Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse is doing something incredible that sequels rarely accomplish in that many are calling the new film as good if not better than the first entry in the franchise. It’s a huge win for the movie that shows just why Sony has never been entirely willing to let Spider-Man go. And while the studio now has a close relationship with Marvel, Producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller say nobody at Marvel, including Studio lead Kevin Feige, made any decisions regarding what was in the final film.
Sony still has the rights to Spider-Man as a character and so, while Across the Spider-Verse has just as many heroes as any of the other multiverse-hoping superhero movies that we’ve seen of late, they are all variations on Spider-Man, However, the new film actually does break new ground in that there is a passing reference to a Marvel character other than the wall-crawler. Rolling Stone asked Lord and Miller if they had to work with Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios to get that line through. It turns out, they never spoke to Feige about it. Miller explained…
None. We did it. It's been our policy to do what we think is interesting and best and let the lawyers and business affairs people figure out what's possible, and so far we've been able to do the things that we think are good.
To be clear, it’s possible that negotiations between Sony and Marvel Studios did need to happen since Sony doesn’t have the rights to Doctor Strange, but if there were conversations about it, they never escalated to the point where any of the big names needed to get involved. But it doesn’t sound like there have ever been issues that rose to that level and the Spider-Verse team has been free to make the movie they want.
While it would be easy to see the Spider-Verse franchise as competition for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and even the live-action Spider-Man movies, it doesn’t sound like anybody involved in making the films actually sees it that way. Phil Lord said that Feige loved the first Spider-Verse film and that he thinks that good movies make everybody look good. He explained…
Marvel has given us a lot of rope. It's been a very fruitful collaboration. But it's not like there's some shadowy board of figures that you have to run things by. I think Kevin's a big admirer of the first movie and just believes like a rising tide lifts all boats. Like, 'These movies are cool, and it makes those movies cool. And we make each other cool.'
Some have suggested that “superhero fatigue” is a thing, and that eventually audiences will, or possibly already have, begun to get tired of superhero movies. Clearly, the people making these movies think the opposite is true and a great superhero movie might inspire you to seek out other great superhero movies. Clearly, audiences believe Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is one of those movies. It will certainly raise the bar for the recently re-confirmed Spider-Man 4. Of course, it does the same for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse which has a release date in less than a year.
