How awesome is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse? Seriously, it’s so good. We can’t stop thinking about it, raving about it, and maybe you’re the same way. And while the story obviously works, there are probably a few things you were curious about after leaving the movie. And, well, we’re to help. From the animation and Easter Eggs, to end credit scenes and plot holes, we’ve got your covered. With answers from the filmmakers themselves!
Why did the movie look so different?
Okay, this isn’t really a spoiler but it’s a legitimate question. To make a long story short, the film was computer animated but then every single frame was gone over and embellished by hand. The process took about a year and a half to figure out, and then each second took one week to complete. Much of the tech behind it had to be invented and now Sony is trying to patent it.
What exactly happened in the final end credit scene and was that really who we think it was?
Yes, it was and...it’s complicated. Basically though, that was Spider-Man 2099 voiced by Poe Dameron himself, Oscar Isaac, and his holographic assistant Lyla (LYrate Lifeform Approximation) voiced by Greta Lee. Out of all the people voicing Into the Spider-Verse’s expansive cast, Isaac and Lee stand out because of complexity of the characters they introduce.
Those with the sense to stay all the way through the film’s credits are introduced to Miguel O’Hara, a hero who becomes the newest Spider-Man in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2099 comic after a freak accident leaves his DNA spliced with that of a spider. In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2099 comic, Miguel is a gifted genetics engineer who works for Alchemax, one of the most powerful organizations in the world that frequently experiments on all things super-scientific and supernatural.
After many attempts to create a new breed of futuristic super-soldiers, Miguel comes to the realization that his Alchemax experiments are killing test subjects and he attempts to leave the organization as a matter of principle. But, because Spider-Man 2099 is set in a dystopian future where corporations control the lives of virtually all people, Miguel’s desires are met with resistance and his boss Tyler Stone retaliates by transforming him (on a genetic level) into a person who has a biological addiction to Rapture, a new recreational drug.
In his attempt to rid his body of its Rapture dependency, Miguel experiments on himself with a machine capable of rewriting his DNA. All would have gone well were it not for one of his nefarious coworkers, who sabotaged the treatment and left him with a DNA sequence that’s 50 percent arachnid. Also, weirdly, Miguel becoming the new Spider-Man in his timeline is thought to be a sign that a long-missing Thor is destined to return to Earth as a hero. Though Miguel is a competent crimefighter in his own right, it’s really only with Lyla’s help (and her ability to move through digital spaces, collecting invaluable information) that he’s able to keep his city and the people he loves safe.
Within the context of Into the Spider-Verse, Miguel’s inclusion doesn’t mean all that much in regards to the movie’s plot, but it very seriously opens up a number of potential futures for Sony’s handling of the Spider-Man intellectual property. In all likelihood, Miles’ next adventure will probably involve a bit more dimension-hopping with a healthy dose of time travel. This could bring him face to face with Miguel, something that’s yet to happen in the comics, but would be very much in line with the way that Miles has been known to pop up in universes that aren’t his own.
On the flip side, Sony could very well be teasing a full-on Spider-Man 2099 film, which, wild as it is to consider, is very much a possibility now.
Do Spider-Men played by Tobey Maguire, Tom Holland, and Andrew Garfield exist in different dimensions of this Multi-Verse?
The entire idea of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is that anyone can wear the mask and, in fact, do, in alternate dimensions. Which leaves the door open that various Spider-Men we’ve seen in other movies could also exist in this multi-verse. And while the writers, producers, and directors would not 100 percent confirm this, they did 100 percent confirm that it’s 100 percent possible that these characters exist. You can read much more about it here.
If that’s true, did they consider having any of those actors make cameos or put any live-action element into the film?
Again, while the writers, producers, and directors wouldn’t say with 100 percent certainty that any of these things were considered, they did give us the blanket statement that “everything” we could imagine was at least discussed, which includes this.
Since Venom had a tease of Spider-Verse as its end credits, did they consider having a scene from either Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame or Spider-Man: Far From Home in this?
Again, “everything” was discussed but, co-writer and producer Phil Lord admitted this was probably less likely than anything else. “The logistics of [that] probably dictated more than anything else,” he said. “I don’t know how ready those guys are to show stuff.”
When did they dedicate the movie to Stan Lee?
Stan Lee, the co-creator of Spider-Man, passed away on November 12. That was less than a month before the release of Into the Spider-Verse, so there was no question it had to acknowledge that
“The immediate thought was we have to do something, co-writer and producer Phil Lord told io9. “The picture has to acknowledge that. And we couldn’t just do a simple dedication. It just didn’t seem like it was enough.”
So Lord, Miller and the rest of the Spider-Verse team spent 48 hours on a text thread discussing what the right quote was, which drawing of Stan’s glasses was right, and more before getting it into the movie.
They settled on this quote, which appears during the credits of the film: “That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero.”
Lee also makes a touching posthumous cameo in the film as a cashier at a souvenir shop Miles visits to buy a Spider-Man mask before attending a memorial service for his universe’s recently-deceased Peter Parker. When Miles asks Lee’s character if he can return the mask if it doesn’t fit, he responds with a bit of advice and reflects on his own personal relationship to Spider-Man:
“I’m going to miss him. We were friends, you know. It always fits, eventually.”
And of course, he lets Miles know that there are absolutely no returns.
If Gwen Stacy came into Miles’ world with everyone else, how was she there days earlier?
Into the Spider-Verse makes it quite clear that all the alternate Spider-Beings are brought into Miles’ world when Kingpin’s contraption brings them in. But, Miles meets Gwen Stacy before that. How is that possible? Well, the movie actually covers it, but maybe you missed it like we did.
“In her retelling of her arrival there’s a moment where we do this time lapse thing where she’s in Times Square and she says I got blown into last week,” co-director Bob Persichetti told io9. “And we go ‘Time lapse, time lapse, time lapse’ and she lands on that rooftop and then she goes ‘Literally.’”
So, somehow, Gwen, literally got blown into last week which adds even more meaning to her first interaction with Miles.
“The first thing she hears Miles say in the movie is, the teacher says he’s late and he says, ‘Einstein says time is relative, maybe you just got here early,’” co-director Rodney Rothman said. “So we tried to like play into that a little bit.”
This wasn’t always the case though, as the movie, at one point dealt with the question directly. “At one point we had him call her out like ‘Wait a minute,” Persichetti said. “That felt to cheaty.”
As a refresher, here’s part of that scene including the line in question.
What the hell is Hold your Horses?
You may have noticed that Times Square in Miles’ universe is filled with weird billboards, including a movie called Hold Your Horses starring Seth Rogen? Well, co-writer and co-director Rodney Rothman told us how that came to be, and that the whole movie is filled with similar ideas.
Because Miles lives in an alternate universe we tried to fill the universe with tons of things that are like our old world but not our world. So all over the city any shot you freeze you’re going to find stuff like that. [For] Hold Your Horses, I reached out to authors and filmmakers and different people and I asked them what would you make in an alternate universe. In the case of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, they pitched me something... I can’t remember what it was but shortly after they pitched it Evan e-mailed and said “Hold your horses, you can’t use that one we might actually make that movie.” My response was,” Okay, I’m just going to make a movie called Hold Your Horses and it’s Seth as a jockey.”
Director Edgar Wright pointed out another one too...
What was the inspiration behind Miles’ chalk outline?
Though Into the Spider-Verse is always beautiful, one image in particular stands out. That’s Miles’ mural, which is graffiti art bursting with color centered around a white outline of his body. Considering Miles is a person of color, it’s an evocative image, though co-director Peter Ramsey says that wasn’t the intent. “That particular idea definitely wasn’t intentional if it has those resonances,” he said.
In fact, the image was designed by co-director Bob Persichetti and it’s inspired by the Rage Against the Machine album cover for The Battle of Los Angeles. “If you know what that album is you’ll see it’s very similar to that silhouette,” he said. “It’s like a kid who’s searching for an identity. There’s nothing in it. And so it was, to me, multi-layer. It was like if you know this reference you know the sort of meaning underneath it and there’s this turmoil in this young kid. But, if you just see it on the surface you’re seeing an image of an unformed person who doesn’t have an identity yet and this kid is going to find identity, but he’s got a lot of expectations put on him and he’s not sure what they are.”
Then, when Miles designs his costume, that’s him filling in the lines.
What’s next for the Spider-Verse?
Weeks before the release of Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse, there was already talk about sequels, spinoffs, and more. Plus, as you read above, the end credits certainly open up even more possibilities. So what’s the scoop?
“We’ve thought a lot about where it could go,” Lord said. “It’s really just trying to tie it down to something that works. Obviously, the possibilities are limitless. [But] how do you do that and stay focused on human beings and their relationships and their feelings? That’s the big trick.”
“We feel like the movie opens the door and says ‘Think about all the possibilities that are here,’” Miller added. “And the idea of multi-verse allows for some interesting personal and philosophical ideas that are really, really engaging to us. So, hopefully, enough people will like this movie that it’ll deserve to be explored further.”