Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has grossed approximately half a billion worldwide since its June 2nd release. The 96% Rotten Tomatoes and 9/10 IMDb rating film is a dynamic art and graffiti gallery with spider-people protecting their Multiverse. While Sony and the Marvel-associated film franchise has gracefully held success, it has also gained controversy over its purported symbolism of the pink, blue, and white transgender flag.
Twitter blistered open with conspiracies surrounding Miles Morales’s love interest and close friend, spider-girl Gwen Stacy. In a scene, Gwen Stacy is spotted with a trans flag hung over her bedroom door frame, with the wording “protect trans kids.” Gwen’s dad, a New York City police captain, seemingly brandishes the flag next to badges on his uniform in another scene.
While this could be a generic American-born flag, the Sony Studios art team might be attempting to pledge their solidarity to the trans community or hinting that Gwen is, in fact, a transgender girl. This would deviate from comic accuracy like many ever-growing plots of franchises that go to film. The change wouldn’t be unusual for the current social environment, especially entertainment. The unfortunate pushback against this possibility is much more important to note. As non-trans/cisgenders view trans lives, they could consider the enormous issues trans people have in representation and normalization in public media, and maybe even more so than the other members LGBTQ+ community. A trans character in a film that also aims for mainstream and family viewing has a profound presence against the nay-sayers. If trans is revealed in Gwen Stacy’s identity, it could be a significant action towards those ill-willed against representation.