The Spider-Verse story so far to prepare you for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse unleashes a volley of eye-popping animation and rich Spidey mythology. This eagerly anticipated sequel to the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse doubles down on the multiversal potential, sending the titular Miles Morales into a kaleidoscopic realm where the notion of Spider-Man as a singular character is truly imploded.

We appreciate that it's been a few years since Into the Spider-Verse hit the big screen. So, here's our rundown of the story so far to bring you up to speed.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

• New York teen Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) idolises the superhero Spider-Man whereas his policeman father Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry) sees him as a public order nuisance

• Miles is balancing his life at prep school, where he struggles with a burgeoning attraction to Wanda (Hailee Steinfeld), with his emergent graffiti artist skills, encouraged by his uncle Aaron Davis (Mahershala Ali)

• Accompanying Aaron to an abandoned subway station, Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider

• He is then blessed, or cursed, with a Spider-sense and an ability to climb walls

• Upon returning to the same subway station, Miles discovers a hadron collider built by Manhattan criminal Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Liev Schreiber)

• Kingpin wants to bring back his deceased wife and child and blames the existing Peter Parker/Spider-Man for their deaths

• From a distance, Miles watches Spider-Man (Chris Pine) fighting Green Goblin and Prowler as he tries to prevent the collider from being activated 

• Green Goblin shoves Spider-Man into the collider, causing an explosion that kills Goblin and wounds Spider-Man

• Spider-Man gives Miles a USB flash drive designed to disable the collider

• Miles then witnesses Kingpin executing Spider-Man and feels compelled to step into his position

• Later at Spider-Man's funeral, Miles meets an older, more jaded iteration of Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) who hails from another dimension

• Miles is then awoken to the possibilities of the multiverse (or 'spider-verse'), across which multiple iterations of one character can exist

• Miles inadvertently damages the data drive and Peter agrees to train him in exchange for Miles helping to track down more data to build a new drive

• They are confronted by mad scientist Olivia Octavius (Kathryn Hahn), who discovers that Peter will die from cellular decay if he remains in their dimension

• Miles and Peter are greeted by Spider-Gwen, the super-powered alter-ego of Miles' high school crush Wanda aka Gwen Stacy who, it's revealed, also hails from another dimension

• Gwen has being going incognito at Miles' school under the alias Wanda

• She takes them to Aunt May (Lily Tomlin) who is harbouring several iterations of the Spider-Man persona

• They are Peter Parker/Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), Peni Parker/SP//dr: (Kimiko Glenn) and Peter Porker/Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) and they're also suffering cellular deterioration

• Spider-Man Noir hails from a 1930s monochromatic dimension, Peni Parker is a young Japanese-American girl from an alternative anime-like universe who copilots a biomechanical suit with a radioactive spider, and Peter Porker is an anthropomorphic talking pig

• Miles offers the chance for the Spidey variants to return to their respective universes via the power of Kingpin's collider, but his abilities are questioned

• In a dramatic confrontation with Kingpin's henchman Prowler, Miles discovers that the latter is his uncle Aaron

• Miles subsequently reveals to Aaron that he is the new incarnation of Spider-Man

• Unwilling to execute his nephew, Aaron spares Miles but is then shot by Kingpin

• Jefferson then arrives on the scene and mistakes Spider-Man for Aaron's murderer, not knowing that it's Miles beneath the mask

• Peter restrains Miles to ensure his safety and leaves with the others, choosing to sacrifice himself by staying behind and deactivating the collider

• Following an intervention from Jefferson, Miles is imbued with greater emotional maturity and the subsequent ability to control his powers

• During the final confrontation with Wilson, Miles and his allies succeed in sending the villain's accomplices back to their universes via Peni Parker's newly restored flash drive

• Enraged, Wilson attacks Miles and the observing Jefferson then discovers that Spider-Man is his son

• With the collider destroyed, Wilson is then arrested and Jefferson discovers the real culprit behind the murders of the OG Spider-Man and Aaron

• Jefferson then embraces Spider-Man as a hero and Miles embraces the possibilities of his position as the new Spider-Man for his universe

• Miles' friends return to their own dimensions, although he's later contacted by Gwen from her own dimension

• In another dimension, Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) travels to the universe of the 1967 Spider-Man animated series

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

• Now fully conversant with his abilities, Miles Morales is secure in his position as the Spider-Man for his dimension

• However, he's then contacted by Gwen Stacy who offers to show him something truly special

• Miles is then taken inside the multiverse for the first time, and is shown a teeming multitude of different Spidey characters

• Gwen introduces Miles to the Spider Society, comprising the likes of Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman (Issa Rae) and Miles' former mentor Peter B. Parker, now a father

• The Spider Society is led by the conflicted Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099 who is leading the team in the battle against The Spot (Jason Schwartzman)

• However, he then informs Miles of a seemingly impossible choice, which puts the two characters on a dangerous collision course

• The multiverse then erupts into chaos as Miles attempts to take his destiny into his own hands

Are you ready to head into the spider-verse again? Then click the link below to secure your Spider-Man tickets. The movie opens at Cineworld on June 1st.

BOOK ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE TICKETS