What Parents Should Know Before Watching Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

OMG, what’s that we see swinging our way? Why it’s our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man... and another... and another... and there’s a Spider-Woman... and... another, pregnant Spider-Woman? How many Spideys are there exactly? In the latest Spider-Film (see what we did there?), which is currently streaming on Netflix, we get to find out. But can we watch this Academy Award-nominated movie with our kids? What age is Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse appropriate for? Here’s what parents need to know.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is rated PG.

It earned the rating for “frenetic sequences of animated action violence, some language and thematic elements,” which is pretty much exactly what was said about the first movie. In other words, if you saw the first film, expect more of the same.

Common Sense Media suggests both Into and Across the Spider-Verse are appropriate for viewers 9 and older though, personally speaking, I watched the first one with an 8 and 5-year-old and I would have been fine letting them watch this one at those ages as well. Honestly, I think the bigger issue watching this with kids it that it’s long — almost two hours — and might be a little cerebral for littler kids. That said, the action and comedy will likely be a big hit with kids of all ages: it truly is a family movie, not one you just tolerate because your kids want to watch it.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse takes place in the same cinematic universe as Into The Spider-Verse.

This is, notably not a movie within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (also known as the MCU) where all superhero movies are interrelated. So you don’t have to watch every Marvel movie from the past 15 years to know what’s going on. That said, it’s helpful to watch the 2018 predecessor, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse because a lot of the characters from are back in this newest installment. (You can figure out who’s who based on context, but you’ll definitely get more out of it if you know who, say, Uncle Aaron is.)

Fortunately for you, the first movie is great, and that’s not just my opinion: it actually won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 91st Annual Academy Awards among many, many, many others.

The main protagonist is Miles Morales, a Brooklyn teen who takes up the mantle of Spider-Man after the death of Peter Parker... but soon discovers his is just one of infinite universes, and just about all of them have their own version of Spider-Man, including another, more cynical Peter Parker, who becomes his mentor.

The cast is full of names parents will know.

Returning to the franchise are Shameik Moore as Miles Morales (aka Spider-Man), Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy (aka Spider-Woman), and Jake Johnson as Peter Parker (also Spider-Man). They are joined by a cadre of fellow Spider-Folks — including Issa Rae as Jessica Drew; Daniel Kaluuya as Hobie Brown; Oscar Isaac as Miguel O’Hara; and Andy Samberg as Ben Reilly — as well as Jason Schwartzman as the Spot and others.

Yes, of course they do the Spider-Man pointing meme.

One of the internet’s most beloved memes is “Spider-Man Pointing at Spider-Man.” The image, according to the website Know Your Meme is from a 1967 Spider-Man comic but entered memedom sometime in the early 2010s. It’s been used to poke fun at any number of situations, generally stemming from circular logic, hypocrisy, confusion, or just funny situations (one of my personal favorites has one Spider-Man labeled “Cats & Dogs” and the other “A Mirror”). And in a movie with seemingly infinite Spider-Mans, you bet they riffed on it...

The tl;dr...

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is, broadly speaking, family friendly with a PG rating. But if your kid is particularly excitable, or, perhaps, the kind of kid who will immediately try swinging from buildings after seeing their favorite superhero do so, you might want to learn more or at least talk to your kid about what they can expect to see ahead of time.