Sony Pictures and the team behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse recently took social media by storm after confirming the identity of the film’s primary antagonist at the Annecy Festival. In the highly anticipated Spider-Verse sequel, Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy return to face off against an interdimensional threat known as The Spot. It was also announced that Jason Schwartzman (of Rushmore, Scott Pilgrim, Fargo, and more) will voice the character.
But who is The Spot? And where did he come from? Strap in because we have a theory! One that the seed could have been planted for all the way back in 2018.
Who or what is The Spot?
The Spot has been described as a villain whose “whole body is covered in interdimensional portals (made to feel like “living ink”) that can send him anywhere he wants to go. He can also make these portals appear out of thin air to transport objects and people at will.”
Spot's whole body is covered in interdimensional portals (made to feel like "living ink") that can send him anywhere he wants to go. He can also make these portals appear out of thin air to transport objects and people at will. This spells trouble for Miles… #AnnecyFestival
— Sony Pictures Animation (@SonyAnimation) June 13, 2022
Truly this is a villain more powerful than anything the Spider-Verse has ever shown us before. In the comics, The Spot is often portrayed by Johnathon Ohnn, a scientist that worked for Kingpin. Ohnn’s work involved researching the abilities of The Cloak – a hero who has the ability to channel energy from a universe known as the Darkforce Dimension to do all sorts of things, including teleport from one place to another.
While investigating this ability, Ohnn traveled into a portal that transported him into an alternate dimension, one where an infinite number of portals surrounded him in a place of light and dark. As he goes back through his portal to return to his dimension, the portals from the other dimension all began to adhere to his body, thus causing his body to be covered in interdimensional portals. So, how, where, and when exactly does the Spot originate from? Well, have a look for yourself.
The origin may already be set for Across the Spider-Verse Villain
The current theory is that Sony might tie The Spot’s origin with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse all the way back to 2018. They might retell Ohnn’s origin by having him be one of the scientists that were working on the Collider project alongside Dr. Olivia Octavius and Kingpin right at the moment the Collider experiment went haywire.
You may recall that during the second attempt of the Collider experiment, the Collider overcharged and started to suck everything and everyone in close proximity of the Collider into alternate dimensions and universes. In this theory, Ohnn was taken into an alternate dimension that later on would grant his powers.
Giving Ohnn this origin works for several reasons. For starters, it would give Spot a motive to hunt down Spider-People across the multiverse, as he believes Spider-Man, specifically Miles, is responsible for his current state.
It would also explain how an interdimensional villain with such powerful abilities is able to travel across multiple dimensions. From the moment he would have entered the Collider, it’s possible his body fractured across multiple realities (as was shown in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse when different realities started to collide on Earth-1610 all at once).
Whether or not Sony will go this route for The Spot’s origin story remains to be seen when the film premieres on June 2, 2023. But what do you think the Spot’s origin story will be? Let us know in the comments or on social media!
Be sure to check out more of our additional coverage of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
