Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) Script Review | #71 WGA 101 Greatest Scripts of the 21st Century
Phil Lord, Rodney Rothman, and others bring the complicated world of the multiverse to the big screen by keeping it simple, yet exciting.
Logline: After he’s bitten by a radioactive spider in the subway that gives him the powers of Spider-Man, Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales must use his newfound skills to battle the evil Kingpin following the death of Peter Parker, with the aid of different versions of Spider-Man pulled from other universes into his world.
Written by: Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman
Story by: Phil Lord
Based on: Marvel Comics
Pages: 131
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was such a dazzling burst of color, action, and flair when it opened in cinemas that I couldn’t help wonder: How did they write it?
It turns out that the answer is: By keeping it simple.
I’m not being sarcastic, nor do I mean to put down the writers by saying that anybody could do what they did. What I mean is that even though so much is happening on the screen, on the page, the writing is brief, succinct, and focused on the relevant beats. Especially in the final battle, when every frame is packed, it doesn’t describe every single thing happening in the collider room. Just the important beats connected to the characters. But to convey just how crazy it gets, the writers simply pre-face the battle scene with one comment:
Honestly, I’m as mind-blown by that as I was when I first watched the film. Simplicity is the key.
Which is paradoxical considering how complicated this story threatens to be— the multiverse, multiple Spider-Men and Spider-Women (and one Spider-Ham)— but the screenplay succeeds because a) it relies on the reader’s knowledge that you know the basic beats of the Spider-Man origin (which has become as immortalized as the birth of Jesus Christ— and I say this as a Catholic myself) and b) the beating heart is the struggle of Miles Morales trying to find his place in life and be seen by the people that matter.
The writers, Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, understand that a screenplay lives and dies by the relationships in the story, not the plot; and there are quite a few here that form the crux of Into the Spider-Verse. There’s the Peter-Miles relationship (mentor/protégé); there’s the Jeff-Miles relationship (father/son); and there’s the Uncle Aaron-Miles relationship (uncle/nephew). Thrown into the mix is the Miles-Gwen relationship— friends with the hint of something more. And there’s also the absent relationship between Kingpin and his dead family that kicks the entire story into motion, as the villain simply wants to use the collider to be reunited with a variant of his late wife, Vanessa, and his son, Richard; it’s just too bad that he’s prepared to destroy the universe along with it.
Come to think of it, so many superhero stories involve the fate of the universe but by keeping the focus and stakes on the fate of the Spider variants and Miles, you tend to forget that the entire universe is at stake.
Lesson for the aspiring screenwriter: If you want to put the fate of the world in jeopardy, center the stakes on your main characters— let the world’s death be a by-product of their failure.
Reading this also settled a burning question for which I’ve never found a satisfactory answer before: How many scenes should a screenplay have? Spider-Man: Into the Verse has 50 scenes, and that’s because the writers have clearly indicated them, and because I also counted them.
Scene Breakdown List
The script is broken down into exactly 50 scenes, across 131 pages, which amounts to 2.62 pages per scene roughly
SEQ. 0100 - THE ALTERNATE SPIDER-MAN “TAS”
SEQ. 0150 - MEET MILES MORALES “MMM”
SEQ. 0425 - SITTING BACK THERE “SBT”
SEQ. 0200 - THE LOTTERY WINNER “TLW”
SEQ. 0500 - A NIGHT WITH AARON “NWA”
SEQ. 0520 - SUBWAY SPIDER BITE “SSB”
SEQ. 0700 - PUBERTY “PUB”
SEQ. 0730 - WHY AM I SO SWEATY? “SWT”
SEQ. 0790 - SPIDER-MAN SYMPTOMS “SMS”
SEQ. 1100 - I DON’T WANT TO BE A SUPERHERO “IDW”
SEQ. 1150 - BACK THROUGH THE TUNNELS “BTT”
SEQ. 1200 - ASSEMBLY ROOM FIGHT “ARF”
SEQ. 1210 - MEET KINGPIN “MKP”
SEQ. 1220 - DEATH OF SPIDER-MAN “DOS”
SEQ. 1240 - PROWLER CHASES MILES “PCM”
SEQ. 1250 - JUST KID STUFF “JKS”
SEQ. 1330 - PETER’S FUNERAL “PEF”
SEQ. 1400 - THE CEMETERY “CEM” - PART 1
SEQ. 2090 - PETER’S FLASHBACK “PFB”
SEQ. 1400 - THE CEMETERY “CEM” - PART 2
SEQ. 1450 - THE SPIDER-MEN “TSM”
SEQ. 2100 - GETTING ANSWERS, BOOM! “GAB”
SEQ. 1750 - TEAMING UP “TEU”
SEQ. 2120 - GREEK DINER “GRK”
SEQ. 2140 - HITCHING A RIDE “HAR”
SEQ. 2300 - USE THE GOOD FEAR “UGF”
SEQ. 2350 - IN THE VENTS “ITV”
SEQ. 2400 - ALCHEMAX LABS “ACL”
SEQ. 2500 - ESCAPE HUDSON VALLEY “EHV”
SEQ. 2545 - GWEN’S FLASHBACK “GFB”
SEQ. 2550 - SUPER-VILLAINS GETTING ANGRY “SGA”
SEQ. 2700 - THERE ARE OTHERS “TAO”
SEQ. 2800 - A PUNCHER’S CHANCE “APC”
SEQ. 1690 - LOOKING FOR AARON “LFA”
SEQ. 1700 - UNCLE AARON IS THE PROWLER “UAP”
SEQ. 1725 - PURSUIT OF SPIDER-MAN “POS”
SEQ. 2850 - HE CAN’T BE A BAD GUY “CBG”
SEQ. 2900 - AN EPIC BATTLE “AEB”
SEQ. 2910 - EXTERIOR EPIC BATTLE “EEB”
SEQ. 2920 - AARON’S DEATH “ARD”
SEQ. 3050 - WE NEED A PLAN “NAP”
SEQ. 3000 - I AM SPIDER-MAN “IAS”
SEQ. 3010 - MILES RISES UP “MRU”
SEQ. 3075 - STORMING THE TUNNELS “STT”
SEQ. 3090 - WHERE THEY FIGHT “WTF”
SEQ. 3100 - BATTLE AT THE COLLIDER “BAC”
SEQ. 3150 - INTER-DIMENSIONAL FIGHT “IDF”
SEQ. 3175 - JEFFERSON AND MILES “JAM”
SEQ. 3200 - WHY PHYSICS MATTERS TO ME “PMM”
SEQ. 3250 - “CODA” (CDA)
If a scene lasts between 2-3 pages, then you’ll wind up with 100-150 pages. If the rule of thumb is 1 page equals approximately 1 minute, then at 2-3 minutes per scene, you’d end up with a runtime of roughly 100-150 minutes. Into the Spider-Verse lasts 131 pages, and the runtime is more or less the same.
Lesson for the aspiring screenwriter: When in doubt, keep the scene count in your screenplay to 50 scenes!
Why would the script have scenes headlined as much and clearly marked? I suspect this is for the animators; it is easier to divide up the scenes between different teams when you know exactly what is happening in each. But for the writer, it also helps to keep a track of the narrative when it’s broken down into individual units as such. The scene headings also feel like a joke, using acronyms such as ‘WTF’ or ‘JKS’ or ‘NAP.’ There’s no rule to say you can’t have fun when writing a screenplay.
Lesson for the aspiring screenplay: Break your scenes down and give them a heading/title to clearly identify what is happening in each— this also help you see it at both a micro and macro level.
Is the story a rehash of the basic superhero origin story? Sure, but the writers find a way to make it feel fresh and exciting— the script moves fast, it’s packed with laughs (humor that emerges organically given its tone and situation, not half-baked quips forced into every scene and definitely not used to undercut emotional moments). And given how crazy this story gets, Lord and Rothman aren’t afraid to adopt a conversational tone to explain the more outlandish stuff.
What is the screenplay structure for Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse?
I’m glad you asked!
Act 1
Setup
In Miles’ world, The Alternate Spider-Man is the city’s crimefighter; Miles struggles to fit into his new school, Visions Academy, is frustrated that he and his father don’t get along
Inciting Incident
Overwhelmed with homework, Miles sneaks out to see Uncle Aaron who takes him to a subway so that Miles can indulge in his art but Miles gets bitten by a radioactive spider
Plot Point 1
In trying to retrace his steps the following night, Miles gets caught up in a battle that gets Peter Parker killed; he also accidentally destroys the USB that would have stopped the collider. But at Parker’s funeral, Miles accidentally knocks out a different Peter Parker
Act 2
Rising Action
After evading the police and overcoming Peter’s reluctance, Miles works with the new Spider-Man to create a new USB that will allow Peter to return to his dimension before the glitching kills him. They encounter Doc Ock, Gwen in Spider-Woman persona, and other Spider-Man variants in their universe who need to get home. Kingpin gives Doc Ock 24 hours to restart the collider.
Midpoint
Although Peter sticks up for Miles, the other variants don’t think Miles is ready to be Spider-Man; hurt, Miles leaves and tries to talk to Uncle Aaron— but discovers that he is the Prowler. When Miles goes back to warn the other Spiders, he is followed by Doc Ock and Prowler and a battle ensues.
Plot Point 2
During the battle in Queens, Uncle Aaron is shot and killed by Kingpin because he tried to protect Miles after realizing it was his nephew under the mask. Miles’ father puts out an alert for Miles (not knowing it’s his son), and the others— including Peter— bench Miles.
Act 2 Out
After listening to his father validate him, Miles draws strength from this speech and gains control over his powers, and goes to Aunt May to get a Spider-suit and web-shooters, claiming his place as Spider-Man.
Act 3
Build Up
The other Spiders break into the collider room but Doc Ock is waiting, prompting a fierce battle. The tide slowly turns in their favor when Miles joins the fight and helps to send them back home.
Climax
But the machine is still out of control, and Miles must face off against an enraged Kingpin, finally emerging victorious.
Finale
Having saved the city and the universe, Miles settles into his new role as this dimension’s Spider-Man.
It would be really easy to point to the animation style and claim that is what made Into the Spider-Verse so good, but even the greatest style wouldn’t matter if there wasn’t a strong foundational screenplay to build upon. Compare the multiverse shenanigans here to, say, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or even Spider-Man: No Way Home, and you’ll realize that this script takes full advantage of the concept to show how weird and exciting it can get (Spider-Ham, anyone?).
A large part of Into the Spider-Verse’s origins can be traced back to 2014, when Dan Slott brought nearly every variant in Spider-Man history into the gargantuan Spider-Verse comic book event. When Amy Pascal offered the opportunity to Lord and Miller to make an animated Spider-Man, they wanted to do something that hadn’t seen before. That was to bring Miles Morales to the big screen. While an older Peter Parker mentoring Miles was Lord and Miller’s idea, Slott’s Spider-Verse comic inspired to drag in other versions into the story.
The process of writing was a collaborative and fluid one, “involving Miller, other producers, comic-book writers, and the film’s three directors: Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, and Rodney Rothman. Much of the film took shape over a long text message chain between the directors and producers. Jokes were scribbled last minute on Post-its, or simply tried on the fly at the microphone. The script writing wasn’t finished until just a few weeks before the premiere.”
One thread that was nixed from the final version of Into the Spider-Verse was a romance between Miles and Gwen. However, that subplot did work its way into the sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. One reason for Gwen being introduced firstly as a hero and friend was due to the insistence of producer Christina Steinberg.
“I will say that Christina kept us honest,” Lord admits. “As five boys making a movie, it was really good to have another filmmaker there going, ‘I don't think you guys want to do it like this.’”
Lesson: Always get diverse perspectives when it comes to certain characters.
By keeping the story very much driven by character in order to sell the spectacle— something that Everything Everywhere All At Once also understood— Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse succeeds in landing its outlandish concept; a concept that is written with simplicity and clarity. Next time you have a visionary idea for your screenplay, use Into the Spider-Verse as a blueprint on how to go about it.
Notes:
Robinson, Joanna (December 14, 2018) | Sony Finally Untangles Its Spider Web (Vanity Fair)