The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story explained

The Spider Within, a new short set in the Spider-Verse, gives fans an insight on how Miles Morales deals with his mental health.

One of the most interesting parts of any superhero is what they get up to during their every day lives and that’s exactly what Spider-Man fans received with The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story.

While audiences are use to seeing Miles Morales on world saving adventures, this short films strips back the big threats and allows fans to get a glimpse into the struggles he deals with both as a teenager and Spider-Man.

As this is the only piece of Spider-Verse content fans will get as we continue to watch for Beyond the Spider-Verse, the final part of Miles’ trilogy, so here’s an explainer on what happens in The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story.

The world on a kid’s shoulders

Miles’ short begins with him having an extremely tough day as he got beat down by Spider-Man while also dealing with his parents’ ire due to his failing grades.

In various flashbacks, we get to see how Miles is currently struggling with all of the responsibilities on his plate, all while those around him don’t like he has the eye on the prize.

Sony Pictures

From the very first frames, we gather that Miles’ mental health is not in a good place as his hands are shaking, he’s blowing off movie night with his dad, and he’s not even able to enjoy listening to music, which we’ve seen him do in other Spider-Verse films.

We soon realize how bad things have gotten inside Miles’ head when he begins to have scary manifestations of his anxiety and depression.

Horror can live inside you

While suffering from a panic attack and what appears to be a form of awake paralysis, Miles starts to see a darkened version of himself that takes him on a horror-esque journey through his pysche.

Miles tries to fight his dark alter ego at first, but it soon proves to be a fruitless endeavor as Dark Miles is much stronger than him.

Dark Miles then turned into a giant spider, hence the name of the short, and it begins attacking him before exploding into thousands of little spiders.

Sony Pictures

This is a great metaphor for how the one big problem in your life can be made up of tiny little instances that you never truly faced head on.

And, since Miles is a superhero on top of being a teenager on top of being student, these tiny issues have grown together to create one large ball of anxiety that weighs on him constantly.

Asking for help can only make you stronger

After being attacked by the little spiders, Miles is snapped back into his bedroom where he sees the light of his father’s movie night under his door.

In a very significant moment, Miles leaves his dark, isolated bedroom to walk into the warmth of his father’s presence, which is something he rejected in the beginning of the short.

Miles and his father then go on a walk where he opens up about the stressors going on his life, obviously leaving out the Spider-centric problems so he can keep his super identity a secret.

The message of this short, which director Jarelle Dampier has hammered home in various interviews, is that even heroes like Miles who constantly have to save other needs to be saved sometimes as well.

Reaching out for help about your mental health doesn’t make a superhero weak, it makes them stronger because they can’t fix every problem on their own.

Only time will tell if Miles will take this lesson into the Beyond the Spider-Verse, where he is set to face his biggest threat yet: himself.

The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story is currently streaming for free through YouTube in collaboration with the Kevin Love Fund, an organization that seeks to “inspire people to live their healthiest lives while providing the tools to achieve physical and emotional well being.”