With Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse being one of the most well-received superhero movies of all time, it's no wonder that the anticipation for the upcoming sequel is as high as it is. In Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, Miles Morales returns and sets off on another multiverse-hopping adventure with Gwen Stacy and a new crew of Spider-People to face off against the most powerful villain they've yet encountered.
It was recently announced that among some other notable new additions to the cast, Jason Schwartzman will be voicing the character of The Spot, in this sequel, who is set to be at least one of the film's villains. The Spot is new to the Spider-Verse movie universe, so a lot of viewers are likely wondering what exactly the character might have in store for this story? Here's a breakdown of who The Spot really is, as well as his history in the comics.
The Spot's Comic Origins
The Spot, also known as Dr. Jonathan Ohnn, was a scientist who worked for Kingpin and was assigned to find a way to reproduce the radiation levels held by Cloak (a vigilante in Marvel comics whose powers include channeling Darkforce - a kind of dark energy - from the Darkforce dimension, teleportation, and intangibility). The goal was to try and mimic his powers, and Ohnn actually succeeded in his experiment. He managed to open a black portal one night, but doing so drained the city's power and sent the city into a blackout, which made the portal unstable. Afraid of losing it as it was his life's work, Ohnn stepped through the portal and ended up floating around a dimension that was half dark and half light.
This place was also surrounded by portals, so he managed to find the one he initially came out of and traveled back through it. On the other side, he found he had undergone a shocking transformation, wherein those portals from the other dimension had clung to his body, covering him in black spots. When he realized that the spots were portals through space, he got the idea that he would be able to defeat anyone in battle with these powers. In his first confrontation with Spider-Man and Black Cat, he managed to hold them off and warned them to stay far away from Kingpin.
Powers
The spots on Ohnn's body, as portals, can transport both people and things to another place by passing them through the Spotted Dimension and coming out another "spot". Ohnn can use this against his enemies strategically, but he can also teleport himself and even extend parts of his body over long distances as defined by his spots. He can manipulate the spots and move them around his body or even remove them from his body completely and put them somewhere else - including midair. Because The Spot often begins attacking from another dimension, he doesn't trigger Spider-Man's spider-sense.
Ohnn also claims that he is immortal, as if his physical body is wounded, he can disintegrate and then reconstitute himself within the Spotted Dimension. The Spot's one big weakness is that he does not have an unlimited supply of spots because he only usually draws from what is on his body, and therefore if he runs out, he is in danger of being overtaken. Spider-Man is usually able to defeat The Spot when his body is mostly spot-free.
The Spot in Across The Spider-Verse
It's not totally clear what The Spot's role in the new film is going to be, especially considering the fact that he's not one of the more well-known Spidey villains. However, the animation and overall style of the Spider-Verse movies suits the character perfectly, as his black-and-white visual aesthetic is striking and would work better (and be easier to represent) through animation rather than any live-action movie. This is a character whose main deal is dimension-hopping, which also makes him a perfect fit for the world of the Spider-Verse movies, which are basically predicated on the idea of traveling through different dimensions and realities.
In the comics, The Spot works as an agent for Kingpin, which also ties into Into The Spider-Verse's plot where Kingpin was trying to find a way to cross realities and find his wife in another dimension. Though The Spot started out as one of Peter Parker's adversaries, he has more recently become associated with Miles Morales, which fits in perfectly with the Spider-Verse, as Morales is the main protagonist of the series. All of these small details are things that actually make the Spot seemingly perfect for this next installment in the Spider-Verse, despite him not being as well known at the moment. Perhaps this newest appearance will bring him out of obscurity, much like the first Spider-Verse movie did for the other Spider-People.