Animated short The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story will release on Sony Pictures Animation’s official YouTube channel on March 27 at 6:30 pm (IST), the entertainment company announced on Thursday.

The Spider-Verse animated story will be a part of Kevin Love Fund’s new mental health-focused lesson plan, The Hero Within, aimed at the well-being of students. “Sony Animation is teaming up with

@KevinLove to release #TheSpiderWithin: A Spider-Verse Story on Wednesday, March 27,” the animated franchise wrote on its X handle.

Set in the world of the Oscar-nominated series Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the short follows Miles Morales who struggles to balance his life as a regular student, teenager and Spider-Man. Providing a glimpse into the teenager’s anxieties, The Spider Within shows Miles eventually realising that he needs help to alleviate his inner crisis.

“Miles represents so many of us doing the best we can in our day-to-day lives,” said The Spider Within director Jarelle Dampier in a statement.

“We don’t often realise all that we’ve been through until our own body forces us to become aware of its experience,” he also said, adding that he aims to motivate “deeper conversations amongst friends & family about their own mental health journeys”. “I hope it feels like a love letter to those who adore Miles Morales,” he signed off.

“My hope for the short film would be for everyone, especially young people, to understand that your feelings are valid and that you are not alone in this,” said KLF founder, professional basketball player and mental health advocate Kevin Love.

Emphasising on the importance of reaching out to people for help, Kevin said, “You see it with Spider-Man in the short film, where Miles has a trusted confidante. He is able to take a walk with his dad and express what he’s going through.”

“In the genre-bending thriller The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story, Miles Morales struggles to balance his responsibilities as a teenager, friend, and student while acting as Brooklyn’s friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. After a particularly challenging day living with these pressures, Miles experiences a panic attack that forces him to confront the manifestations of his anxiety and learn that reaching out for help can be just as brave an act as protecting his city from evil,” reads the official synopsis of the animated film as per Sony Pictures.

Directed by Jarelle Dampier and written by Khaila Amazan, The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story is produced by LENS program creators Michelle Raimo-Kouyate and David Schulenburg.