Sony Pictures Animation's
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is one of this year's most anticipated comic book movies and at New York Comic Con, fans were treated to a sneak peek at the upcoming animated film.
The first 35 minutes of the movie was shown and while Marvel has opted not to spoil anything, they did tease that the audience reacted
"with massive enthusiasm to what was shown." In addition to the footage, the film's creators and cast took the stage with executive producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller as they each discussed what attracted them to the movie and what makes it special.
"Maybe we can use the fact that this story has been told a lot of times to our advantage, so the expectation is how can we make it differently," said Lord, who knew early on that they wanted to tell Miles Morales' story.
Meanwhile, co-director Bob Persichetti talked about doing the first animated
Spider-Man movie. Persichetti explained (via Marvel):
“This was our chance to lean into a medium that was just made for Spider-Man. How can we take advantage of this medium that has been expressive for so many years and tie it to the original source material, which is a comic book?” He said they decided to “Lean into flash frame and visuals that are reminiscent of drawings but figure out how to do it with a computer, which is its own giant task.”
The cast also talked a bit about the diversity and representation that
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse allows for. And I don't mean all the different
Spider-Man variants like Spider-Ham and Spider-Man Noir. Shameik Moore, who voices Miles Morales, talked about how when he was a child he dreamed of being Miles Morales - a black
Spider-Man.
"When I was younger and I first saw Miles Morales I thought ‘Dude, this is a black Spider-Man. I definitely want to play a black Spider-Man some day!’”
Brian Tyree Henry, who voices Miles' father Jefferson, also expressed excitement in representing a black father-son dynamic.
“To see a black boy and his father, you don’t really get to see that,” he said, adding that it was important to him to show that Miles had a good upbringing. Luna Lauren Velez voices Miles' mom Rio, and she loved bringing the bilingual aspect into the story.
In the film, Peter Parker serves as a somewhat reluctant mentor to Miles and voice actor Jake Johnson said audiences will see a version of Parker we've not yet seen before on screen. He said:
“Peter Parker at 40. Peter Parker who’s a little chubby. Peter Parker who’s a little depressed. And that’s a new Peter Parker!"
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse took about three years to complete, according to co-director Peter Ramsey, who added that this film was created with a lot of
"blood, sweat and tears and anguish," along with
"a lot of love and a lot of passion."
In addition to the panel, stars Shameik Moore and Jake Johnson popped by the Marvel booth at NYCC for a more in-depth interview about the upcoming movie.
Fans will get to go on this new journey with Miles Morales when
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse swings into theaters on December 14.