A brand new superhero potentially coming to the big screen has been revealed in the way most of them are: a toy. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse won’t be in theaters until June 2, 2023, but since it was originally supposed to be out in October, merchandise is finding its way on shelves. One such piece of merch, the board game Trouble, has revealed that one of our favorite Spider-characters may be joining the fun.
On the Spider-Verse themed Trouble you’ll see images of Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and Miguel O’Hara, all of whom were a given. There’s also the Spot and, most interestingly, the Scarlet Spider. Yes, Ben Reilly himself will be part of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Here are the images (which you can tell were done a while ago as they still have the “Part 1" in the title, which has been dropped).
In the comics, Ben Reilly is a clone of Spider-Man created to kill the hero. However, he later teams up with him but by then things have gotten incredibly tragic and awful. We’ve covered the character a bunch, and you can read about him at these links. But his possible inclusion opens up just a whole new Pandora’s box of emotional complexities for the film’s characters, if the movie decides to go there.
Recent toy leaks have also revealed that Spider-Punk might be in the film and, as previously revealed, Jessica Drew will be joining as yet another Spider-Person. If all these are to be believed, we now have two returning Spiders (Miles and Gwen) and four new ones (Miguel, Ben, Jessica, Punk). Then there’s also the villains, of which we know the Spot, who you can also see on the Trouble box, as well as Vulture, as revealed in the early footage screened a few months back. All in all, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is going to have 240 characters in it, as opposed to 40 in the first movie.
io9 reached out to Sony which would not comment on characters that may or may not be in the film. But the film is scheduled for release June 2, 2023 and its sequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, will be out March 29, 2024.
Update 8/17/2022, 3:10 p.m.: We’ve updated the article with Sony’s response.
Update 8/17/2022, 4:10 p.m.: We’ve updated with official photos.
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