Peter Parker's Spider-Man (l.) will mentor the teen Miles Morales (r.) in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but they won't be alone.
Sony Pictures Entertainment
"Wait, how many of us are there?"
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse will be showcased at Sony's Comic Con panel this Friday and the animated movie features multiple versions of Spider-Man from alternate universes — including some very different versions of our friendly neighbourhood wall crawler.
The title is based on the 2014-2015 Marvel Comics Spider-Verse event, which saw just about every spider-powered character breaching their dimensional barriers to battle Morlun and the Inheritors — a group of beings intent on slaughtering them all.
The trailers don't give us any sense that the movie will stick to the storyline beyond the interdimensional aspect, but let's dive into some of the confirmed and rumored characters' histories ahead of the Comic Con panel.
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Peter Parker
We don't need to explain this guy, right? Bitten by a radioactive spider, uncle shot, "with great power there must also come great responsibility" — you know this.
He'll be played by Jake Johnson (of New Girl fame) and acts as a mentor to Miles, whom we see visiting Peter's grave in the first trailer (presumably he'll be taught by a parallel universe Peter). Aunt May will appear too, voiced by Lily Tomlin.
Miles has been swinging since 2011.
Marvel Comics
Miles Morales
This guy just uses the name Spider-Man, suggesting that his universe's Peter Parker is dead or doesn't exist in the movie. The former is the case for Miles' comic counterpart, who took over after Peter's apparent demise in Marvel's Ultimate universe in 2011.
The teenager from Brooklyn (played in the movie by Shameik Moore) was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli and has had his own comic series pretty consistently since his debut in Ultimate Fallout #4. After Bendis departed Marvel for DC in May, Miles' solo book took a break — expect it to return in time for this movie.
There's also comic book precedent for Miles running into an older Peter from another universe — the pair first met in the 2012 Spider-Men miniseries, which sees them taking on Mysterio.
Miles' comic book supporting cast will be joining him in the movie. His parents, Rio Morales (Luna Lauren Velez) and Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyree Henry) show up in the trailer.
The character will also show up in the upcoming PS4 Spider-Man game, but the nature of his role remains mysterious.
Spider-Gwen first appeared in 2014.
Marvel Comics
Spider-Gwen
This character comes from a universe where Gwen Stacy was bitten by a radioactive spider instead of Peter. In the main Marvel universe, Gwen is best known for her death at the hands of Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #121 — a watershed moment in superhero comics.
Fortunately, this version of Gwen (voiced in the movie by Hailee Steinfeld) avoided that fate and took on the name Spider-Woman. Her comic book adventures have seen her taking on familiar characters with neat twists, like a corrupt version of Matt Murdock/Daredevil.
Created by writer Jason Latour and artist Robbi Rodriguez, she first appeared in 2014's Edge of Spider-Verse #2 and her striking design won her an ongoing Spider-Gwen series, but that ended on Wednesday after its 34th issue.
However, she'll be getting a new series by the name of "Ghost-Spider" and will also be among the central characters in the upcoming animated series Marvel Rising: Initiation.
Spider-Man Noir is from the Great Depression era.
Marvel Comics
Spider-Man Noir
This Peter Parker of an alternate timeline is quite unlike the hero we're used to, since he's from 1933 and battles the gangsters of the Great Depression.
1930s Peter was created by writers David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky, along with artist Carmine Di Giandomenico. He made his first appearance in 2009's Spider-Man Noir #1. Unlike the other characters we've looked at, he hasn't had an ongoing series — his story was told in a self-titled miniseries and its sequel, Eyes Without a Face. Both lasted four issues.
Gamers will know him from 2010's Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, where he was voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes — who played a more traditional Peter in the '90s animated series. The game saw him team up with Spider-Men from three other parallel universes.
This movie will reportedly see Nicolas Cage swinging into the role, much to Hine's glee.
"I'm thrilled that it's Nicolas Cage," the writer told ScreenGeek. "He's a true comic book fan!"
Cage getting to live out all his comic book dreams this year, since he'll also finally play Superman in "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies."
Spider-Ham
File this one under "rumor" for the moment, but it's been reported that John Mulaney will be playing the porcine Spider-Ham.
Peter Porker is a parody character created by writer Tom DeFalco and artist Mark Armstrong, and made his first appearance in 1983's Marvel Tails Starring Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #1.
This was followed by a 17 issue series, which saw dozens of other anthropomorphic versions of familiar characters showing up with amazing names including Ducktor Doom, Captain Americat (Steve Mouser) and Goose Rider. Since his series ended, Spider-Ham has shown up in wacky guest appearances through the years.
The Green Goblin we've seen in the trailer resembles the Ultimate version of the character.
Marvel Comics
Villains
We know that Liev Schreiber will be voicing the Kingpin, also known as Wilson Fisk. Kingpin will be familiar to Marvel Cinematic Universe fans as the vicious arch nemesis of Daredevil in the Netflix show where he's played by Vincent D'Onofrio.
This crime boss was created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Romita Sr. for his first comic book appearance in 1967's Amazing Spider-Man #50. Kingpin has been a recurring villain ever since, but the current Marvel Comics status quo has him as New York City's democratically elected mayor, and he's been menacing Daredevil with all the resources that office brings.
The last major character we've spotted is the Prowler. The first person to take on this identity was Hobie Brown, in 1969's Amazing Spider-Man #78, and he became an ally of Spidey.
However, this Prowler is based on the Ultimate universe version, where the mask is worn by Miles' morally questionable and antagonist uncle, Aaron Davis. He first appeared in 2011's Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #1, and will be voiced in the movie by Mahershala Ali.
Mind bendingly, Aaron was played by Donald Glover in Spider-Man: Homecoming, six years after the actor inspired Miles' appearance (along with then-President Barack Obama).
We've also seen Miles face off against a demonic version of the Green Goblin, Spider-Man's greatest villain. The original costumed Goblin first showed up in 1964's Amazing Spider-Man #14, but the monstrous version's first appearance was in Ultimate Spider-Man #4.
Both versions are Norman Osborn, the father of Peter's best friend Harry, driven to insanity by his experiments in a quest to gain superpowers.
It's likely that we'll see many more characters at the Sony Pictures Panel — scheduled for Friday at 6:15 pm PT in Comic Con's Hall H — so we'll update this after that. Check out our full guide to the panels.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse arrives in theaters on Dec. 14.
Comic-Con 2018 preview: Wonder Woman, Venom and Doctor Who aim to fill an Avengers-sized hole.
Comic-Con 2018: Stay up-to-date on everything we see in San Diego at the ultimate geek conference.
