Crawling the walls looking for news about a new Spider-Man movie? Ask and you shall receive: scroll down for all the details about sequel Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2.
It comes hot on the heels of the hit original movie
Released in 2018, animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ripped apart the fabric of a franchise that's been dominated by Peter Parker. This Spidey story pivots around African-American teen Miles Morales, who adopts the mantle of the Marvel comic book icon.
But in a further subversion of the formula, Miles discovers that he is but one iteration of the Spider-Man legend when his world is invaded by a host of other web-slinging individuals. These include an older, paunchier iteration of Peter Parker himself, Spider-Gwen and Spider-Man Noir.
Rich in its visual design and loaded with all kinds of fan-pleasing meta-references, Spider-Verse emerged as one of the most entertaining Spider-Man movies to date. The movie grossed $375 million worldwide and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. That made it the first-ever comic book movie to win any kind of Best Picture award.
So, the gauntlet has been set down for Spider-Verse 2. Will the sequel live up to the original?
It's got a new director
That would be Joaquim Dos Santos, whose creative background is well matched to the Spider-Verse sequel. The Portuguese helmer worked as a storyboard artist on the short-lived Justice League series on Cartoon Network.
He later graduated to various other animated shows, including Justice League Unlimited, Voltron and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Dos Santos replaces the first film's directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman.
It's enlisted the writer of Wonder Woman 1984
Further adding to the film's credentials is writer David Callaham. He's been tasked with continuing the emotional arc of Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) in DC's Wonder Woman 1984.
So, he's got the comic book movie chops on his side, and he's also well-versed in scripting action movies, having tackled the Expendables movies. Next on Callaham's agenda: Marvel Cinematic Universe epic Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings.
Producer Amy Pascal has already confirmed plot details
Back in 2018, at the time of the first film's release, it was confirmed by Pascal that the sequel would revolve around a deleted plot thread. In Phil Lord and Chris Miller's original script treatment, it was proposed that Miles Morales and Gwen Stacey begin a romantic relationship, although this was removed to make way for the other Spider-Man characters.
We've already seen the beginning of a beautiful friendship, so are we now poised to see something else? If so, it would romantically bridge the divide between the various multiverse characters and further expand the Spider-Man mythology.
Producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller have outlined the new characters they want to see
The creative mavericks behind The LEGO Movie were instrumental in getting Spider-Verse off the ground, and they also contributed to the screenplay.
In an interview with Cinemablend, Lord and Miller shared details of the characters they want to see in the sequel. These include Cindy Moon (aka Silk) and Jessica Drew (aka Spider-Woman). The former is a Korean-American ally of Peter Parker who has already appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), played by Tiffany Espensen. Silk's powers included enhanced strength and spider-sense.
Spider-Woman, on the other hand, is an umbrella name that's been attributed to various Marvel comic book characters. If we're talking about Jessica Drew specifically, she made her debut in 1977, created by the late Stan Lee. Various iterations of the character have ensued, with some even positing that evil organisation HYDRA (later to appear in the MCU movies) implanted a memory of her actually being a spider.
How Spider-Verse 2 will distill the complex history of these characters remains to be seen.
It's expected that the original voice cast will return
According to Deadline, Shameik Moore, who voiced Miles Morales "is expected to return". But there's no word yet on other cast members Jake Johnson (Peter Parker), Haile Steinfeld (Gwen Stacey), Nicolas Cage (Spider-Man Noir) and others.
Spider-Man 2099 is expected to appear
As voiced by Oscar Isaac, Spider-Man 2099 was teased during Spider-Verse's post-credits sequence. Spider-Man 2099 made his comic book debut in 1992 – otherwise known as Miguel O'Hara, he's a geneticist who attempts to replicate the original Spider-Man's DNA in other people, with disastrous results. This leads to him being invested, or cursed, with paralysing fangs, superstrength, enhanced vision and a lot more besides.
One year closer to 2022 pic.twitter.com/Foeq36SMVE
— Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (@SpiderVerse) January 1, 2021
It's well into production
It was confirmed on Twitter on 9th June 2020 that Spider-Verse 2 had started production. The film's official Twitter page, plus that of lead animator Nick Kondo, shared the news.
It's due for release in 2022
Mark it on your movie calendars. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 will swing into action on 7th October 2022.
Excited about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2? Let us know @Cineworld.
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