Invincible was right to make fun of Spider-Verse
Prime VideoInvincible’s Season 2 finale poked fun at the concept of the Spider-Verse, and you know what? The show’s got a point.
Invincible Season 2 Episode 8 saw Mark Grayson battle his arch-nemesis, the multiversal menace Angstrom Levy. Well, we say battle; it was more of an inter-dimensional game of tag, with Levy using his powers to throw Mark across the multiverse with a flick of his freaky fingers.
As Mark fought to get home, he visited a whole raft of realities, including a version of Earth where the dominant species was dinosaurs, a reality where a man dressed as a bat (then chose the laziest superhero name imaginable), and what might have been the world of The Walking Dead.
Prime VideoSpider-Ma… we mean Agent Spider
Still, the most interesting universe we saw Mark visit had a spider-themed hero called Agent Spider, battling a portly man with robotic tentacles strapped to his head. It doesn’t take a pop-culture whizz to realize this was basically Walmart’s own brand version of Marvel’s Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus.
More dedicated fans of Invincible will know that in the comics, Mark actually traveled to Earth-616 and had a proper team-up with the Wallcrawler, and this is basically a homage to that story without the show having to put its hand in its pocket and pay Marvel for the rights to Spidey’s famous red and blue PJs.
It’s a cute moment, and fans have been pretty positive about the whole thing, especially because the Invincible team went out of their way to cast Josh Keaton (who voiced Peter Parker on The Spectacular Spider-Man animated show). We even got an oblique reference to the Spider-Verse with Agent Spider quipping that he’s familiar with inter-dimensional travel.
Prime VideoIn fact, Agent Spider seems pretty jaded with the whole multiverse thing, telling Mark he has “way too much experience with [the multiverse], especially lately.” Now, on paper, this seems like a pretty harmless comment about the countless multiverse stories being told in superhero fiction. However, having a Spider-Man parody say this hits harder because — and get your oven mitts on because this is a hot take — the Spider-Verse concept is overdone.
Now, I love Sony’s Spider-Verse movies. They’re some of the best Spider-Man movies of all time, and I can’t wait for Beyond the Spider-Verse. But beyond those particular films, there’s an odd focus on having Spider-Man travel the multiverse. It started with Dan Slott’s comic book, which coined the term Spider-Verse and saw Pete and some alternate Spider-People team up to take on some inter-dimensional vampires.
It was a fun story that dealt with some fun ideas around identity in the face of infinity and the inherent silliness of a ‘chosen one.’ Then Marvel did it again and again, and you know what? Every time they revisited it, it got a little bit worse (I’m sorry, Spider-Geddon and End of Spider-Verse are dull rehashes of Slott’s original idea), and it’s easy to understand why.
Into the Spider-Verse
The Spider-Verse is a fun idea, but every time it comes up, you diminish how special it is because, ultimately, these cosmic stories aren’t part of Spider-Man’s mythos. Though we shouldn’t limit our imaginations while telling stories or put arbitrary restrictions on what a character can and can’t do, Spider-Man is ultimately a street-level character who deals with street crime, gang lords, and purse-snatchers.
Sure, he battles supervillains and heralds of Galactus every now and again, but only when they threaten the public. He’s the type of hero who genuinely looks out for the little guy and puts as much effort into stopping a purse snatcher as he does in knocking out whatever animal-themed lunatic he’s fighting this week.
Peter has traveled the multiverse three times (four if we include the 2015 Secret Wars event) in the last ten years, which is a bit absurd. In my opinion, multiversal adventures should be like prostate exams: have one when you’re 40 unless you have a family history of inter-dimensional doppelgangers causing trouble (this is not medical advice).
Sony PicturesBeyond the Spider-Verse
Beyond the Spider-Verse comics, though, the concept has also started to bleed into the films, and it’s making me less interested in the character. It might be controversial to say, but as cool as it was to see Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and the older villains in No Way Home, it’s undeniable that their inclusion meant Tom Holland got a little lost in his own film.
Even worse, the decision to bring these classic villains back means we’re unlikely to see MCU versions of the Green Goblin and Doc Ock, and while I love Dafoe’s take on Norman Osborn, I don’t think he’s the only person capable of a creepy smile and manic laugh.
The Spider-Verse is also part of the reason we’ve been waiting so long for Spider-Man 4. Sony is rumored to want the film to be another multiverse story involving multiple Spider-Men. At the same time, Disney is reportedly keen to lower the stakes. I’m sorry, but while it’s cool to see Pete meet himself and himself I want to see the fallout from those events on his life and more of what regular life looks like for Peter Parker.
The House of Mouse is just as guilty as well, though; you know for a fact Mickey and his mates will be desperate to get Spidey involved in Secret Wars — yet another huge cataclysmic event where the fate of the multiverse is at stake. It’s just too much.
Friendly neighborhood
Spidey’s not the guy for these types of stories; he’s a friendly neighborhood kind of guy. I know the Spider-Verse, both the original comics and animated films, are successful, but you know what? There’s room for more Spidey stories than just multiverse stuff, so can we stop the pursuit of the almighty dollar and let Spidey be a friendly neighborhood hero for a while?
If you’re loving Mark Grayson’s new adventures, check out our Invincible Season 2 Part 2 review. We’ve also got an op-ed talking about the mistake Invincible Season 2 made, a list of the full Invincible Season 2 cast, and broken down whether Anissa is stronger than Omni-Man.
