The Rules of Across the Spider-Verse Don’t Make Sense… But That May Be on Purpose

Warning: This article contains full spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has already made a big impression on critics and audiences around the world, and all eyes are now on Beyond the Spider-Verse to bring the trilogy which began with Into the Spider-Verse to a satisfying conclusion, especially given the cliffhanger ending of Across. Between Miles arriving in the wrong dimension, Earth-42’s Miles being revealed as the Prowler, the Spot becoming a multiversal threat, and Gwen putting together a new team of Spider-People to save Miles, there’s a lot to speculate about when it comes to Beyond the Spider-Verse.

But has Across the Spider-Verse left some clues about the next film that we might’ve missed at first glance? Miguel O’Hara, a.k.a. Spider-Man 2099, and the Spider-Society appear to have revealed everything important about themselves when Miles is told the rules of Spider-Verse canon. Yet upon closer scrutiny, these rules don’t make a lot of sense, and multiple examples in the film contradict what Miguel says. Is this sloppy writing? Or is the movie sneakily dropping hints that there’s more to be revealed about Miguel’s role in Beyond the Spider-Verse? Let’s take a look.

The Police Captain Rule

When Miles arrives at the Spider-Society’s headquarters, Miguel chastises Miles for disrupting what’s referred to as a “canon event.” According to Miguel, there are certain events that must occur to every Spider-Person in the multiverse, and if those events are interfered with, they can destabilize that reality. Some of the canon events we see during Miguel’s speech include the death of an Uncle Ben or another loved one that sets the Spider-Person on their path of heroism, being infected with a symbiote, marrying their love interest (don’t tell Nick Lowe), and most crucially to the plot, the death of a police captain close to Spider-Man. Miles realizes that in his case this means his father, who is fated to die on the same day he’s sworn in as captain. Refusing to accept this, Miles flees from Miguel, and this conflict carries to the end of the film.

However, there’s something about the police captain rule that doesn’t hold up: It’s too specific. To recap, what Miguel says is that “a police captain close to Spider-Man dies saving a kid from falling rubble during a battle with an archnemesis.” Okay, fine. But one of the examples he provides is Denis Leary’s Captain Stacy dying in the first Amazing Spider-Man film. Footage from that film is shown to Miles of Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker cradling Captain Stacy as he dies, but Captain Stacy’s death doesn’t fit the parameters. He isn’t killed by falling rubble nor is he trying to save a child; he’s stabbed by the Lizard, and there’s no other character present during that fight. Is this just a flub on the writers’ part? Perhaps… if there wasn’t another example in this movie that doesn’t fit. In fact, it’s the very same example Miguel is yelling at Miles over.

Miles saved Inspector Singh on Earth-50101 (the reality belonging to Pavitr Prabhakar) in the destructive aftermath of the Spot increasing his power level with that dimension’s Super-Collider. But Inspector Singh’s death should be a canon event for Pavitr as he was trying to save a child and would have been killed by falling rubble without Miles’ help. However, this was not during a battle with an archnemesis. For one, Pavitr doesn’t know Spot. He just met the guy. And two, Singh’s death wouldn’t have occurred during a battle, because Spot was long gone. He had left that reality already, and the Spider-People present were simply trying to save everyone as the Alchemax building crumbled into the city. So what gives? Does Miguel know how canon events work or not? We’re leaning towards yes, because when looking at the rest of his explanation, ignorance on his part doesn’t seem to be the answer. What’s far more likely is that he’s lying.

Miguel O’Hara’s Vague Backstory

When Miles asks why Spider-People aren’t allowed to disrupt canon events even if they have foreknowledge of them, Miguel responds that he himself once broke the canon and caused the destruction of a reality. He claims he found a reality where he “was happy” but that variant of himself was killed, so he hopped universes and tried to live that Miguel’s life without anyone knowing the difference, leading to the reality collapsing. That works as a tragic backstory to explain both Miguel’s current disposition and his mission to protect the security of the multiverse. Yet there’s a hole in his story: He doesn’t ever say what canon events he allegedly broke. Maybe he’s being reticent because it’s a hard subject to talk about, but it’s quite a thing to ask us to take on faith when he’s so stringent about preventing any other Spider-People from altering canon.

The reason Miguel being vague about his own past is worth examining is because both Miles and Gwen have already altered canon without destroying their respective universes. Gwen’s father quits the force in this movie, meaning there is no longer a police captain close to that reality’s Spider-Person to die, and so Gwen’s Earth-65 doesn’t seem to be affected by this. You could make the argument that there wasn’t much time for the reality collapse to take place, and perhaps this is something that will occur in the next film. But Miles (whom Miguel refers to as “the original anomaly” due to being bitten by a spider from a different dimension) has been disrupting both Earth-1610 and Earth-42’s canon for more than a year, and neither one has collapsed.

Is there something else going on with Miguel that he doesn’t want Miles or anyone else to know?

Earth-1610’s original Peter Parker died saving Miles at the beginning of the first film. Did he complete all his canon events before his death, or are they somehow displaced to Miles? This feels like something Miguel should clarify, especially since that’s essentially what he did to the reality of the dead Miguel. And while Earth-42 certainly seems to be in dire straits without a Spider-Man to defend it, it hasn’t ceased to exist. If anything, these examples, as well as the fact that the Spider-Society is seemingly capable of repairing realities that disrupt canon events (they do as much to Pavitr’s reality, and there’s no indication they failed) calls into question why Miguel is so determined to prevent Miles from saving his father. Is there wiggle room here or not? Or is there something else going on with Miguel that he doesn’t want Miles or anyone else to know?

The True Villain of the Spider-Verse

It’s hard to say with any certainty because Across the Spider-Verse ends on a cliffhanger that doesn’t resolve most of its plot, theme or character arcs, but all of these looming questions about “the canon” and how it actually functions point to Miguel not telling the whole truth about what he and the Spider-Society are actually trying to achieve. It’s hard to imagine that every single Spider-Person in the Society is in on it, but it stands to reason that the Society’s mission is a sham, and that Miguel is policing the canon for another not-yet-revealed purpose. What that purpose is we’re not sure, but Across’s cliffhanger supports this theory, because Beyond the Spider-Verse needs enough narrative complications to justify another full-length feature.

Across the Spider-Verse ends right before what would be the climax of most other movies. The film cuts to credits at what is commonly referred to as the “all is lost” moment in dramatic structure, typically marking the transition from Act 2 to Act 3. Miles is trapped in the wrong reality with his villainous counterpart, the Spot appears ready to claim ultimate power, and there’s only a handful of Spider-People willing to join Gwen in defying Miguel to save Miles. In most movies, there’d be maybe 30-40 minutes left to wrap things up. Beyond the Spider-Verse developing no further conflicts or revelations beyond what has already been established wouldn’t be enough to fill up a whole third film. There has to be more going on here, and given the pieces we already have, learning that there’s more to Miguel’s mission feels like the most obvious route.

There are simply too many questions about what he’s doing. How did Miguel convince hundreds of Spider-People to let their loved ones die without any of the other ones trying what Miles is? Why doesn’t Pavitr seem to clock that Inspector Singh’s death is a canon event in the moment if he’s part of the Society? Which police captain is Spider-Rex mourning?! (That last one might be a joke.) The Spider-Verse movies are so considered in every other aspect that crafting a major part of its plot around such a flimsy premise as Miguel’s explanation of the Spider-Society feels like it has to be a deliberate swerve. It’s entirely possible this will all be rationalized away (or outright ignored) in the next installment, but given the evidence, the smart bet would be on Miguel hiding some seriously shady stuff about his past, and that he will serve an even more nefarious role than he’s already taken on. The Spot may have declared himself as Miles’ nemesis, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Miguel winds up as the Spider-Verse’s true ultimate antagonist.

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.