Following the popular acclaim of its predecessor, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse continued the comic book aesthetic of the previous film, explored some neat coloring tones that helped express the mood in different scenes, and really doubled down on the themes of family, child-rearing, and child-parent relationships.
Hear the conversation from the Voyage Podcast about the big themes from this movie:
After waiting several years since we last saw Miles Morales finding support and belonging in those who love him, family is still a common element to the first Spider-Verse movie. It felt even more central in the second installment of the exciting animated trilogy.
In Into the Spider-Verse (2018), we see Miles supported by his aunt, parents, and friends; his anguish at the loss of his Uncle Aaron; and a villain dominated by the grief he has over the loss of his own family. The second movie further highlights the necessity and beauty of family life.
The Desire for Connection and Belonging
Many of the characters in Across the Spider-Verse display a desire to either have a family or stay rooted in the one they have. Miles arrives late to a rooftop party celebrating his dad’s upcoming promotion to chief of police. This party includes friends, neighbors, and all sorts of extended family members. The atmosphere of the party is jubilant and inviting while Miles is anxious and distracted.
This is a positive glimpse into family camaraderie and closeness. It’s this kind of intimacy that many of the characters, including those who are morally skewed, wish to have. They want to be loved. They want what Miles has – belonging.
This is what the Spot bemoans losing after his transformation into an unstable, somewhat non-tangible being. He can’t have physical contact with those close to him. Likewise, Miguel O’Hara holds a tragic backstory in which, out of his own desire for belonging, he takes his doppelganger’s place as head of a family. It seems harmless enough until it erases his new, ill-formed family.
Heroes and villains alike – the characters of this film seek relationships, acceptance, and belonging. As some of them realize, these connections are rooted in family and friendships.
Family Life Is Attractive
Having a family or being part of one is consistently portrayed as desirable. Everyone wants to belong, to know they’re loved and wanted. Selfless love is at the heart of any healthy family clan.
In Across the Spider-Verse, for example, Miles Morales’s parents model selfless love in their tireless efforts to offer Miles the best life he can have. They want a good education for him, and his mother clearly wants him to feel grounded in their family – to know deep down that he belongs.
Gwen Stacy, though she has some rough patches in her relationship with her dad, still loves her father. She doesn’t want to see him hurt, but – like Miles – she finds it difficult to reveal the truth about Spider-Woman to the family member she’s closest to. In the end, though, Miles at least is confident that he can tell his mother his big secret, trusting she will never stop loving or caring for him.
It was great to see some of the extended Spider-man crew from the first movie return. Miles’s old dad-bod mentor, Peter B. Parker, is now indeed a dad. This time, he has a toddler! His baby provides some cuteness and a few lighthearted moments to otherwise tense scenes.
It is clear how much Parker loves his daughter and that he strives to be a good parent.
The Meaning of Family
In the three instances highlighted above, the parent-child relationships are all positive ones. And a theme surfaces: The parents all struggle with raising their kids. They want to do their very best. But the reality of raising a family is like the reality of life in general: We won’t always do what is right or what seems right, but we ought to try.
Some parents might be hard on their kids out of genuine love for them – like Miles’s parents are with him. Some children don’t always like the decisions made by their parents. There may be a sense of injustice where there is no real injustice. If the parent requires something of their child out of real love, then the child must obey.
These are realities that Miles, Gwen, and their families grapple with in emotional ways that, in the movie’s plot, also come with high stakes. No hero in all the multiverse enjoys losing a father, uncle, or loved one. The love Spider-man feels for his dad makes him anxious to see him out of harm’s way, an inclination that the Spot uses to his advantage.
At the end of the day, the family is the natural “glue” that keeps them together. It motivates them to be the heroes they are, just as a parent works to provide for their family.
Paragraph 2203 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “In creating man and woman, God instituted the human family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution. Its members are persons equal in dignity. For the common good of its members and of society, the family necessarily has manifold responsibilities, rights, and duties.”
Then who would not want to be part of a family? The family is self-giving love, which begets responsibilities. The family should foster equality among all who are part of it. In fact, they have a right to it. We see this equality in the “All for one and one for all” mentality among Miles’s closest family members and friends.
The family shows the rest of society how to treat one another. It’s a community meant to treasure and to grow. And that’s one of the clearest messages in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
John Tuttle
John Tuttle is a Catholic journalist, blogger, and photographer. He has written for Prehistoric Times, Culture Wars Magazine, Those Catholic Men, Catholic Insight, Inside Over, Ancient Origins, Love They Nerd, We Got This Covered, Cultured Vultures, and elsewhere. He can be reached at jptuttleb9@gmail.com.