Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Director Hopes “This Is Our Empire Strikes Back”

One of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s directors is hoping the sequel is their Empire Strikes Back. In a new interview with SFX Magazine, Joaquim Dos Santos explained how the second Star Wars entry made him feel. “I was very satisfied after The Empire Strikes Back,” the filmmaker said. “And hopefully, this is our Empire.” It’s not uncommon for creative teams to point toward George Lucas’s widely beloved second entry in the franchise when attacking a trilogy’s middle section. But, the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse crew absolutely has the momentum after a universally beloved first entry. Now, audiences will have to decide for themselves if they love the cliffhanger ending that’s coming their way.

“Across The Spider-Verse is a movie on its own, but it definitely ends on a bit of a cliffhanger,” co-director Kemp Powers began. “I think it’s a good cliffhanger. We hope that it’s a satisfying tee-up for what’s coming in the third film, because you want people to be excited about what’s coming next.”

“And it helps that we knew going in that this was part two of a three-part story. Since you already know that that third story is guaranteed, you can tackle it a bit differently,” he continued. “That being said, there’s a lot of key characters in this film, and there’s a story in this film that has an arc of its own that we needed to complete.”

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Increases The Scope Of This Universe

In conversation with The Wrap, the creative team teased so many new worlds that Miles Morales will visit over the course of these adventures. “The two that you saw in the teaser trailer were what’s called Earth-50101, which we’re calling ‘Mumbattan’ – that’s based on an Indian comic-book look – and Nueva York from Spider-Man 2099’s world,” producer Christopher Miller said. “That’s based on Syd Mead-style illustrations of what the future might look like. There’s also Gwen’s world, which is Earth-65. And that was a watercolour-wash style that’s reminiscent of the covers of her comic books.”

“The first film had one animation style that dominates the movie. This movie has six,” laughed  fellow producer Phil Lord. “So we’re taking those tools, adding all the things we learned on The Mitchells Vs The Machines, and then growing them further to accommodate the ambition of this movie. Which is to wow you every time you enter a new environment, and also to make sure that the style of the movie reflect the story, and that the images are driven by feelings, as opposed to some egg-headed art project. Which it also is, by the way!”

Do you think Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse can live up to the hype? Let us know what you think down in the comments!