The Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequels, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, will be going with the rather unorthodox route by having The Spot, an obscure Spider-Man villain, as the big baddie.
Fans already knew The Spot was the villain in Across the Spider-Verse. However, the director for the upcoming Spider-Verse films, Kemp Powers, confirmed that the obscure Spider-Man villain, known best for being able to create as many portals as he likes and making them as big or small as necessary, will be the villain for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse as well.
In an interview with Total Film, Powers commented on having The Spot being the film series' next antagonist despite his obscurity as a Spider-Man villain. "The Spot is an interesting villain because he seems like a joke, but when you really look at his powers, there’s incredible potential. His ability to open portals across dimensions sets him up perfectly for the Spider-Verse." Powers later revealed that there will be more to him and Miles Morales than the classic hero-villain dynamic seen in most superhero movies. "He’s the villain of the next two films… and let’s just say that the Spot and Miles are connected in surprising ways."
The Spot has only appeared in two forms of Spider-Man media: Spider-Man: The Animated Series from the 1990s and Disney's Spider-Man from 2017. The latter depiction of him was more minuscule compared to the former. In the '90s interpretation of him, The Spot was a genius scientist who, by a scientific experiment gone wrong, acquired his powers to create portals at will. His newfound abilities get to his head before Kingpin forces him to work for him under the threat of killing his love interest. While the conflict works out, The Spot's abilities and his impact - despite him being featured in only one episode of the show - set the stage for the last few episodes of the show's third season, especially its finale, which fans consider to be the best episode of the series.
That could be why Powers believes in The Spot's potential as a villain. While The Spot himself did not become a criminal mastermind after acquiring his powers in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, it was his influence that led to the likes of the Green Goblin and the Kingpin getting their hands on the portal technology he created to weaponize it the best they could, leading to awful consequences. While fans shouldn't expect the same interpretation in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, that concept can be taken further, especially since this takes place in a multiverse world.
The first installment of the Spider-Verse film series took obscure Spider-Man characters and made them work, so that should give fans faith that they can do the same with obscure Spider-Man villains like The Spot. Being voiced by comedic actor Jason Schwartzman could bring a funny but more human interpretation of a villain whose power may be raised to a new level.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be released in theaters on June 2, 2023, and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will be released in theaters on March 29, 2024.
Source: Total Film
