There’s something genuinely refreshing about that, and the same is true for the ways in which it both introduces and challenges established comic book canon.

The film simply doesn’t take itself or its place in its studio’s greater IP library too seriously. In its second half, Across the Spider-Verse even plays around with comic book lore in ways that no other superhero movie really has, and goes so far as to make the actual restrictive nature of established canon a key part of its plot. Not only does the film feature even more art styles and characters than Into the Spider-Verse, but it also relies on more than just one protagonist to tell its story. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a bigger and bolder film than its predecessor, 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It also offers a guide to what big-screen superhero stories could - and should - strive to be like in the years to come. But Across the Spider-Verse doesn’t just breathe new life into a previously dying genre. Upcoming films like The Flash and The Marvels, unfortunately, don’t look all that promising right now. Whether or not the genre can continue to keep itself alive remains to be seen. 3 nothing more than its final, cathartic last breath, then Across the Spider-Verse might as well be the shot of adrenaline that has brought it back to life. To put that another way: If Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania felt like the final nail in the superhero genre’s coffin and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.

While it’d be a stretch to say that it’s taken just one movie to turn things around, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has done a lot to improve moviegoers’ and critics’ shared perception of the genre that has more or less dominated Hollywood for the past 20 years. Things weren’t looking good for the superhero genre earlier this year.

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