. Jenkins continued, saying, "I was stupefied. I mean just tremendous, tremendous work, so grounded and full of verve; visceral. Saw it on the biggest screen I could find, just a viscerally enthralling experience. I salute you."^[87] Rian Johnson, director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, described the film as "the Velvet Underground of superhero movies" as he believes it will be an influential movie.^[88]

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won Best Animated Feature Film at the 76th Golden Globe Awards^[89] won the same award at the 24th Critics' Choice Awards,^[90] and received many other awards and nominations.

In August 2018, the directors were still focused on completing the film but acknowledged that the introduction of the Spider-Verse in the film could create the potential for many different stories to be told depending on the success of this film.^[37] By the end of November, Sony was developing a sequel and several spin-offs from the film due to the "incredible buzz" surrounding it.^[51] Joaquim Dos Santos and David Callaham are set to direct and write the sequel, respectively,^[107] which would continue Morales's story. One of the spin-offs, a Spider-Women film focused on three generations of female Spider-related characters,^[108] will star Spider-Gwen and feature Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman and Cindy Moon / Silk,^[39] has Bek Smith set to write,^[108] and Lauren Montgomery in talks to direct.^[107][39] The spin-offs could extend into other media such as television, upon which Lord and Miller both expressed interest in seeing a series of shorts starring Spider-Ham,^[109] while Sony is reportedly considering developing animated spin-off TV series focusing on the film's characters.^[110] John Mulaney also expressed interest in a spin-off film starring Spider-Ham, describing the potential plot as a "Watergate-like story" focusing on his character's career as a reporter.^[111]

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