A lead animator on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has teased the "insanely ambitious" scope of the sequel before it became a two-parter.
"[We were asking] 'Wait, so this is what a two-and-a-half-hour movie?” character animator Ere Santos told The Direct of the original bumper plans for a Spider-Verse sequel, which eventually became Across the Spider-Verse. "This is a really large story that they're telling. And with all the arcs that they wanted to put in, we were just thinking this was going to be an intense, quick, fast-paced, high-energy movie."
Santos claimed that they were planning "Endgame-esque stuff” for the follow-up to Miles Morales’ 2018 animated adventure Into the Spider-Verse. The shift to two sequels, however, eventually "[gave] it that breathing room we all felt that it really needed to kind of go, 'Okay, what do we need to set up in the second movie? And how can we resolve it in the third movie?"
That change has also meant the "insanely ambitious" scale has been reined in, because it was "like trying to fit two movies into one."
The first Across the Spider-Verse trailer shows Santos’ words ring true: the teaser has packed in more Spider-People than we can count – including some incredibly obscure names from Spidey’s past – but is still focusing on Miles’ personal journey as he grows into the role of Spider-Man.
Across the Spider-Verse is set for release on June 2, 2023. A follow-up, Beyond the Spider-Verse, is arriving in cinemas on March 29, 2024.
For more on what's coming your way next year, here's our complete guide to upcoming movies and, more specifically, new superhero movies.
