Credit: Marvel, Sony Pictures
As Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) continues to rake in millions at the international box office, one veteran Marvel screenwriter is opening up about his surprising contributions to the film.
The eagerly-awaited sequel to 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse finally arrived in theaters earlier this month and sees Shameik Moore reprising his role as Miles Morales, a part-time whiz kid, and full-time “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man” who accidentally finds himself in the center of a Multiversal Spider web after a mysterious new supervillain called The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) threatens to destroy everything Miles knows and loves.
Check out the official trailer for Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse below:
Hailee Steinfeld and Jake Johnson round out the cast, who returned for the sequel to voice Gwen Stacy (AKA Ghost-Spider) and Peter B. Parker, respectively. Joining them is an all-star cast of newcomers, including Oscar Isaac, who plays the menacing Miguel O’Hara (AKA Spider-Man 2099), along with Daniel Kaluuya as Hobart Brown (AKA Spider-Punk), and Issa Rae, who voices Jessica Drew (AKA Spider-Woman).
The film is directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, with a script penned by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and David Callaham. But according to a new report, this super team of creatives was helped by yet another writer from the Marvel camp: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s (2023) Jeff Loveness.
On Twitter, Loveness, who Marvel tapped to write Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (2025) last year, revealed that he was lightly involved with the creative process of Across the Spider-Verse.
Taking to social media, Loveness stated that he “wrote some jokes” for the animated film while calling it an “amazing movie,” sharing two photos to accompany the tweet: one of the giant poster for Across the Spider-Verse hanging outside the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, and the other being a snapshot of the film’s end credits, which shows Loveness’ name under the “Special Thanks” section:
In a follow-up tweet, he also shared how he was surprised by how “so many jokes made it in” while also thanking the crew for the chance to work on the critically-acclaimed movie:
And so many jokes made it in! What a nice surprise. Huge thanks to Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Justin K. Thompson, Joaquim Dos Santos, and everybody else who let me help out in those early days. It was my first movie job ever. Just blown away at how it all came out.
While Loveness’ collaboration with Sony’s Spider-Verse team may come as a surprise to some, it’s important to note that Loveness actually created Spider-Man comics in the past, meaning he certainly has the right qualifications to write some jokes for the ever-expanding franchise—especially one as funny as Across the Spider-Verse.
Loveness’ comments come on the heels of a recent rumor that claims he quietly stepped away from his Kang Dynasty writing duties after his first rendevous with the studio, Ant-Man 3, flopped with audiences. His work on Across the Spider-Verse perhaps signals a new direction for the creator, whose comic book background makes him a strong candidate for 2024’s Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse writers’ table.
However, any whispers of his firing from Kang Dynasty have yet to be confirmed. Considering Loveness previously described his experience working on the next Avengers installment as “[maybe] the hardest job in the world,” it’s unlikely that he’d have the time—or creative fuel—to contribute to the third and final Spider-Verse movie.
Regardless of what his future with Sony/Marvel looks like, it seems like Loveness was just appreciative of the opportunity to work on as high-caliber a film as Across the Spider-Verse.
Have you gotten the chance to see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse? If so, what did you think? Let us know in the comments below.