Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Ending Explained

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Story - Miles Morales, Canon Events, & Earth 42

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Miles Morales
Sony Pictures Releasing

Miles sneaks his way onto the mission to get Spot, but interrupts something called a "canon event" by saving the life of Captain Singh, a police officer in Mumbattan and the father of Pavitr Prabhakar's love interest. This - we are led to believe - leads to that universal slowly unravelling, and Miles feeling the ire of Miguel, who by this point in the story has been made abundantly clear to be two threads short of a full web.

Miles is told by Miguel that his father, Jefferson Morales, is also fated to die in a canon event as he is set to become a captain - a fatal promotion that has led to the deaths of numerous other Spider-People's various police relations. He's also told that he himself is an anomaly, given he was bitten by a Spider introduced from another universe. A big chase ensues, before Miles manages to hitch a ride to what he believes is his own universe. Only, it isn't. This is the world that his spider came from, a morose, dark reality where there is no Spider-Man, Jefferson Morales died, Uncle Aaron is alive, and Miles - in a shock twist - is the Prowler.

Before this point, Gwen is expelled from the Spider-Society back to her home dimension, which means she has to confront her father, Captain George Stacy, who had earlier in the story unmasked Gwen - who he also holds responsible for the death of Peter Parker. However, it turns out that George had resigned from the police force, meaning - in theory - he should no longer be fated to die.

The immutable "canon event" appears to have been destroyed without any adverse consequences, so Gwen gathers some other Spider-Men - including loveable dynamic duo Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Ham - to go find Miles and, one would imagine, confront Miguel over the monster that he's become in time for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.