Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is a great followup to Into the Spider-Verse, but man, the sequel's ending for Miles a bummer. He is essentially stuck in another world and faced with the reality that he has nearly Spider-Man and Spider-Woman working against him as he tries to save his father from dying. Viewers may be disappointed Across the Spider-Verse ends on a cliffhanger, but they should remain optimistic that this whole thing will warp up with a happy ending for Miles Morales.
Not only do I think it's possible, I believe that there's evidence in the big reveal by Miguel O'Hara that Miles is an anomaly that proves this. While we wait on and gather more information about Beyond The Spider-Verse, let's talk about how the beautifully animated sequel might just hint at the resolution to this big adventure.
We Only See One Miles Morales Spider-Man
We see a lot of versions of Spider-Man when Miles finally makes it into the Spider-Society, which consists of multiple Peters and other variants of Spider-Man. We see different versions of the hero, such as the Gwen Stacy and Jessica Drew incarnations of Spider-Woman, and even Metro Boomin's Spider-Man. Even with all those appearances though, we didn't see another Miles Morales Spider-Man.
Even the other Miles Morales we see who became Prowler is not Spider-Man. Miguel O'Hara can talk about his experience with past scenarios until the cows come home, but without explicit proof of dealing with another Miles Morales, I can't help but be a little skeptical of what he "knows" when it comes to anything regarding our hero.
Miguel Knows How Things Work Out For Most Spider-Men, But What About An Anomaly Spider-Man?
Miles Morales, or at least the one who leads this film, wasn't supposed to become Spider-Man. As such, he's an anomaly, which, by definition, deviates from the norm. Wouldn't it make sense that if any Spider-Man didn't have to suffer the same fate as every other Spider-Man, Woman and other heroes that came before him, it would be him?
There's a part of me that thinks Miguel O'Hara is aware he isn't certain what will happen if Miles attempts to stop his father's death. The simple fact of the matter is he's more comfortable letting that fate play out than he is rolling the dice on something of which he doesn't know the outcome. Ultimately it might be on Miles to change Miguel's mind, which will be a hard feat to accomplish.
Gwen's Timeline Proved Canon Events Can Safely Change
Gwen's father in her timeline was still Captain Stacy, and while it was canon for him to die, that seemingly changed. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse revealed that Captain Stacy left his job as a police officer, which seemingly prevented his death. That's not to say that another police captain wasn't killed in Gwen's timeline, but hey, take wins where you can get them.
If nothing else, it would appear that if Miles can convince his dad to step down from his promotion as captain, there's a chance that he won't be killed. If Miles can ever get out of his predicament stuck in another world, I'd say he could sway his dad to leave his job.
Tragedy Is A Big Part Of Being Spider-Man, But So Is "Always Getting Back Up"
Miguel O'Hara's message to Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Across The Universe is "Accept it. There is nothing you can do." All of the other Spideys feel the same way, which is pretty ironic considering the core message preached in the first movie. The thing about Spider-Man is he always gets back up, so why on Earth would they all be sitting there and acting like they expected Miles to submit?
Furthermore, why isn't this entire collection of Spideys willing to give it a shot and try to workshop a way for Miles to avoid his fate? They're all bonded by their shared pain, but they don't want to take a chance and see if they can't improve the life of just one of their own? That's weird to me, and I have to imagine many of them will come to their senses and aid Miles more in the next adventure.
We already saw that a bit when Spider-Byte attempted to send him back to his world and how Gwen was trying to track Miles down before others found him. Peter B. Parker and Mayday will attempt to help him as well, so there are already hints he won't be entirely alone. Whether he'll sway the others though, or just spark a civil war of Spideys remains to be seen.
A Third Movie Where Miles Accepts The Inevitable Death Of His Father Would Be A Pretty Crummy Ending
Another reason to feel reasonably confident things will work out for Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse is because it would be an unbelievably dour end to the movie if Miles ultimately had to give in and accept that his father has to die. Sure, there are people in life forced to face the inevitable and submit to the status quo. We all know that feeling, and it's soul-crushing, but we deal with it together because we must.
However, this isn't something that should happen in a movie, especially a superhero movie. I can't think of many superhero movies in which the heroes do what normal people have to do and settle. This is going to be an epic comeback of heroic proportions, and that's exactly how it should be.
All of this to say that I believe that the fact Miles Morales is an anomaly will ultimately be the key to why he won't lose his father by the end of this adventure. Of course, I don't really know how things will play out and this is just my best educated guess. Ultimately, we'll all have to wait for the upcoming Marvel movie and see how this thrilling second part wraps things up.
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is currently in theaters, and Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse is coming in 2024, assuming it isn't delayed beyond that. There is still plenty of wait ahead for everyone eager to see how this adventure concludes, so keep enjoying the sequel and search for the various easter eggs that make this follow-up so special.
