‘The Spider Within’ Trailer: Short Spider-Verse Film Centers On Miles Morales’ Mental Health

If everything had gone according to plan, Sony would be releasing Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse into theaters this month. But delays due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, along with some animation issues, forced the highly-anticipated sequel to Across the Spider-Verse off the schedule indefinitely. Who knows when it’ll eventually be ready. But last year, we were told there’d be a bridging story, a short film on mental illness centered on Miles Morales. And now the first trailer for that short, titled The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story, is here.

Debuting on YouTube tomorrow, March 27th, The Spider Within from director Jarelle Dampier and writer Khalla Amazan centers on Miles as he has an anxiety attack due to the pressures of school, superheroing, and life in general. This manifests in the form of a dark alter ego that he must overcome. Shameik Moore returns as the voice of Miles, with Brian Tyree Henry as his father, Jeff Morales, with the bonds between father and son, especially in Black families, a key point of the story.

So keep an eye out for this one tomorrow, and maybe if fans react strongly it’ll convince Sony to put a firm date on Beyond the Spider-Verse’s release.

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.