Sony has revealed that the villain of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a character named the Spot. Excitement is building for the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which will continue the interdimensional adventures of Miles Morales's Spider-Man and the spectacular Spider-Gwen. As part of the studio's Annecy Festival panel, Sony gave viewers a fresh glimpse of the film — and even introduced its villain.
Until now, all the evidence had indicated Miles Morales would be going up against another Spider-Man — specifically, the variant Spider-Man 2099. But there were rumors of another villain, a wackier foe from the comics called the Spot. Sony finally confirmed those reports, revealing Jason Schwartzman would voice a character no comic book reader ever expected to appear on the big screen. A first image showed the Spot battling Miles and Gwen, with Miles's attempt to kick him backfiring, his foot unwittingly connecting with Gwen instead.
The choice of the Spot as a major villain serves as a reminder that not every comic book adaptation has to be 100 percent serious. This is, after all, a foe who made Spider-Man crease up with laughter in his first appearance, even if the Spot did then go on to beat the wall-crawler. New viewers can be forgiven for having the same reaction, but the Spot should not be underestimated.
The Spot's Origin in Marvel Comics Explained
Spidey's origin is rooted in pseudoscience, and as a result a lot of Spider-Man's villains are scientists. The Spot was introduced as a scientist named Johnathon Ohnn, who worked for the Kingpin and who attempted to scan the powers of the vigilante Dagger to duplicate her abilities. Instead, he managed to get a read on Dagger's ally Cloak, whose body is a portal to the Darkforce Dimension. Ohnn's attempt to reproduce Cloak's portals unwittingly created a doorway to another dimension, which he calls "the Spotted Dimension."
The power drain caused a blackout across all of Manhattan, and the portal began to collapse; Ohnn jumped into the portal, desperate not to waste the opportunity. The experience of transitioning into the Spotted Dimension caused him to briefly lose consciousness, and he awoke in a realm surrounded by dark portals. When he returned to the real world, he was transformed.
The Spot defeated Spider-Man and his ally the Black Cat on their first encounter, using his portals to launch attacks even Spider-Man's spider-sense couldn't predict. Although he doesn't possess super-strength — and, in fact, he is physically quite weak — the Spot rightly realized all he needed to do was wear his enemies down. But their rematch didn't work out how he'd hoped; Spider-Man tricked him into unleashing all his spots, leaving himself defenseless when the wall-crawler pressed in.
The Spot may seem like something of a joke, but he's proved to be an ally to some of Marvel's most dangerous villains — and he's even been able to use his powers to beat the Fantastic Four, trapping them in the Negative Zone. Unfortunately, he's also extremely unlucky; he's died multiple times, resurrecting through what seems to be an aspect of his super-powers, and he was once trapped in the Spotted Dimension himself courtesy of the Mandarin. That experience caused a mental breakdown, and for a time the Spot was unable to communicate with others, leaving notes that were simply spots on a page.
The Spot's Powers in Marvel Comics Explained
The Spot's body is covered with micro-portals that he controls on an instinctive level. This makes him extremely difficult to fight, because — as seen in the promotional image for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — he can redirect an attack. The Spot can actually detach these portals from his body and toss them in the air, controlling their movement with his mind effortlessly. He can then use them to launch a flurry of attacks from all sides, and even Spider-Man's spider-sense can't predict his blows.
He has used them for other purposes as well, whisking Black Cat away from a fight so he could focus on Spider-Man, and then tossing the wall-crawler through another portal so he slammed into a wall. Such an experience is disorienting for the Spot's victims because their every sense of direction — their awareness of up and down — is thrown askew.
Who Voices The Spot in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse?
Sony has confirmed the Spot will be voiced by Jason Schwartzman, an American actor and musician best known for starring in the Wes Anderson movies Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited, and Moonrise Kingdom. He also recently appeared in the TV shows Fargo and The Righteous Gemstones. Schwartzmann is no stranger to voice acting as he was originally chosen to play the part of Masklin in the first Trolls film, and he voiced Stan in the TV series Duncanville.
How Will The Spot Fit into Spider-Verse 2's Story?
The Spot really is the perfect villain for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The comics have generally forgotten the multiversal nature of his powers, but there are indeed stories in which he transcended dimensions, including one where he trapped the Fantastic Four in the Negative Zone.
There is no doubt Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will rewrite his origins — Sony doesn't have the rights to use Cloak and Dagger — but it's easy to see how this could play out. He could easily be written as a scientist who worked for the Kingpin, the villain of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse whose multiversal experiments threatened to cause chaos. Earlier experiments could have granted the Spot his powers, but he could potentially have been trapped in the Spotted Dimension for a time, explaining why he was absent up until now.
Alternatively, it's possible the Spot will actually originate from another dimension. Footage from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has confirmed at least one villain — a variant of the Vulture — has been transported across the dimensions. The Spot could be responsible for this, forcing variants of Spider-Man to team up before he destabilizes the entire multiverse because of his antics.
The Spot has often been portrayed as a team player, and if he feels threatened by Spider-Man he could potentially serve as the nucleus of a supervillain team, recruiting enemies of Spider-Man from across the dimensions. It would certainly be exciting to see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse move to a very different scale, with Miles Morales and his fellow Spider-Man (and Spider-Woman) variants facing threats so great they have no choice but to work together to defeat them.
