Sightlines · reception

How Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was received

2023 · Kemp Powers · Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse on Sightlines

The arc

It landed in June 2023 as that rare sequel greeted as an instant classic — rocketing into Letterboxd's all-time Top 250 within days — though the glow has since been complicated by reports of a brutally grueling production and grumbles about that to-be-continued ending.

What’s debated

The forever-debate: does the abrupt 'part one' cliffhanger make it half a movie, or is docking a masterpiece for ending on a dash just cowardice?

Its footprint

It gave the internet 'canon event' — Miguel's line escaped the film entirely and became 2023 TikTok shorthand for any unavoidable rite-of-passage mistake ('it's a canon event, I can't interfere').

Where it stands

A Letterboxd darling of the highest order — one of the most beloved animated films on the platform and Exhibit A in the 'animation is cinema' argument.

Did you know? There isn't one definitive cut: the filmmakers kept tweaking after release, so early theatrical screenings contained slightly different versions of the film — with small animation and dialogue differences audiences documented and compared online.

A Deleuzian reading of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse →