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Published Feb 13, 2026, 11:33 AM EST
The last film in the trilogy has some heavy lifting to do
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Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was one of the most anticipated sequels in recent memory — at least before repeated delays pushed it back from its original March 29, 2024, release date to June 18, 2027.
Since then, we’ve gotten announcements for Spider-Punk and Spider-Noir spinoffs, both centered on characters who made their big-screen debuts in earlier Spider-Verse films. This week, fans were treated to a trailer for Spider-Noir, a live-action series starring Nicolas Cage, who previously voiced the character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Sony Animation bosses Kristine Belson and Damien de Froberville also confirmed that a Spider-Punk project and a Spider-Gwen spinoff film are in development.
But if any of these Spider-People hope to make the same impact Miles Morales did in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the trilogy’s finale will have to do some serious heavy lifting.
Miles Morales and the Spider-Verse films took off because he represents many things. He is a Spider-Man who is a person of color, reflecting what a young hero growing up in multicultural New York City might look like. He is also the closest thing Peter Parker has to a true successor if he ever steps away from the role. Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) and Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya) are not positioned in the same way, which creates a challenge because they do not carry that same built-in symbolism or narrative weight, nor do they have a long-ish comic book history to draw from like Miles does.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will have to make Spider-Gwen and Spider-Punk more than characters defined by their father issues or disdain for authority figures. As of now, that's all we know about them since their last appearance in 2023's Across the Spider-Verse. But the third film will also have to deliver a cathartic end to Morales' arc, as he is set to face an alternate version of himself who took on his villainous uncle's mantle. This entire plan could fall apart if Spider-Noir fails to thwip off the ground and carve out its own identity. However, its offbeat setting and Nicolas Cage’s acting style might be enough to make it stand out.
The Spider-Gwen and Spider-Punk projects could take on the duty of establishing these characters in classic "superhero origin story" fashion. But they'd still lack the initial impact Miles Morales had — especially Spider-Punk, who doesn't have a lot of history in the comics. It's more likely that Beyond the Spider-Verse will spend a good chunk of its run making audiences care about these future spinoffs, which gives us a hint about the movie's plot. Either way, the last entry in the Spider-Verse trilogy will have a lot to juggle when it finally lands. With Sony’s live-action universe stumbling, Spider-People may be its last and best shot at building something that actually sticks to the wall.
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