THE SPIDER WITHIN: A SPIDER-VERSE STORY | Official Short Film (Full)

We are proud to officially debut #TheSpiderWithin: A Spider-Verse Story, in partnership with the #KevinLoveFund and the education initiative, #TheHeroWithin. Because everyone is going through something, even superheroes like Miles.

In the genre-bending thriller The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story, Miles Morales struggles to balance his responsibilities as a teenager, friend, and student while acting as Brooklyn’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. After a particularly challenging day living with these pressures, Miles experiences a panic attack that forces him to confront the manifestations of his anxiety and learn that reaching out for help can be just as brave an act as protecting his city from evil.

The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story was developed and produced in the inaugural year of Sony Pictures Animation (SPA) and Sony Pictures Imageworks’ (SPI) Leading and Empowering New Storytellers (LENS) program, a 9-month leadership training program that provides candidates from underrepresented groups with an opportunity to gain valuable leadership experience in animation. The final deliverable of the program is an all-original short film, set in the existing world of a feature produced by SPA and SPI.

The LENS program is backed by Sony Pictures Entertainment’s global, multi-pronged racial equity and inclusion strategy, Sony Pictures Action. The program’s goal is to provide creatives who have traditionally lacked access to leadership roles with a first-hand opportunity to deepen their understanding of every element of the animated filmmaking process including production design, animation, visual effects, lighting, sound, and various post-production processes. Through the program, participants strengthen their ability to effectively articulate their film’s creative vision and collaborate across a variety of disciplines.

The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story is directed by Jarelle Dampier and written by Khailia Amazan, and produced by LENS program creators Michelle Raimo-Kouyate and David Schulenburg. Rounding out the inaugural LENS team are Clara Chan who served as VFX supervisor and Joe Darko who served as animation supervisor.

#TheSpiderWithin #SpiderVerse #KevinLoveFund

[bpumlwn]

I love how when Miles says "Girls", Jeff looks quickly over, and when he says "well one girl", he turns back calmly

[markdevonport]

With the trope of superheros always having bad or dead parents, it's nice to see Miles' father actually be there to support him.

[Jslife]

This is the single best portrayal of anxiety I have ever seen in media. It starts off small, you spend an hour just spacing out, staring at a spot on the floor, you crawl into bed, end up a crying mess while not knowing why, then finally talking to someone. Fantastic job.

[TheOnlyGamerXD]

4:40 "I'll never step on another spider again, I promise" is the best thing I've ever heard

[RazielRodriguezz]

Love how anxiety is being talked about nowadays because it wasn’t when I was a kid. It feels better to know you’re not the only one that lives with this nightmare that never completely goes away.

[giloguy]

OK but for real? Jeff is such a well written father here.
Doesn't force his son to join in for movies despite putting on a very notable amount of effort for the two of them, cause he can see his son clearly wants space.
And when Miles chooses to come to him? he's all ears out the gate.

[DARKARKANGELZ]

bro left us with a cliffhanger and then made this as a apology? i accept it

[tvlipsandbread]

I love how they conveyed the idea of him having a panic attack without being completely straightforward. All his thoughts building up and him recalling the events of the day (which is normally a trigger), feeling like he can' t move, the sleep paralysis creature pushing down on his chest (like when your chest tightens and you can't breath), the swift swaying motions? The colours? The music?. This is amazing.

[labbit]

They absolutely cooked with the sleep paralysis design. No creepy monster or anything, but rather your silhouette with glowing eyes, standing there

[jojithehomie]

It hurt so bad to see him reject his dad like that when he put in all that effort, and then I realized I’ve done that before. This was fantastic.

[vullord]

One thing I love about Miles in comics is ever since he got put in the 616 universe and got both his parents back, writers have been more willing to get vulnerable with the character. And he always has a support system to go to in his parents and Peter (especially once his parents learned about him being Spider-Man). It's great to read when he starts feeling overwhelmed with everything and can call his parents for support or is willing to ask other heroes to pick up the slack so he can take a breather.

[ainsleymcdonald]

The foreshadowing of the anxiety with the mirror showing his sleep paralysis demon following him is insane. Such a small detail of what you see yourself as when you're in that state of mind

[drgonphart]

One of the reasons Miles is my favorite superhero is because he's portrayed as such a normal person rather than just a super strong superhero with no emotions (other than grief cause name a superhero that doesn't lose someone lol). You never see a representation of anxiety in a superhero that's as real as this, a long with his feeling of not fitting in in the movies, and his simple wish to not have to meet everyone's expectations.

[Piiiiiiiiit]

that moment when his spider sense goes off and there’s nothing there? Such a powerful, interesting way to visually depict anxiety for this character.

[UnhealthyCatObsession..]

i love the movies, but this short film makes me realize how much of a character miles is. being a teenager and a hero at the same time cant be easy, the way the anxiety was depicted really captured his character too.

[DKJU]

Miles is so lucky, having a supportive and fun father he have... Not comparing my dad to him, my dad has anger issues but can't blame him because of his past

[hybridroid]

bro the bed scene perfectly represents the first time someone experiences sleep paralysis.. anxiety + depression is such an evilish combo

[pacomatic]

2:29
I like the way his anxiety is depicted by his spider-sense pulling a false alarm.

[RockyInABox]

I really like how they interpretated things like mental health and anxiety and stuff. The fact that Miles' stress between being a hero for the people while also trying to live as a normal kid and stuff is really getting to him, starts making him see things that aren't actually there. The sleep-paralysis demon thing was also done great! Just miles in a room staring at a wall, but a silhouette of himself just staring back at him, that's scary as hell!

[jfhfqne]

ugh i love the reactions between miles and his dad. its just so nice to see a parent who seems genuinely concerned and invested in their kids life. sometimes i wish my dad had given me that when i was young, ...