Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse Directors Open Up About the Villainous Spot

It may still be a while before Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse hits the big screen, but Sony and the team behind the highly anticipated Spider-Verse sequel have certainly piqued the interest of fans everywhere. Early photos from the upcoming Marvel animated film revealed that Spot would be the villain of the next film, with Jason Schwartzman providing his voice. The art-inspired villain is going to be a massive foil to Miles, as well as one of the most unique looking characters we’ve seen in quite a while.

The directors of Across the Spider-Verse recently spoke to Cartoon Brew about what Spot brings to the table. Joaquim Dos Santos said that Spot was always the plan, and that he has a stellar way of bringing art to life.

“Pretty early on we knew the Spot was going to be our main villain,” Dos Santos explained. “Without an awesome villain, who you sort of can understand with their through-line, you don’t really have a strong story for your main character. So he’s an awesome sort of opposite to Miles.”

“And his living ink really is just, I think we’ve all been saying, it’s not just an effect. It’s artistry come to life. It’s something that can only really happen in animation,” the filmmaker continued. “You can imagine Spot as a dude in a sock suit in a live-action Spider-Man film. It’s not going to work. It’s just not going to work. So he’s art come to life. He’s the inkwell spilled on the page. It all goes back to sort of comic books and comic book art.”

Kemp Powers, one of the film’s other directors, went on to say that a villain like Spot gave Spider-Verse a ton of potential when it comes to story and style.

“From the very beginning he just seemed like endless potential, both visually and arc of the character,” Powers said. “Because you know by the way that’s not a costume, that’s his skin. By the way that he’s wearing it you know it’s not a guy in a polka dot suit. That’s actually his skin. So you know, the arc of Dr. Ohnn Spot is one that does really complement, without giving away the story, it really does complement the the journey of Miles in this film really well.”

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse arrives in theaters on June 2, 2023.