The web in ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ connects what’s new with what’s essential

The makers of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” faced a showdown with sequelitis — and won. So, of course, when it came to making the sequel, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” writers and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller made their mantra what every studio simply loves to hear, expressed by the film’s first line: “Let’s do things differently this time.” Miller says, “The first movie was appreciated for its innovations — among other things — how it was something you’d never seen before; a story told in a way that you had never seen before. The arc of the characters, where they were going; it was a new thing, from my perspective.” Jessica Drew, Gwen Stacy and Peter B. Parker are just three of the seemingly countless Spider-People Miles Morales encounters in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” It’s not just the story that’s different, but the environments and visual approach were new — itself a risk, considering how groundbreaking and widely praised the original’s look was. Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy take on the villainous the Spot, in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” Callaham says, “The thing that makes Miles, but the best versions of Peter Parker too, most interesting is that they are really young and they’re operating inside a world that they don’t fully understand how to navigate even as a normal person, let alone a superhero. We kept asking, ‘Are they going to stay interested in the intimate scenes?’ And we found out that, honestly, the stuff that people live for is those intimate scenes.” Miller says, “A thing about the DNA of Spider-Man is that he’s us.