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We’re still more than a year away from being able to see Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, but attendees of Sony’s panel at CinemaCon got a sneak peek last night. The rest of us have to make do with a few images from the movie, and that’s enough to fill us with warmth and a bit of dread. In addition to shots of Miles battling Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099, and a picture of his father Jeff and uncle Aaron in their younger days, we got an image of father and son, sharing a tender moment during the golden hour.
As wonderful as it is to see Miles getting to connect with his father, we can’t help but feel a little nervous about the picture. After all, the other Spider-People have told Miles directly that suffering was part of being a Webhead, and one gets the sense that Uncle Aaron isn’t the only important person he’s going to lose. When you consider that the other picture features Spider-Punk Hobie Brown and the words “Gonna save your dad,” then one gets the feeling that Jefferson isn’t long for this world.
Miles’s father made his first appearance alongside wife Rio in 2011’s Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli. For reasons that still make absolutely no sense, the character was originally called Jefferson Davis, a name he kept until relatively recently taking his wife’s name and becoming Jefferson Morales.
Outside of that, the character mostly resembles the person we see in the Spider-Verse movies, where he’s voiced by Brian Tyree Henry. Jefferson’s a police officer who has mixed feelings about Spider-Man. Because comics are comics, Jefferson has a crazier story, as he served under Nick Fury as an Agent of SHIELD in the original Ultimate Universe and, when that world was destroyed and the Morales family was integrated into the mainline Marvel U, he remembered his son’s superhero identity.
In the pages of Marvel Comics, Jeff Morales still lives, but that’s not the case in other realities. Most famously, Jeff dies in the PlayStation video games, motivating Miles to take up the Spider-Man mantle.
Moreover, the Spider-Verse movies are drawing a connection between Jeff and Gwen Stacy’s father, George, which doesn’t bode well for the latter man. Police captain George Stacy is introduced in the comics a few years after his daughter Gwen, and figured out Peter’s super-identity, resulting in tension between the two. Years before his daughter famously dies, Captain Stacy sacrifices himself to save an innocent from falling debris, giving his blessing to Peter with his dying words.
The Spider-Verse movies may feature a younger, stronger George Stacy (voiced by Shea Whigham) than the elderly man from the comics or even Denis Leary’s take in the Amazing Spider-Man movies. However, Across the Spider-Verse also told us that Stacy’s death is a “canon event,” something that must happen to maintain the universe’s sanctity.
According to Across the Spider-Verse, the entire existence of Miles and his powers throws off the state of canon events. And with the canon events disrupted, the universe may be trying to set itself right, especially as the Spot continues his quest for revenge against Miles.
Will things go badly for the Morales family? We won’t know until Beyond the Spider-Verse actually comes to theaters. But until then, we’ll enjoy the peaceful moment between Jeff and Miles… while we still can.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse swings into theaters on June 18, 2027.
The post New Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse Images Are Sweet But Foreboding appeared first on Den of Geek.
