Across The Spider-Verse Reveals Darker Original Ending
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse originally had a much darker ending before the directors chose to add a bit of home just six weeks before the movie was set for release. CBR revealed that co-director Justin K. Thompson and producer Christopher Miller felt that the movie’s original ending fell flat.
Originally, Across The Spider-Verse ended showing that lead character Miles Morales was stuck on Earth-042, where the spider that bit him originated.
Set as the second installment of a trilogy of Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse needed to set audiences up for the arrival of the third movie in the series, and the original ending seemed to leave too much of a cliffhanger for fans.
Originally, Across The Spider-Verse ended showing that lead character Miles Morales was stuck on Earth-042, where the spider that bit him originated. The version of Morales that lives there has taken an alternate course in life, becoming The Prowler, and Miles ends up captured in chains he cannot escape on his own.
The movie’s ending offered little hope and no hint of how the trilogy would move forward. After a screening, Thompson and Miller knew they had to do something to refine the ending a bit, and the decision to spruce up the movie’s finale was made.
A new ending was created only six weeks before the release of Across The Spider-Verse.
The new ending includes Gwen Stacy (Spider-Woman) gathering together her merry group of Spider-people to embark on a rescue mission to find Morales and return him home to the proper universe. Makers of Across The Spider-Verse also felt it necessary to bring back The Spot for the cliffhanger ending.
The decision to add more to the ending of the movie was one that paid off. With the production budget for the movie set at $100 million, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse grossed nearly $700 million in theaters worldwide, nearly doubling the money made in theaters by its predecessor, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and easily paying for its own development.
The final installment of the trilogy will be Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse. The original date for release was March 2024, but that date has since been scratched out and removed from Sony’s release calendar.
The Hollywood strikes and other unrelated production delays have been cited as the reason for the delay, and fans of the series suspected such obstacles when Hailee Steinfeld (the voice of Gwen Stacy) revealed publicly that she had not yet recorded any of her lines for the upcoming film.
A new release date for the last addition to the movie trilogy has not yet been announced. However, it is public knowledge that Across The Spider-Verse follow-up Beyond The Spider-Verse is in development, along with a potential spin-off film, Spider-Woman.
Hailee Steinfeld revealed after the release of Across The Spider-Verse that she had not yet recorded any of her lines as Gwen Stacy for Beyond The Spider-Verse.
While you wait on a new release date for the final installment of the trilogy, you’ll definitely want to take the time to indulge in the two movies already on the shelves. Critics brought positive reviews about both movies, but Across The Spider-Verse managed a 96 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a 94 percent approval rating from audiences.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and Across The Spider-Verse are currently available on Blu-Ray individually and in a combined package containing both movies.
