The Spot's Most Powerful Form May Be Too Revolting For The Spider-Verse

This article contains spoilers for "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"

"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" may feature a laundry list of Spidey's finest antagonists or versions thereof, but its sequel opts to keep things far more streamlined. Apart from a quick appearance by a sepia-tone, Renaissance-era Vulture (Jorma Taccone), "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" allows the Spot (Jason Schwartzman) to be the sole carrier of the villain torch, with all additional antagonism coming from the interpersonal Spider-person struggles between Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and the Spider-Society. 

As it turns out, the Spot is perfectly capable of carrying the villain game all by himself. A multiverse-hopping maniac with portal powers and an extremely personal grudge against Miles, the antagonist's constant power-ups more than make up for his initial blundering, and by the end of the movie, the villain has become a truly terrifying force that'll no doubt be a mighty challenge for the heroes. However, this dark version of the Spot isn't even the worst version of the character in the comics. In fact, his arguably most powerful version in the comics is the opposite of his Spider-Verse incarnation: Instead of a goofy but smart guy who learns through trial and error to use his powers to maximum effect, the printed version is a borderline mindless body horror abomination so gruesome, it might just be too much for the Spider-Verse.

While the "Across the Spider-Verse" version of the Spot doesn't appear to be in pain, it's clear that he isn't happy about his condition. As the villain himself tells Miles, his condition has alienated his family and forced him to turn into a life of crime because he can't work as a scientist anymore. 

However, in the comics, it gets even worse for the guy. In 2012, the Mark Waid-Chris Samnee run of "Daredevil" introduced a new character called Coyote, the Spot's own "Deadpool" who was created with a similar procedure. Coyote is initially presented as a leveled-up version of the Spot, but as Daredevil investigates his monstrous activities, the Man Without Fear soon finds out that the villain is holding the real Spot in captivity, siphoning his power. Daredevil wrecks the machinery and allows the Spot to escape, at which point it becomes evident that Coyote's supervisors' terrifying experiments have twisted the captive supervillain into a Lovecraftian, writhing mass of limbs that are twisting into itself. 

While it's clear that the experience has powered the Spot up greatly, it's equally obvious that the experience isn't very pleasant. What's more, he's effectively turned into a mindless monstrosity that uses horror villain tricks like covering people in his black spot matter before teleporting them away — and even starts quite graphically melting when subjected to a technology that interferes with his powers. 

This visceral version of the Spot differs quite heavily from the "Across the Spider-Verse" approach to the character. The movie's version of the Spot is a far more artistic interpretation of the character — a splotch of black and white in the middle of the movie's otherwise vivid colors if you will. As such, it seems pretty unlikely that we'll ever see him become the kind of body horror creature this particular comic book version is, especially since the "Spider-Verse" films tend to pointedly veer toward cartoon aesthetics that'll delight younger and older audiences alike.