Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - How to make a credible protagonist

Directed by Peter Ramsey, Robert Persichetti Jr., and Rodney Rothman

Starring: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld.

(Spoilers Below)

Sony Pictures

After 7 Marvel/Sony Spider-Man films, we have reached to the animated spectacle Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse which hit theaters December 14th, 2018.

With a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and 95% for audience score, critics and fans are raving over the newest installment of the web-slinger. Except this film is centered on Miles Morales, and not Peter Parker. The writers were wise to incorporate various Spider-people from different comic books and universes. There's Spider-Ham in this movie...it's a lot to balance. But thankfully, the filmmakers found a clever way to include so much into their movie while still focusing on Miles Morales.

After watching Sam Raimi's and Marc Webb's Spider-Man films, I felt each took a different approach to the masked web-slinger. However, they both were missing a key element that Marvel Studios attempted to include in Spider-Man: Homecoming. This key is acknowledging that Spider-Man is a kid. He's a student in school and has everyday problems.

The problem with Homecoming is we are given the idea that he is a kid but he's also very ambitious and ready for battle at all times. This is a problem that Into the Spider-Verse solves in a few ways.

According to an interview with Lee, he says "What I like about the costume is that anybody reading Spider-Man in any part of the world can imagine that they themselves are under the costume. And that’s a good thing." This beautiful statement given by Stan Lee himself cultivates the idea that anyone can be Spider-Man. In Into the Spider-Verse, Miles Morales is fearful and unsure about himself. He doesn't start swinging on his webs until the 3rd Act of the movie. But that doesn't make him Spider-Man. Miles is given real-life problems along with problems within himself. It's no subtle irony that Miles wears the classic Spider-man suit for the end of the 1st act and the entire 2nd act. He is trying to be the Spider-Man everyone knows and loves but he was forgetting one detail: being his own hero.

Sony Pictures

The different Spider-people from the other dimensions all tell Miles that he will hurt himself or he isn't ready to help them fight. Miles believes he is ready but hasn't quite accepted himself as Spider-Man. He is still afraid and vulnerable, much like everyone in the world. We are all human; we are afraid and insecure in our own ways. This is the theme of Into the Spider-Verse that I truly admire. Miles takes up most of the film's runtime trying to get used to his new powers and with the real world problems he faces, he becomes the most human and credible portrayal of Spider-Man to date. The struggles he faces at home and with himself make us feel as if we are the web-slinger himself.

After Miles gains his superpowers, we aren't given an origin story. The filmmakers tell a story about a kid from Brooklyn finding his inner hero. A line from the film that has stuck with me is when Peter Parker tells Miles that "All it takes is a leap of faith". Miles waits for when he becomes "Spider-Man" but it never happens. The moment he becomes Spider-Man is when he takes that leap of faith Peter told him about, embracing himself which lets out his true identity. He is now officially Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is in theaters now.

Sources:

https://www.bustle.com/p/the-spider-man-into-the-spider-verse-soundtrack-is-exactly-what-miles-morales-would-jam-out-to-13243236

https://www.chill.us/commentary/2018/11/12/spider-man-could-be-anyone-stan-lees-multicultural-legacy

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spider_man_into_the_spider_verse