With Great Power comes Great Responsibility… But it also often comes with allies, enemies,
friendships, family and maybe even a romance or two. Basically,
Spider-Man tends to be defined by his relationships, and this
newest Spider-Man movie is no exception. So, let’s go over these relationships.
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge, and this is Across the Spider-Verse Relationships: Healthy to Toxic.
In case you don’t know, MAJOR spoilers ahead for both Spider-Verse films.
As always, we’re starting with the film’s healthiest and strongest relationships.
For this film’s gold-star example of a relationship, we have Jefferson and Rio Morales,
Miles’ parents. It’s always nice to see an animated couple - especially a pair
of animated parents - who aren’t constantly bickering or who are seen as unhappy in their
marriage. While they do have their moments of disagreement, these two tend to be on the same
page for the most part when it comes to parenting. Although their main focus is obviously on Miles,
these two still obviously care about each other a lot, with Rio especially being shown supporting
her husband and wanting to celebrate his promotion to captain. There aren’t really any truly negative
moments between these two, as even in those rare moments when they’re in disagreement, they still
try to communicate and have a discussion instead of just arguing. It’s just really nice to see.
Keeping within the Morales family, the Silver Medal of Healthiness goes to the relationship
between Miles and his parents. Now, this may seem a bit surprising to some, since these three are
shown arguing a fairly decent amount in the first half of the movie. However, not only does it all
come from a place of love and concern, but Miles’ parents never cross that line of becoming too
overbearing or stern nor does Miles ever become too disrespectful or take his parents’ love for
granted. They all love each other so much, and they just want to try and be there for each other,
even if this isn’t always possible. Rio’s speech to Miles before she tells him to go after Gwen
is pretty much the epitome of this. While he still doesn’t know Miles’ secret identity,
it’s still great seeing Jefferson actually trying to work with Spider-Man and even opening up to him
a bit, showing how much these two have gotten better at communicating since the first film,
even when Miles still has to keep some secrets. Speaking of which,
even after the big blow-up at Jefferson’s party that results in Miles getting grounded,
he and Rio are still shown wanting to talk with Miles - and, more importantly,
listen to him - once things have cooled down a bit. Again, it’s just an example
of a familial relationship still being loving and healthy, even if it’s not always picture perfect.
For our Bronze Medal of Healthiness, we have the friendship between Gwen and the other
Spider-People, namely Spider-Man India and Spider-Punk. In terms of the Spider-Society
as a whole, Gwen actually manages to fit in pretty well, and this is best exemplified by
her interactions with Pavitr and Hobie AKA Spider-Man India and Spider-Punk. They all
work together incredibly well, and when it comes to Spider-Punk specifically,
not only does Hobie let Gwen crash in his dimension whenever she needs a break,
but he also doesn’t mind too much when she borrows his things and just always seems to have her back.
Judging by how well they get along, it’s nice to see that Gwen was indeed able to make some
new friends on her Spider-Society missions, even if they couldn’t fully replace her best friend.
But while they end up having a bit more conflict due to Gwen’s new Spider-Society duties,
the relationship between her and Miles is still an incredibly strong one. Now, we do have to mention
the slight romantic edge these two have, with Miles obviously crushing on Gwen and Gwen being a
bit more unsure but still liking Miles a lot. But thankfully, the hints at romance never really get
in the way of their friendship, allowing these two to still support each other fully and have
each other’s backs both in and out of costume. Miles also never pushes Gwen to anything romantic,
simply stating that it COULD be possible but never being truly forceful about it. Really, the only
wrinkle in their relationship is Gwen not being completely honest with Miles, bound by both her
Spider-Society mission and her own feelings of not knowing how to break the truth to Miles. However,
even if it takes her a bit to fully start to stand up against O’Hara, the end of the film shows us
that she’s indeed willing to go to the ends of the multiverse for her best friend and his happiness.
Speaking of Miles, his friendship with Hobie was a very pleasant and welcomed surprise. Prior to
the film’s premiere, sites were reporting that it would have a bit of a love triangle between Miles,
Gwen and Spider-Punk - which, not going to lie, had quite a few fans worried. And yes,
there is a small moment where Miles is a bit concerned - and a bit jealous - at how close
Hobie and Gwen seem to be as well as at how cool Hobie is. But that’s just it,
it’s only a moment. Outside of that, Hobie and Miles get along incredibly well. Although Miles
may not always understand Hobie’s purposely contradictory and anti-authority attitude,
Hobie seems to respect Miles quite a bit and supports him wanting to try to break canon.
This extends to Hobie helping Miles break out of Spider-Society containment, quitting on the spot
when he’s given the orders to chase Miles down, and even making Gwen a homemade dimension-hopping
watch so that she can rescue Miles. So yeah, who says that punks have to be totally independent?
In addition to all the new spider-people Miles got to meet, we really loved seeing that the
more familiar relationship between him and Peter B. is still fairly positive. From the moment these
two see each other again, they are absolutely thrilled and don’t hesitate to give each other
a big hug. Peter B. obviously still has a huge soft spot for Miles, telling him point blank that
he only has his daughter because Miles gave him the courage to be a parent. Even when Peter B. is
forced to try and catch Miles for the sake of the Spider-Verse, he tries to do it in the most civil
and calmest way possible so he doesn’t hurt him, although he does end up ACCIDENTALLY leading the
other spider-people to their location during the big chase scene. At some points, it even seems
like Peter B. is cheering Miles on, and of course he chooses to help rescue Miles from Universe 42
at the end of the film. As for Miles, while Peter B.’s dishonesty and him still sometimes
seeing him as a kid can be a bit frustrating, Peter B. is still one of the spider-people that
Miles seems to trust the most, and we don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon.
But what’s better than seeing Peter B. still try to be a good mentor? How about
him as a dad? Finishing off the Healthy tier is the relationship between Peter B. and his
toddler daughter, Mayday. While it can’t be easy looking after a spider-powered toddler,
Peter B. seems to be taking it in stride. He’s incredibly playful and affectionate
towards Mayday, doing her best to keep her safe and encouraging her own playfulness. Really,
the only caveat to this otherwise sweet relationship is… Peter, should you REALLY
be taking a baby on dangerous missions with you? Just based off of this, it seems like
Peter B. may still have a bit more to learn about being a responsible parent, but that
still doesn’t stop him from being an overall good dad, judging by just how much Mayday loves him.
Moving on, we have relationships that have some pretty noticeable rough patches,
but still manage to avoid complete toxicity. Welcome to the Grey Area.
Starting off, let’s take a look at the heads of the Spider-Society - Miguel O’Hara
AKA Spider-Man 2099 and Spider-Woman Jessica Drew. In terms of teammates,
these two are for the most part on the same page. They fight together well,
and they’re both fairly dedicated to the mission of protecting the Spider-Verse,
even if O’Hara is perhaps a little more dedicated than Jessica. Although Jessica will sometimes try
to get O’Hara to compromise or be sympathetic - such as when she successfully convinces him to
allow Gwen onto the team - she’ll still follow his lead when it comes to the bigger things,
even if she doesn’t necessarily fully agree with the things that the Spider-Society has to do. You
have to wonder if Jessica is following O’Hara’s lead out of respect and having similar beliefs, or
simply because he’s the one in charge. We do see her start to defy O’Hara at the end of the film
when she lets Gwen go, but as for whether or not she’ll fully switch sides, only time will tell.
Now, let’s talk about another mentor and student relationship, this being the one
between Jessica Drew and Gwen Stacy. As we said, Jessica looks out for Gwen quite a bit,
understanding both her friendship with Miles as well as her situation with her father. She
comforts Gwen after Gwen nearly gets arrested, and while she has her moments of being stern
with Gwen, Jessica will still look out for her and give her a chance to correct her mistakes,
essentially protecting her from O’Hara and his obvious ‘one strike and your out’ mindset. Even
after things go VERY wrong, she still gives Gwen a chance to go save her friend. As for Gwen,
while she definitely seems to admire and respect Jessica a ton, being grateful for all that Jessica
has managed to teach her as a mentor, Gwen still isn’t willing to completely follow orders without
arguing. While this is perhaps a good thing considering all that the Spider-Society is willing
to do for the sake of keeping to canon, it does dry a bit of a wedge between the two spider-women.
Unfortunately, Gwen’s relationship with her father, Captain George Stacy, can have just
as much friction, if not more so. It can’t be easy being a superhero when you know that not
only is your father trying to arrest you, but he also sees you as a murderer. This puts quite
a bit of tension between Gwen and George, both before and after her secret identity is revealed.
While he may still care about her, George struggles a lot when he first learns the truth,
to the point of still trying to arrest her. Thankfully, after Gwen unwillingly returns
from her multiverse adventures, George ends up deciding to quit his position as police captain
so that he isn’t forced to arrest Gwen himself. For as much as they may argue, these two still
love each other deeply, with George calling Gwen ‘the best thing that’s ever happened to him’,
being more willing to trust and support her when she has to leave again. It’s a happy ending to
what otherwise could have been a tragedy, and it’s certainly a subversion we could use more of.
Finally, we have the truly toxic relationships of the Spider-Verse,
the ones that tend to lean more on feelings of anger, hatred and betrayal than love.
Taking the Bronze Medal of Toxicity is the attempted alliance between Gwen Stacy and Miguel
O’Hara. While they may have worked together well when it came to taking down the Vulture, these two
didn’t exactly get off on the right foot. Because of her connection to Miles, O’Hara was adamant
that he didn’t want her in his spider-society, and while he was eventually able to compromise
on this front, he still seemed to constantly view her as a liability. Gwen, meanwhile, tried to do
her best to follow orders so that she wouldn’t get sent home, but even when she tried to fight for
the sake of the spider-verse and the canon, Gwen wasn’t afraid to stand up to O’Hara whenever he
crossed a line with her or Miles. This is pushed to the absolute brink by the end of the film,
leading to O’Hara forcing Gwen out of the society and back to her own dimension, prompting Gwen to
question if he’s REALLY a ‘good guy’. Obviously these two are going to have quite a bit to
discuss in the third film and - considering Gwen’s rescue squad - probably more to fight over too.
For our Silver Medal of Toxicity, we’re giving it to Miles and Miguel O’Hara. Much like with
O’Hara and Gwen, him and Miles don’t seem to get along at all, with this primarily being
due to O’Hara’s insistence at following the canon. Miles, meanwhile, keeps insisting that
he can save both his father and the universe as a whole, refusing to listen to O’Hara or anyone
else telling him that he’s wrong. This leads to a HUGE blowout where we essentially get O’Hara
taking out all his frustration and trauma on Miles for being an anomaly like how O’Hara himself was,
being incredibly hostile and telling him - among other cruel things - that Miles is the reason
why his universe’s original Spider-Man died. Overall, these two are just a classic case of
opposing mindsets and ideologies that refuse to bend to one another, leading to quite a few
explosions. At this point in the story - where O’Hara is willing to not only let Jefferson die
but also make sure it happens and Miles being willing to do anything to stop him - it may not
even be possible for these two to form any sort of alliance, much less a full-on friendship.
Finally, the Gold Medal of Toxicity is going to the antagonistic relationship between Miles
and the Spot. These two actually have a pretty interesting relationship all things considered,
even if it starts off as incredibly one-sided. Believing that Miles is responsible for the
transformation that pushed him into a life of crime, the Spot wants nothing more than to be
his nemesis. Miles, meanwhile, doesn’t even know who Spot is and originally just views
Spot as someone who barely manages to be a ‘villain of the week’, not taking him
very seriously as he’s fighting him and even laughing at him and his strange powers during
their interactions in the bodega. Needless to say, this doesn’t exactly help matters,
and once Spot fully has Miles’ attention, he makes it clear that he wants nothing
more than to ruin Miles’ life just like how Miles ruined his life - or at least,
that’s how he views it. Just seeing how deeply Spot seems to absolutely HATE Miles - a 15 year
old kid who never meant to hurt him - is actually kind of shocking and a bit terrifying at times.
Though Miles does try to talk him down and give him some respect when they’re both in Mubbattan,
it’s too little too late, with Spot being firm in his goals of killing Miles’ father. Until that
goal changes and until these two are able to start to see eye-to-eye enough for Spot to back down,
these semi-one sided arch nemeses will remain the most toxic relationship in this film series.