The producers of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse have teased how important the story of Spider-Gwen will be to the animated superhero sequel. Spider-Gwen, as voiced by Hawkeye's Hailee Steinfeld, was introduced in the original film, the 2018 Oscar winner Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. She is an alternate universe version of the iconic Spider-Man character Gwen Stacy, who was herself bitten by the radioactive spider and operates as Spider-Gwen. In the film, she had unresolved romantic tension with new Spider-Man Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), though they found it best to return to their own universes and remain friends.
Per The Direct, in their new issue Empire ran an interview with Across the Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. They revealed that the new film, which hits theaters on June 2, 2023, will center Spider-Gwen's story even more, to the point that "the movie opens in Gwen's world." The story will also reexamine her romance with Miles, with lots of "tension between the romantic possibilities." Read their full quote below:
Miller: [Spider-Gwen] sure is [on her own journey.] The movie opens in Gwen's world, and she has a lot of things going on. There's a lot of her world in this movie.
Lord: There's tension between the romantic possibilities for her and Miles, and their desire to keep their friendship intact, and not to risk it. That's a really interesting place for two characters to be, especially when they're so young.
What Gwen's Story Could Be In Spider-Verse 2
So far, most of the story details for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse remain tightly under wraps. What is currently known is the fact that Miles will be drawn into a new multiversal adventure with even more versions of Spider-Man, like Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) in order to help defeat the villain The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), whose body is riddled with portals to other dimensions. The teaser for the film doesn't offer much more information, as it is a single portion of a scene that focuses on Stacy returning to Miles' universe to recruit him for a new adventure.
However, this scene, which is clearly from early on in the story, does corroborate what Lord and Miller have revealed here. If the film opens in Spider-Gwen's perspective, it's possible that The Spot either comes from her universe or has centered his operations there, meaning that it may become the central universe the way that Miles Morales' universe was for the battle against Kingpin in Into the Spider-Verse. She may be the only person in her universe who is able to figure out exactly what is going on and assemble the perfect team to stop it from happening, which is why she returns to Miles' universe in the first place.
The most intriguing element of Lord and Miller's quote is the persistent sparks that fly between her and Miles. Their interest in keeping their friendship strong despite their romantic attachment is certainly exacerbated by the fact that it isn't exactly easy to be in an interdimensional relationship. Likely, this conflict won't be resolved in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, considering the fact that its story will continue directly into 2024's Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
Source: The Direct
