We know the multiverse is ever-changing, especially when that multiverse is actually the Spider-Verse. While the movie was in theaters, fans quickly realized that there were different versions of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse thwiping around. One showing of Across the Spider-Verse would feature one set of scenes… Only for certain moments to change in the next. In theaters, this was a fun treat. It made viewers feel like they were part of the Spider-Verse itself. But now that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has been released on digital, it looks like the movie has seen even more changes. Most of these alterations are minor, but there are actually quite a few of them. And, at least one feels like it might have taken a little bit of heart out of a scene. Let’s take a look at how the digital version of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse compares to its previous iterations.
So, there are actually a lot of differences in the #SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse cuts
— Chris 🎧 (@chrisagwrites) August 9, 2023
Here's a cut comparison 🧵 theatrical vs digital of Across The Spider-Verse
(*will update as more are found) pic.twitter.com/PUdiqnnFJx
The full thread of differences lives on Twitter, thanks to user Chrisagwrites. It currently contains just under 20 examples of changes made in Across the Spider-Verse‘s digital version. You can check out a few of them below.
We won’t review all 17 alterations here. But one that sticks out occurs during Miles’ fight with Miguel O’Hara a.k.a Spider-Man 2099. Once Miles realizes the Spider Society is not the place for him, he seeks to go home to save his father. To do so, he outsmart Miguel and the rest of the Spider-Mans, People, and Animals.
In a climactic moment, Miles Morales gains the upper hand in their battle and tells Spider-Man 2099 that he’s going to do his own thing and that he’s “going home.” It’s a true turning point for the character, who so wanted to leave his home to be a part of the Spidey Club. But in the digital version of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the line has been removed.
4. When Miguel tries to stop Miles, Miles says Sorry man, I'm going home in the theatrical cut
— Chris 🎧 (@chrisagwrites) August 9, 2023
This line was removed in the digital version. pic.twitter.com/zIpYHJbmb3
Speaking to GamesRadar+ about the different cuts of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, including the digital version, Phil Lord and Chris Miller noted, “There was an international version that was made almost two months before the movie came out because it had to be translated into different languages and these French censors have to decide what the rating of the movie is in Europe.”
Additionally, they shared, “The team at [Sony Pictures] Imageworks still had some shots that they felt they could do better for the finished version. So, they cleaned up and tweaked those things… Certain crew members – people in the sound department or on the animation team – were like, ‘Oh, could we do this instead?’… Let’s do the best possible version we can. Because it’s a multiverse movie, it’s like there’s a multiverse of the movie – that was really the reasoning behind it. It was trying to make the best possible version that everyone was going to be the proudest of.”
The gift and the curse of digital releases is that the media is always in flux. Maybe, just maybe, despite changes made to Across the Spider-Verse‘s digital release fans will get back the moments they miss eventually. The multiverse is ever-changing, after all.
Originally published on August 11, 2023.