Spider-Verse Animator Breaks Down One of the Movie's Most Complex Scenes

Sony changed the animation game last year with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the [...]

By Charlie Ridgely

Sony changed the animation game last year with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the Marvel-inspired film that somehow made total sense out of having multiple Spider-Man characters from different dimensions fighting crime together. The characters, story, and music of the film are all top notch, but it's the animation of Spider-Verse that will stand out for all of time. Mixing various animation styles with comic-style art, the team behind Spider-Verse created something that no one had ever seen before.

This entire process was no doubt a challenge for the animators and there were some sequences that were much harder than all the rest. Aleksander Kolev, one of the Spider-Verse animators, took to Twitter on Thursday to talk about one scene from the film, which he said was one of the most difficult of his career.

"A Spider-Verse shot breakdown. One of the most complex shots I have ever had the chance to work on," Kolev wrote. "From animating hundreds of tiles to sculpting parts of the cape has been one of the hardest shots I've done on a show."

The scene in question takes place at the end of the second act of Into the Spider-Verse, when the various villains attack Aunt May's house in an attempt to steal the Goober. Prowler chases Miles onto the roof of the house, crashing through the shingles and holding Miles high up into the wind.

The variety of movements in this sequence made it incredibly difficult for the animation team to put everything together, but it all had to be flawless because the scene was such a pivotal one. After catching Miles, Prowler realizes that Spider-Man is his nephew and decides to put his protection over Kingpin's orders. This gets Aaron killed, leading to perhaps the most emotional moment in the entire film.

It's hard to imagine just how tough every aspect of this movie's production must have been, but there's almost no way it could've turned out any better, and Sony has the Oscar to prove it.

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