Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Did you catch which character Chris Pine voices in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse? The film assembles an impressive cast of actors to voice a whole team of Spider-People from parallel universes, all of whom come together to stop Wilson Fisk from destroying the multiverse. The main protagonist is Mile Morales (Dope’s Shameik Moore), a Brooklyn teen who grew up admiring the Spider-Man who protects his Earth’s New York City. Like Peter Parker, Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider and develops the standard set of Spidey powers, like wall-crawling and a spider sense, but he also gains new abilities like invisibility and a paralyzing electric shock.
Joining Miles on his adventure is Spider-Woman (aka Spider-Gwen), voiced by Hailee Steinfeld (Bumblebee) and who comes from a universe where Gwen Stacy was bitten by the radioactive spider; Spider-Man Noir (Nicholas Cage), whose home world is all black-and-white and has a 1930s pulp vibe; Peni Parker (Orange Is the New Black’s Kimiko Glenn), who wasn’t bitten by the radioactive spider but rather joins the spider in piloting the Sp//dr robot; Peter Porker a.k.a. Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), a talking pig from an Earth full of talking animals à la The Looney Tunes; and Peter B. Parker (New Girl’s Jake Johnson), a Spider-Man who’s pretty similar to your standard Spider-Man, only older, pudgier, and a bit of a loser.
Pine, meanwhile, lends his voice to Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man of Miles’ Earth. This version of the web-slinger has been active as Spider-Man for about 10 years and is the very best at what he does, saving the city time after time. He’s something of a celebrity, too, with Spidey’s face appearing on everything from cereal to popsicles. Heck, he even released a Christmas album! And yet, sadly, this is also the version of Spider-Man who is killed by Wilson Fisk when he tries to shut down the particular accelerator Fisk is using to access parallel universes.
Miles is actually present when Fisk kills Spider-Man, having stumbled upon Peter fighting with the Green Goblin before Fisk steps in to finish the job. The two even briefly interact, with Peter immediately recognizing that Miles is like him and offering to train him. Tragically, this Peter Parker never gets that chance, but his sacrifice still has a profound impact on Miles, inspiring him to don the mask and protect the city as its new Spider-Man. Miles still needs some training, which is where the other Spider-People come in - especially Johnson’s Peter B. Parker who, through his training of Miles, becomes an even better Spider-Man himself.
To comic book fans, Chris Pine’s Peter Parker is better known as the Ultimate Spider-Man. Not because he’s just that good, but because when Marvel Comic found that their main universe’s canon had become too convoluted and unwelcoming to new readers, they started a new universe with a new canon and a rebooted origin for Spider-Man. This more modern and accessible universe was dubbed Ultimate Marvel, and since the purpose was to go against tradition, the Ultimate universe’s Peter Parker was killed in a major story arc aptly titled, “The Death of Spider-Man.” It’s during this time that Miles is bitten and develops his powers, and, similar to what happens in Into The Spider-Verse, witnessing Peter’s sacrifice first hand inspires him to become the new Ultimate Spider-Man.
In the comics, the Ultimate Peter Parker is eventually resurrected, because… comics, and so now the Ultimate universe has two Spider-Men. The ultimate Spider-Man played by Chris Pine, though, is likely dead for good. Any Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse sequel will have entire multiverse of Spider-Men, -Women, and -Animals to choose from, so it doesn’t really seem necessary to bring back another version of Peter Parker so similar to one they already have. Besides, Peter’s sacrifice is a crucial moment not just in Mile’s journey, but for the other Peter Parker as well. To undo it - even to bring Chris Pine back on board - would cheapen it.
Next: 30 Things You Completely Missed In Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
- Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse Release Date: 2018-12-14
