‘Into the Spider-Verse’ Breakout Star Spider-Ham Gets His Own Short Film

If you found yourself wondering what Spider-Ham was up to before he got sucked into the Spider-Verse in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, wonder no more as this new short film "Caught in a Ham" tracks the John Mulaney-voiced character's action just prior to his arrival in the feature film. It seems that Peter Porker was busy fighting off a villainous crustacean, as well as helping him to find a better, more pun-worthy name.

This Chuck Jones-inspired short is a delight and the perfect compliment to the feature. While there was obviously no room for this sort of subplot in the main feature, I'm happy to see this getting made at all, it obviously took a lot of time and effort. It's a shame they don't get into the character's origin because it's bonkers: long story short, he was a spider who was bit by a radioactive pig when the pig was attempting to create a nuclear-powered hairdryer. It's nuts.

Some movies take a second viewing to really grow on you and that's definitely the case with Into the Spider-Verse. The first time around I didn't appreciate the movie for what it was, but seeing it again fairly recently reminded me that the animation is gorgeous and the writing is quite sharp as well. It's truly a comic book come to life. This is my way of saying that if you weren't taken by it, give it another shot, it's on Netflix. Won't cost you anything to watch it.