New Beyond The Spider-Verse Images Hint At A Huge Time-Travel Twist
Does “Beyond the Spider-Verse” also mean “Beyond the Space Time Continuum”?
Sony Animation’s Spider-Verse trilogy has always pushed the limits of what’s possible, using comic book art techniques, and deliberately low frame rates, to tell its huge-scale, multiversal stories. So far, that’s paid off, with the first movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, winning an Oscar and quietly revolutionizing the animation industry. But with these lofty ambitions come high standards for each following chapter.
The final chapter, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, has a big task ahead of it, topping the action of the first two while still trying to find a way to wrap up the entire saga. Clearly, directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord are taking the time to make sure things are done correctly, as the release date for this movie has moved four different times, eventually settling for Father’s Day weekend 2027. Now, we have our first look at this cinematic event, and the Father’s Day timing may be perfectly apt.
Miles must venture out to save his family — especially his dad.
At CinemaCon, fans and industry insiders were treated to a number of first-look images from the new movie. Most of them focus on Miles Morales’ (Shameik Moore) quest to save his father Jefferson Morales (Brian Tyree Henry). It’s quite literally spelled out in one image of Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), emblazoned with the words “Gonna save your dad!”
But one of these images of Jefferson is especially interesting. We see him in a car with his brother, Aaron (Mahershala Ali), but as the younger versions of themselves, crucially before Aaron became the Prowler, a henchman of Kingpin (Liev Schreiber). At first glance, this appears to be nothing more than a flashback to before Miles’ birth, but the truth may be a lot more complicated.
What looks to be a flashback could actually be our first glance at a time travel plot.
The presentation at CinemaCon also came with an official synopsis: “Hunted by Miguel O’Hara’s Spider Society and betrayed by his friends, Miles finds himself in the darkest corners of the Spider-Verse in search of a way home. Knowing that his family has been not only fractured but endangered by his calling, it’s a race against the clock for Miles to travel across the wildest reaches of time and space to fight for and reunite everything he holds most dear.”
If Miles has to travel across the reaches of time and space, then it’s likely that this isn’t a flashback sequence but a time travel sequence. It seems as though we’ll see Miles take a whistle-stop tour through his family’s past as he attempts to save them. It’s the natural conclusion to the multiverse-hopping plot line, but one thing is absolutely sure: this is going to be the most ambitious, and emotional, Spider-Verse movie so far.
