'Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse' Ending: Lord & Miller Reveal A Time Jump
By now, you've probably realized that we love Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse here at /Film. We've published tons of articles about the film over the past few days and are encouraging everyone to seek it out, and we're all excited to see what happens with the future of Sony's nascent animated Spider-franchise.
In a new interview, producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller were asked about the last scene of this movie (before the credits), and they explain that it contains a "jump ahead in time." Read their full quote below, but obviously beware of spoilers if you haven't caught up with the movie yet.
On the most recent episode of the Empire podcast, Lord & Miller were asked if they could talk about the film's ending, in which – final spoiler alert – Gwen Stacy pops her head through a portal in Miles' ceiling as he's laying in bed. Some have wondered if that was meant to be read as Miles daydreaming, but the duo confirm that it's real and also explained that a bit of a time jump has happened from when we last saw him:
Miller: We had a lot of different attempts at that last moment, and at times it kind of felt like a Twilight Zone ending. Like, [Miles] thinks it's over, but guess what? It's not!" And it left you with this kind of sour feeling, like he lost. I think at that moment you want to feel like he completely won, and what better way to win than to feel like he has a lasting relationship that's going to continue past the movie? We just loved their friendship and through it was so strong and warm, so it was a way to really feel like he earned a friend. And that there's going to be further adventures between the two of them, which is kind of nice.
Lord: Actually, it's a bit of a flash-forward.
Miller: It is. Like everything in this movie, we discussed ad nauseam the logic of things and various versions of it, and Phil convinced me that it could be a jump ahead in time.
Lord: Because it's a montage and he talks about all the things he did.
Miller: Yes, and that moment comes after that little speech. So I don't know how far forward it is.
Wrapping up the movie this way is yet another of the movie's wonderfully clever screenwriting decisions, because this leaves the door open for Gwen's return to be A) the impetus for the action in Gwen's spin-off movie, which we know will feature other female Spider-Beings, B) the jumping off point for the already-announced Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel, or C) the beginning of one of the countless adventures Miles & Gwen could share together off-screen between movies.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is in theaters now.