“What’s up, danger?” That question first posed to audiences in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse -- still one of the best Spider-Man movies ever made -- is now back on our minds thanks to the latest Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer premiering online. The preview was action-packed and contained an A+ Marvel Cinematic Universe reference, but more importantly, it set up one hell of a dilemma for Shameik Moore’s Miles Morales. It’s heavily implied that our web-spinning main protagonist is in danger of losing a loved one, and if Across the Spider-Verse is pulling from the comes, we should be worried for Luna Lauren Vélez’s Rio Morales, Miles’ mother.
Although the new Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer doesn’t explicitly lay out who in Miles’ life is in danger, there is an ominous shot of Miles’ father, Brian Tyree Henry’s Jefferson Davis falling from a great height. However, I think that’s a misdirect. For one thing, both this trailer and the previous Across the Spider-Verse trailer have placed notable emphasis on Miles’ mother. In the latter preview, Rio was heard telling Miles to never forget “the little boy” inside of him, and in this new look, we see Miles upsetting his mother over failing to arrive at an event on time and only getting a B in Spanish, because like Jeff, she has no idea that her son is keeping quite busy as Spider-Man. These things alone are enough to convince me that Rio will have a bigger role to play in Across the Spider-Verse, which has been described as being similar to The Empire Strikes Back.
But even setting all that aside, fans of Miles Morales’ comic book adventures know that it’s not unwarranted to assume Rio could have a target painted on her. Early into Miles’ time as Spider-Man in the Ultimate Universe, his mother got caught in his battle with Venom, and she was accidentally gunned down by police when they arrived to try and take down that monster. The good news is that when the Ultimate Universe and the main Marvel Comics continuity merged in 2015’s Secret Wars, Molecule Man repaid Miles’ earlier kindness to him by transferring the teen’s family and friends into this new reality, and that included resurrecting his mother.
If you’re thinking that showing Miles Morales’ mother dying might be too intense for a movie that will surely be rated PG, let’s not forget that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse showed both Chris Pine’s version of Peter Parker and Mahershala Ali’s Jefferson Davis both meeting their demise, the latter being another death that originated from the comics (although he too was later resurrected). I doubt that Across the Spider-Verse would kill Rio off the same way as her comic book counterpart, but Into the Spider-Verse showed that this corner of the Spider-Man franchise can tastefully depict death without showing kids anything too graphic.
I’m not willing to say with 100% certainty with Rio Morales will die in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Assuming she is indeed the one in danger, maybe Miles will be able to save both her and everyone else from what’s threatening the multiverse, and thus avoid making this “sacrifice” that Jake Johnson’s Peter B. Parker says that Spider-heroes need to give. It’s also possible that while Rio could die in Across the Spider-Verse, the next movie, Beyond the Spider-Verse, could pull a page from Secret Wars’ book and resurrect her by the time the story’s done. But at the very least, we should be worried about Rio’s wellbeing going into the sequel given how badly things turned out for her in the comics, albeit temporarily.
Sony Pictures Animation’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse swings into theaters on June 2, and Beyond the Spider-Verse will follow on March 29, 2024. While we wait for more news about what this sequel holds in store, take a look at the 2023 new movie releases you’d like to see later in the year.
