‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Took Inspiration From the Large Hadron Collider

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse became one of the highest rated films of 2018 and is already considered one of the greatest comic book movies ever made.

Thanks to Marvel’s upcoming art book, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse -The Art of the Movie, we now know a little history behind the animated film. The new collector’s item features a “stunning collection of art”, which includes “concept art, final designs, and artist commentary plus previously unseen storyboards.”

During an interview with Justin K. Thompson, the film’s production designer, the creative discussed the Collider in the film and how it was inspired by the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, the world’s largest and most powerful particle collider.

The passage in the book begins by describing Miles Morales’ encounter with the device.

“Miles believes that he is running towards the exit, but he only gets pulled deeper into the rabbit hole. He goes down the wrong path and ends up deep inside the Collider. That Atlas Room is the main room that houses the Collider,” they explain.

Turns out, the original comic books by Brian Michael Bendis had a much different version of the Collider, which was a hand-held device. Apparently, “the filmmakers needed a much more cinematic device for the movie.”

“The comic introduced audiences to the Multiverse, but we wanted to go much bigger for our version of the Collider,” Thompson explains. “We looked closely at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, which is the world’s largest and most powerful particle collider. [It lies in a tunnel that is 17 miles in circumference and 574 feet deep!] But we knew ours had to be more fantastical and magical.”

According to the book, the designers were interested in taking “advantage of the real world references.” “We were fascinated by the highly reflective materials we saw covering the real-world colliders,” Thompson adds. “I wanted it to be a kaleidoscopic array of colors- with the bright, saturated blues, yellows, and reds reflecting off the mirror-like gold and the chrome. I felt like it worked out better than I hoped when we started to see reflections of Miles, Peter Parker, and the Green Goblin on the surfaces, all echoing the Multiverse itself.”

In addition to Spider-Verse, Thompson has also worked as the Production Designer on both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies. He was also a writer and background design supervisor for The Powerful Girls in the early 2000s, and has been a part of the Art Department and Animation Department on various projects, including Star Wars: Clone Wars, Samurai Jack, Smurfs: The Lost Village, and The Emoji Movie.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse follows multiple versions of the friendly neighborhood hero and stars Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Liev Schreiber, Nicolas Cage, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Lily Tomlin, Kathryn Hahn, Brian Tyree Henry, and Luna Lauren Velez.

You can catch the movie in theaters now!

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse -The Art of the Movie is available to own on February 1st, 2019. You can pre-order it on Amazon now!