That the Spider-Verse is full of endless possibilities, we know, but when fans began to compare experiences and started to notice differences in some moments of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, we knew something was up.
Now, after much theorizing, we finally got confirmation from Andrew Leviton, the editor of the film, that it indeed has more than one version. On Twitter, he quote tweeted a post where someone filmed two versions of a conversation between Oscar Isaac’s Spider-Man 2099 and the hologram Lyla and said, “I was wondering when people might start noticing…”
In the clips, Spider-Man 2009 asks Lyla to call for backup. Lyla, not so surprisingly, teases him until she confirms she had already called for backup. The difference is that in the second clip, Lyla brings up a phone where she uses a bunny ear filter on Spider-Man 2099.
Speculation about different versions has been happening for a while, but nothing official has ever been communicated. Up to now.
One result was that a lot of people wanted to re-watch the film, to try and catch more differences between the versions. Which could be seen as a brilliant strategy to get people back in theaters.
Other fans were looking forward to purchasing the film once it came out on Blu-Ray, to pull it apart even further.
Some wondered if because there were different versions and if they would have to buy separate DVD’s once it is out on Blu-Ray.
Then there were some with further concerns regarding the multiple versions of the film. After its release in early June, there were claims that the production happened under ‘unsustainable work conditions.’
Anonymous animators came forward and spoke with Vulture about how Phil Lord – co-writer and producer – was erratic in his directing. That led to a tumultuous production due to his demands of changing parts of the film that were already at a later stage of the rendering process and reportedly about 100 animators leaving the film.
One source called the working conditions akin to “death by a thousand paper cuts.”
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now in theaters.