Kevin Smith Says 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' Is "A Passionate Love Letter to the Medium"

Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse opened in theaters this weekend and it seems like the [...]

By Nicole Drum

Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse opened in theaters this weekend and it seems like the animated film is winning over both fans and critics alike with the film not only being critically well-received but doing well with its opening night box office as well. And as for the reason why the film is hitting just the right spot with fans? Kevin Smith has an idea.

The filmmaker and noted comic book fan took to Twitter on Saturday to explain that he thinks Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is so satisfying because it's a "passionate love letter to the medium."

"When @SpiderVerse opened with a Comics Code Authority seal, I shot my own webs! It's a passionate love letter to the medium, packed with expert animation, an emotionally rooted plot & characters that feel more real than most non-cartoon movies!" Smith wrote before directing fans to an interview with WIRED in which he breaks down Spider-Man's history.

There's something to be said for Smith's assessment. While most casual fans are generally only familiar with the basics of the webslinger's story -- most specifically the classic Peter Parker bitten by a radioactive spider to become the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man story -- the "spider-verse" is a rich, complex, and detailed world with many different Spider characters, each with their own origins and stories. Into the Spider-Verse honors that on many levels. The film -- which is anchored around the story of Miles Morales, a black teenager who was also bitten by a radioactive spider and developed superhuman abilities similar to those of Peter Parker's -- incorporates many different iterations of the Spidey character, including not just Peter Parker, but others, including Peter Porker/Spider-Ham.

And it's the diverse roster of Spider characters and stories that Into the Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller told ComicBook.com's Chris Killian that they have plenty of ideas for in future films as well.

"I think there's a bunch, and I don't want to say too much because there's a wide breadth of characters that are coming out of the Spider-Man universes now, and it's really fun to be able to sort of think about plucking ones that you haven't seen before or have something interesting thematic to say," said Miller.

"I have to think about that," Lord added. "That's a good question that we haven't been asked before, which is why we're sitting here going, 'We don't have a good [answer]. We are like, 'Oh, wow. We're about to go into this big junket. We might have to have an answer for that.'"

What do you think about Smith's comments about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is in theaters now.

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