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The Spider Society are the main antagonists of the 2023 animated superhero film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and will return in its upcoming 2024 sequel Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. It is a society comprised of multiversal Spider-People from other dimensions.
The Spider Society was formed by Miguel O'Hara, otherwise known as Spider-Man 2099, in an effort to protect various universes from threats called "Anomalies". Though Anomalies specifically refer to things that aren't supposed to be, they generally refer to individuals, usually supervillains, who are accidentally transported to an alternate dimension.
O'Hara founded the team in the aftermath of the Collider incident, in which an alternate Kingpin created a machine called the Super-Collider to open portal to alternate dimensions, and ripped holes in the universe. Shortly after, O'Hara discovered "Canon Events", a concept which refers to events that happen in every universe's iteration of Spider-Man. O'Hara had accidentally realized the power of Canon Events when he went to an alternate universe whose version of O'Hara had died, and assumed his identity, resulting in the universe's collapse. This caused him to become uncompromising in his views.
Most of the society are completely willing followers of O'Hara's ideology, completely subservient to his whims. The exception to this is Hobie Brown, an anarchist who secretly sets in motion events which derail the organization. Though welcoming to most Spider-Men, O'Hara refused to allow a Spider-Man named Miles Morales to join the organization owing to Miles being the original anomaly: The spider which gave him his powers was from another dimension.
The Society use technologically advanced wristbands both to communicate across universes and to prevent glitching. Their headquarters also reside in Nueva York on Earth-928, O'Hara's home dimension. There, they capture a variety of villains, and keep them imprisoned until they can send them home. They use a device which absorbs an individual's DNA and then sends them back to their home universe.
At the beginning of Across the Spider-Verse, O'Hara, accompanied by Jessica Drew, journey to Spider-Gwen's dimension where they take down an alternate version of the Vulture, before inviting Gwen to join the society after witnessing her own father attempt to arrest her. Later on, they send Gwen to Miles's dimension to investigate The Spot, one of Kingpin's former scientists who is comprised of holes he can use to travel to alternate universes, after Lego Spider-Man witnesses him do just that. However, Gwen is distracted reuniting with Miles, allowing the Spot to build himself a machine which allows him to gain more holes and travel to Pavitr Prabhakar's dimension. Thus, Gwen, Hobie, Pavitr, and a stowaway Miles journey to stop him, but fail, as the Spot absorbs that universe's Collider before traveling back to Miles's dimension to seek revenge.
In the ensuing chaos, Miles saves a police inspector from dying, despite Gwen's intent to stop him. The result causes a black hole to appear, which the Society begins repairing. Thus, Hobie, Gwen, and Miles travel to the Headquarters of the Society, where Miles's mentor, a variant of Peter, happens to reside. O'Hara berates the three for causing a rift, and O'Hara explains the concept of Canon Events to Miles. Miles then realizes that by the function of the Canon Events, his own father is destined to die at Spot's hands. Despite O'Hara attempting to convince him otherwise, Miles refuses, and is locked up by the Society. However, with help from Hobie, he escapes, at which point O'Hara, alongside the entire Spider Society attempt to stop him. Miles, despite protests by Peter, Gwen, and O'Hara, manages to beat the entire Society, and travels to an alternate universe, believed to be his own. Furious, O'Hara excommunicates Gwen from the Society, and travels to Miles's dimension alongside Drew and Ben Reilly.
The Dimensional-Travel Watch, otherwise known as the Multiversal Gizmo, is an universal-travel device created by Lyla and is always seen on the left arms of all members of the Spider Society. They also have a wristband versions for people like Mayday and Miles. They're also used by all members of the Spider Society as well and they're able to travel through different dimensions.
Capabilities[]
As mentioned above, the Multiversal Gizmo is able to help users travel through different dimensions.
Prototype[]
Dimensional Travel - The Multiversal Gizmo is able to send users to different realities at will without glitching. This helps the user's cells adapt to the environment that they are in, making them undergo a change that allows users to adapt to the same rules of that universe, as well as the style of the universe they currently reside in question.
Finished[]
Dimensional Travel - It has the same mechanics as the Prototype Version but the difference is that users still retain their appearance from their universe instead of having an appearance from the universe that they visited. While it does function the same, it is much more easier and practical to use, as users are able to transport and open portals to other people than the user themselves.
Inter-Dimensional Communication - The Multiversal Gizmo is able to make users communicate with another user who’s using the gizmo regardless of distance and if they're in the same universe or not. All members of the Spider Society are able to communicate with one another through a holographic screen or a hologram of the person to whom they are speaking to.
Materialization - The Multiversal Gizmo is able to materialize and dematerialize itself, which is practical for users not using the gizmo to prevent it from being lost.
Canon Event Notification - The Multiversal Gizmo is able to notify users when a Canon Event is taking place, as well as its disruption. It's also able to tell the user when the Canon Event is about to take place via time and day.
Anomaly Detection - The Multiversal Gizmo has tiny bots that inform the user on what anomalies took place. The user is also able to rewind time with the information they received from the tiny bots.
Safe Mode - When a member of the Spider Society resigns or is betted by Miguel O'Hara (with Gwen as an example), the Multiversal Gizmo has a lock that is able to deprive users from all capabilities of the gizmo. As such, the users are not able to travel to other universes or call other members, which is obsolete. If the user attempts to use it, a holographic screen with the words, "ACCESS DENIED", in all caps would be displayed.
Trivia[]
In the original comics, The Spider Society is a secret society founded in Castile in 1099 A.D., in which members worship totemic spider deities. They are also granted spider-like abilities after getting a spider-shaped tattoo. Here, The Spider Society is similar to that of the Spider-Army in the original Spider-Verse comics.
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