“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” raised the bar for both the medium of animation and the quality of superhero storytelling, so a sequel that goes above and beyond to keep impressing audiences feels like a tall order. But “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” pulls it off, thanks to both the expansion of a central character’s place in the story and the introduction of a handful of new Spider-People and their mesmerizing universes, offering some stunning new artistic palettes that are truly unique.
First, the default universe in habited by Miles Morales is already an incredible representation of comic book art, and brings New York City to life in a whole new way. Then, we shift into Gwen Stacy’s universe, with constantly changing swirls of water color pastels that shift with Gwen’s emotions, where she does battle with a version of Vulture that looks like a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. As the story expands, we’re thrust into the world of Pavitr Prabhakar, the Spider-Man of Mumbattan, India, which bustles even more than NYC, complete with artistic inspiration from both Indian culture and the 1970s artwork of Indrajal Comics. It doesn’t end there, because we also meet Spider-Punk, a character comprised of vintage clippings from punk rock flyers and magazines from 1960s era London.
All of that is before we’re introduced to the Spider-Society, situated in a futuristic version of New York that is densely populated with pretty much every single version of Spider-Man you’ve ever heard of, and even more than you haven’t. There’s even a live-action version of the villain Prowler played by Donald Glover. Each character has their own signature animation style, and every corner of the Spider-Verse was crafted with such meticulous creativity that you can’t help but get lost in it like Miles Morales himself. (Ethan Anderton)
Runners-Up: “Asteroid City,” “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”