No portal-generating watches needed – Marvel fans can stick to just one dimension to check out different versions of Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse.
After the highly-anticipated follow up to 2018’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse premiered earlier this month, fans’ spidey senses quickly started to tingle — and many suspected that there were various cuts of the film in cinemas.
And who could blame them? Both the original and the sequel film explore variants of the classic Spider-Man character that span across endless dimensions, from a Lego version of his world to a noir black-and-white depiction in which the superhero is voiced by Nicolas Cage and is fascinated and confused by the discovery of a colorful Rubik’s cube.
The idea of multiple versions of a movie about multiple versions of Spider-Man is deliciously meta.
On Thursday, Andrew Leviton, who edited Across The Spider-Verse, confirmed that the speculation was actually true — and at least two different renditions do indeed exist.
The truth came out when a Twitter user posted different cuts of a scene in the movie involving Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Issac) — a version of Spider-Man in the year 2099 — and Lyla (Greta Lee), his holographic virtual assistant.
“I was wondering when people might start noticing … ” Levinson wrote.
In one video included in the tweet, Lyla ends a line by pointing to Miguel. In the second version, she snaps a selfie.
Leviton also shared the below tweet, according to IGN, which pointed out changes to another character’s dialogue.
According to this Twitter user, the Spot (Jason Schwartzman) says a line a bit differently in both versions. In one, he ends a line saying, “which would ... not be good” while in another, he says, “oh, what the heck”.
Sony Pictures did send out an updated version of the Across The Spider-Verse to theaters after receiving complaints that the opening scene’s audio was too low, Variety reported.
Although it’s unclear if this is why there are different renditions, Variety also noted that it’s not entirely uncommon for distributors to send re-edited prints to exhibitors “if the opportunity presents itself”.
The outlet also noted that a source close to the movie said that “all the prints” of the film have been updated.