The trailer for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has just been released and fans are already raving about the debut of Issa Rae’s pregnant webslinger, Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman.
Spider-Woman is the alternate universe wall-crawler that is featured in the trailer and “roars onto the scene astride her red motorbike and promptly dispatches one of Across the Spider-Verse‘s supporting villains. Spider-Woman’s skill at combining web-based attacks with her bike’s offensive capabilities is on full display during this encounter. So too is the superhero’s baby bump, which is a callback to Jessica Drew’s adventures while pregnant in Across the Spider-Verse‘s Marvel Comics source material,” reads a CBR review.
The film comes courtesy of the official Sony Pictures Animation YouTube channel and stars the returning protagonist Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) and Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson).
“I think it means a level playing field and opportunity for all. ‘Representation’ has been a buzzword that’s been used several, several times, and the industry has thought to give people opportunities, but not necessarily put that into action,” Issa Rae told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “It’s been a talking point with nothing to be done until, I felt like, 2020 lit a fire under people’s asses; it’s just been more telling to see who’s continuing to talk that talk and who’s walking it back.”
She continued: “That’s the only thing that feels different from decades past, when [there was] this fear of losing diversity and going back to the status quo. There are people with good intentions who are less fearful about speaking up [now], and the democratization of outside voices demanding, “This is what we want to see and we’re going to hold your feet to the fire until you do something about it.”
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse hits theaters in June 2023.
