SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
(PG) THE costumed alter ego of orphan Peter Parker has been spinning a web of intrigue across popular culture since 1962 in comic books, TV series, newspaper strips, films and a Broadway musical.
A live-action incarnation of Spiderman, portrayed by British actor Tom Holland, was last seen fighting supervillain Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.
One web-slinging saviour is evidently insufficient because the dazzling computeranimated adventure Spider-man: Into The Spider-verse introduces a menagerie of gifted spider-folks, who tick myriad racial, socioeconomic and anthropomorphic boxes.
There is a half-black, half-hispanic teenage hero, a sassy Asian female heroine, a grizzled old school crusader torn from the pages of a noir thriller, two markedly different reflections of Peter Parker ... and a talking pig.
Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) enrols in a boarding school at his parents’ behest. He spends time with his uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali), who indulges Miles’ passion for street art by venturing into the sewers beneath New York City to spray paint a mural.
A radioactive spider bites Miles’s hand, imbuing him with incredible powers. Miles discovers he has inherited the same abilities as Spider-man (Chris Pine), who died at the hands of crime lord Wilson Fisk (Liev Schreiber).
The kingpin is conducting experiments, which disrupt the space-time continuum.
Consequently, a washed-up Peter B Parker (Jake Johnson), Spider-gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-ham (John Mulaney), brooding Spider-noir (Nicolas Cage) and inventor schoolgirl Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) materialise in Miles’ bedroom.
They join forces to take on villains including Green Goblin (Jorma Taccone) and Doctor Octopus (Kathryn Hahn).
Spider-man: Into The Spider-verse is an imaginative and frequently exhilarating expansion of familiar mythology with limitless possibilities for future spin-offs.
★★★★★