If you felt the multiverse tremble, just now, it might have something to do with this news: Production has begun on the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The Sony Pictures Animation film (in association with Marvel, of course) is currently scheduled to arrive on Oct. 7, 2022—a long wait, to be sure, but you can’t rush greatness. The news of production beginning comes straight from lead animator Nick Kondo, who tweeted that he was getting to work on the hotly awaited sequel.
First day on the job! pic.twitter.com/qfqcCAi9wF
— Nick Kondo ?? (@NickTyson) June 8, 2020
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a critical phenomenon, garnering some of the best reviews ever seen in the superhero sphere while thrilling comic book geeks the world over. Over time it also bloomed into a bonafide box office success as well, although it must be noted that the $375 million global take is only a fraction of the money made by the Tom Holland-starring Spider-Man films that are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This was to be expected, however—the plot of Spider-Verse was far more daring and risque in its establishment of the Marvel multiverse, along with its spotlight on a black protagonist. One has to think that after the first film’s great success, the sequel will be primed to be a true box office juggernaut, especially after the first Spider-Verse became the first non-Pixar, non-Disney film to win the Academy Award for animated feature since 2011’s Rango.
Details on the sequel are unsurprisingly scant at this point, although it seems like a no-brainer that we’d expect to see Shameik Moore back in the lead role of Miles Morales. Likewise, the ending of the first film certainly teased that we’d be seeing more of Hailee Steinfeld’s Gwen Stacy.
Notable is the fact that the sequel is due for a change of director, as veteran TV animated series director Joaquim Dos Santos (Avatar: The Last Airbender, Justice League Unlimited) is stepping in for his first feature film credit, replacing the triumvirate of Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman. We’ll bring you more info on the Spider-Verse sequel as it arrives.