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In Conversation...Miles Morales: Spider-ManandMiles Morales: Shock Waves

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In Conversation...Miles Morales: Spider-ManandMiles Morales: Shock Waves

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In Conversation... Miles Morales: Spider-Man and Miles Morales: Shock Waves...

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Soundtrack From & Inspired by the Motion Picture)

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Soundtrack From & Inspired by the Motion Picture)

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How Animators Created the Spider-Verse | WIRED

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How Animators Created the Spider-Verse | WIRED

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How Animators Created the Spider-Verse | WIRED

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SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE Interviews

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SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE Interviews

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SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE Interviews (Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson) | AMC Theatres (2018)

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Oscars: ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Wins Best Animated Feature

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Oscars: ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Wins Best Animated Feature

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In a major validation for Sony and Marvel, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" has won the Academy Award for animated feature for Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

While accepting the award, Lord celebrated what the representation in the movie meant for many. "When we hear that somebody's kid was watching the movie and turned to them and said, 'He looks like me,' or 'They speak Spanish like us,' we feel like we already won."

Sunday's win capped a strong awards season run for the film, which won the top animated film honor at the Annies, Golden Globes, BAFTA and Producers Guild Awards. It's one of the biggest awards to date for a title based on Marvel characters, along with "Big Hero 6," which also won the animated feature trophy in 2015.

"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" centers on 13-year-old Brooklynite Miles Morales, who becomes one of many Spider-Men, is rated PG and marketed toward families. Shameik Moore voiced Morales as an admirer of Spider-Man. The movie was specifically created to have a unique look that combined computer animation with traditional hand-drawn techniques.

"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," which carries a $90 million budget, was an unexpected box office success and wound up grossing nearly $360 million worldwide. The film was directed by Persichetti, Ramsey and Rothman from a screenplay by Lord and Rothman and a story by Lord. Miller and Lord produced along with Avi Arad, Amy Pascal and Christina Steinberg.

Ramsey became the first African-American director to win an Oscar in the category.

Critics were dazzled. Peter Debruge said in his review for Variety: "The brilliance of Sony's snappy new animated " Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse " shows itself in the project's uncanny ability to simultaneously reset and expand all that has come before, creating an inclusive world where pretty much anybody can be the superhero ... even you!"

"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" topped a pair of Disney titles - "Incredibles 2" and "Ralph Breaks the Internet" - along with Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dogs" and Japanese adventure "Mirai." Of the 17 Oscars given out since the category was created in 2001, Disney has won a dozen, including "The Incredibles" in 2005 and the last six: "Brave," "Frozen," "Big Hero 6," "Inside Out," "Zootopia," and "Coco."

"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" was only the second Sony Pictures Animation film ever nominated for an Oscar after 2007's "Surf's Up."

As for Marvel movies getting Oscars, there has only been one prior to this year: 2005's "Spider-Man 2," which won for Best Visual Effects for John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier by topping "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "I, Robot."

Marvel is up for eight other Academy Awards this year. Marvel's "Avengers: Infinity War" is nominated in best visual effects and its "Black Panther" is up for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, costume design, production design, original score, original song, sound mixing and sound editing. It won for costume design for Ruth E. Carter, production design for Hannah Beachler and original score for Ludwig Goransson.

Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony's Motion Picture Group, said in a note to employees, "'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' became one of the few non-Disney films to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar in the history of that award. It's sweet indeed to see the Academy honor originality, diversity, and revolutionary animated craftsmanship. And it recognizes SPA and Imageworks' rightful place among the first rank of animation studios, under the leadership of Kristine Belson and Randy Lake, respectively."

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Oscars: 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' Wins Best Animated Feature

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In a major validation for Sony and Marvel, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" has won the Academy Award for animated feature for Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. While accepting the award, Lord celebrated what the representation in the movie meant for many.

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‘Into the Spider-Verse’ and the Importance of a Biracial Spider-Man

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‘Into the Spider-Verse’ and the Importance of a Biracial Spider-Man

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"Anyone can wear the mask," Miles Morales says in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. But there was a time when that didn't always seem entirely true. For decades, Spider-Man has been Peter Parker. Sure, there have been alternate versions, daughters from the future, and those born of Marvel's questions of "what if," but at the end of the day, we knew that Peter Parker was Spider-Man. But when Miles Morales swung onto the scene in 2011, he changed things. This Afro-Latino boy who would become Spider-Man was a sign of our times, a reminder of the past, and a means of hope for the future.

Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which lands in theaters this weekend, is a celebration of that sentiment. Under the tutelage of Spider-Men and Spider-Women from alternate realities, Miles Morales learns to become his own Spider-Man. But that means more than just putting on a costume. Into the Spider-Verse isn't just the next great leap in superhero movies because of its introduction of the comic book multiverse, but because it treats black and Latino heritage as a key piece of a superhero identity, and that's just as important as any spider symbol.

Let's back up for a moment. When Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created Spider-Man in 1962, they created a character tailor-made for younger readers. Teenage Peter Parker didn't fit in with his peers, he made mistakes and even as Spider-Man he wasn't immediately embraced by older superheroes like the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. Additionally, most of Spider-Man's earliest villains were older men, poisoned by their own worldviews. The fact that so many kids are drawn to Spider-Man should come as no surprise. It's equally unsurprising that so many remain fans through their teenage years and into adulthood. Following Peter's adventures provided a means to grow up with the character, change as he changed, while never losing sight of the responsibility that comes with growth. Spider-Man is a bridge. For many kids he's an entry point into the world of superheroes, be that through comic books, animated series, video games or movies.

Part of the reason behind that accessibility is because Spider-Man doesn't operate on terms of race. I can't remember a time when Spider-Man wasn't a part of my life, and I think part of the appeal, as it is for so many other children of color, is that you can't see behind the mask. It doesn't matter if you don't have Superman's blue eyes or Batman's superior chin. It doesn't even really matter what gender you are. In the comics Peter Parker may be Spider-Man. But at home, on the playground, in our minds, we could be Spider-Man because our sense of humor, our joys, our pains, were just as important as Peter Parker's. But what if we could be just as much like Spider-Man when we unmasked as well?

In the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man (2000) Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley re-envisioned Spider-Man for the 21st century, capitalizing on the buzz surrounding the production of Sam Raimi's (2002). For a decade Bendis told Peter Parker's story, reinventing friends and enemies, and asking how a teenage superhero would function in the world of cellphones, Internet and instant celebrity. But even as he was telling this story, the world was rapidly changing. America was experiencing a shift in culture. The immigration of Mexicans and Africans to America was receiving increased attention, schools were becoming increasingly diverse, biracial relationships were increasingly common and our language was changing not only in the increase of bilingual persons, but in how our slang was infused with Spanish and Ebonics. In 2008, America elected President Barack Obama, whose biracial background and message of hope also served as a bridge. Two years later, Sony announced it would be rebooting the Spider-Man film series with The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and actor-rapper Donald Glover expressed interest in playing Peter Parker. The idea caught on and gained momentum, sparking conversations that begged the question, "Why does Spider-Man have to be white?"

In the pages of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli answered this question with a firm "he doesn't." Together, and undoubtedly influenced by Bendis' own experiences as part of a multiracial family, they gave life to a biracial Brooklyn boy whose struggles and triumphs made him just as endearing as Peter Parker, but uniquely his own man. Miles Morales proved to be a huge win for biracial visibility, one praised by Stan Lee for being a role model to children of color. While he began his exploits in an alternate Ultimate dimension, one where 16-year-old Peter Parker died in a battle against the Green Goblin, Miles proved so popular that he was eventually brought over into the main Marvel Universe, not as a replacement for Parker or as a sidekick, but as his own individual Spider-Man whose stories could stand on their own. Miles goes against so many established superhero tropes. He's not an orphan and instead comes from an unbroken household with two loving and supportive parents. He's smart and a little nerdy, but not an outsider. And he's protective of his racial identity, refusing to be limited by it. When the fact that he's a kid of color is revealed on a YouTube show ( Spider-Man No. 2), Miles says he doesn't want the qualification. "I don't want to be the black Spider-Man. I want to be Spider-Man. First of all, I am half Hispanic," he says. In an era where we so often search for easy, limiting labels, it's hugely important that Miles Morales isn't a novelty character like a number of race-bent comic characters have been over the years, but a character who is biracial and Spider-Man, not Spider-Man because he is biracial. But of course being biracial does affect the kind of Spider-Man Miles Morales is.

To say 2018 has been a stellar year for Miles Morales would be an understatement. From his vital role in Spider-Man PS4, to his comic book relaunch, Miles Morales: Spider-Man from Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garron, Miles Morales' stellar year is perfectly capped off with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It took 40 years for Peter Parker to come to life on the big screen. Miles did it in seven. Not only because the industry had changed, but because we needed him there - a reminder of the hope and diversity that has been fought against in the time since President Obama's term ended. The animated Into the Spider-Verse, directed by the team of Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti and Rodney Rothman, takes many elements from Bendis' run on the character, along with those writers and artists who have populated Spider-Man's multi-verse over the decade, to create a film that gives us the best version of Miles Morales' story.

It's not just superheroics that make Into the Spider-Verse work. It's culture. We're given a sense of Miles Morales' (Shameik Moore) identity in and out of the costume, and shown how the two sides work together to create a fully fleshed out character. In the film's opening we see Miles listening to hip-hop with his headphones on, while sketching graffiti tags in a notebook. As he gets ready for school he speaks to his mom, Rio (Luna Lauren Velez), in a blend of English and Spanish that feels authentic. When we see him on the streets we see him interact with his neighbors - people like him and he likes them. He represents Brooklyn, and he knows his place there. Immediately, the film lets those unfamiliar with the character in on the fact that Miles Morales is not Peter Parker shaded darker. Nor is the world he's living in a black fantasy like Wakanda. To quote Glover, "this is America." The subtext concerning Miles' identity is evident across the film. From feeling out of place in his new private school, obviously lacking the same diversity as his public school, to his relationship with his "cool" uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali), who offers an alternative black masculinity than his police officer father, Jeff (Brian Tyree Henry), Miles' struggles are ones many children of color can identify with. The humor that comes from these situations isn't just situational; it's racial, and many of the reasons why we can laugh at certain moments is because we recognize these moments from our own lives. But as much humor as there is in Into the Spider-Verse, there's a very serious consideration given to Miles decision of what kind of man he wants to be - made even more difficult by the fact that the world sees him as black first and foremost.

The fact that Miles looks more black than Latino opens up interesting narrative possibilities and conversations. While media so often codes him as the black Spider-Man, undoubtedly the factor that led to Bendis having Miles directly discuss not wanting that label in the aforementioned issue, his Puerto Rican heritage is just as important. In the most recently launched Miles Morales: Spider-Man comic by Ahmed, the first scribe of color to write Miles' series, Miles is directly confronted by the detainment of immigrant children. He's dealing with challenges pulled straight from the headlines, and as he learns about the detainment from his mother, it's clear that he feels some responsibility to his Latino heritage to do something. Miles may have most of the same powers as Peter Parker, but his responsibilities have the potential to be different and perceived on a more personal level because he is Afro-Latino.

Into the Spider-Verse, because it's Miles' origin story, doesn't have Miles dealing with race crimes as Spider-Man, but the two sides of the character's racial identity are still represented as inherent parts of who he is. Language is key to this, not just in terms of Miles' bilingual identity, but the cinematic language of the film. The film's animation shows the beauty of urban neighborhoods, from graffiti to hairstyles and clothing, this Brooklyn as seen through Afro-Latino eyes. Peter Parker can wear a hoodie with his costume, as he, or rather his clone Ben Reilly did as Scarlet Spider in comics. But when we see Miles wearing a hoodie when he first becomes Spider-Man it means something entirely different. It's not just fashionable, it's a statement. It's an affirmation that wearing a hoodie doesn't make black and brown kids the menaces or thugs that the news media so often portrays them as, but individuals just as capable of heroism and growth as anyone.

Music is also a key factor in this cinematic language, both in terms of what we hear - the Notorious B.I.G., Post Malone Swae Lee, Blackway - and what we see. A poster of Chance the Rapper is featured prominently in Miles' dorm room. Not only does this reflect Miles' musical tastes, but it tells of a larger story. In Chance the Rapper's track "Everybody's Something," he raps about how he would claim to be biracial ("dark light or off-white") and fight kids who said he talked white. Chance isn't biracial but his identity struggle, the desire to be proud of one's blackness but also not wanting to be defined by its stereotypes, is very much inherent to Miles' struggle. Even if it's not a central part of the plot, there are Easter eggs and musical choices in the film that perfectly allude to the identity struggles of kids of color, struggles that make this version of Spider-Man all the more important.

Through Miles Morales, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, offers something that no other cinematic universe or superhero franchise has offered. There aren't a lot of biracial characters in comics, less that aren't coded as white, and none with names as big as Spider-Man. So the fact that Miles' biracial identity is given such prominence and consideration here is major. Miles Morales is better presented in this film than he ever has been before. That's not a slight against Bendis, who consulted on the film, or any of the other writers who have told Miles' story. Rather it's an awareness that a diverse team of filmmakers, writers and animators brought out aspects of Miles that are immediately recognizable for kids of color. Into the Spider-Verse doesn't change Miles Morales, it elevates him. As much as the film is a love letter to Spider-Man, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, it's also a love letter to black and brown fans looking for their place whether that be at school, the workplace or within their personal relationships.

Miles Morales' journey to becoming Spider-Man isn't a straight line. It's the strands of being black, Latino, a son, a nephew, an honors student, a graffiti artist, a hip-hop fan, all woven together to create the web that is the wide demographic of Spider-Man - a union of many of the best parts of humanity. There's a shot in the movie of Miles Morales starring up at a glass display case containing Spider-Man's uniform. It's a brief moment without dialogue, but it resonates as one of the film's most powerful moments because it represents Miles so well, and the tremendous legacy of carrying more than one identity. For all the kids of color who dream of being superheroes, and all the adults of color still grappling with power and responsibility, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse leaves us with a clear message: We could always be Spider-Man with the mask on, but now, and perhaps more important, we can be Spider-Man with the mask off as well.

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'Into the Spider-Verse' and the Importance of a Biracial Spider-Man

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"Anyone can wear the mask," Miles Morales says in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse . But there was a time when that didn't always seem entirely true. For decades, Spider-Man has been Peter Parker. Sure, there have been alternate versions, daughters from the future, and those born of Marvel's questions of "what if," but at the end of the day, we knew that Peter Parker was Spider-Man.

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Why Into The Spider-Verse is still the best superhero movie ever made

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Why Into The Spider-Verse is still the best superhero movie ever made

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No one was ready for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. We're not used to superhero movies being masterpieces. We're used to mediocrity.

Superhero movies thrive on mediocrity. I used to complain about superhero fatigue, now I embrace it. Go for your life, Marvel, make your three-star movies a couple of times a year. At least they're not Rise of Skywalker. No, they're just mediocre and that's... good?

Unfortunately for Marvel, every now and then a superhero movie hits cinemas to remind you what magic looks like. To recalibrate your idea of what "good" is. In 2018 that movie was Into the Spider-Verse.

And by god you should watch it.

But watch at your own risk. Seriously. I've spent the last five years mindlessly gorging myself on superhero movies that are as safe as they come. After Into The Spider-Verse, watching it on repeat for literally years now, it's difficult to go back.

It's visually jaw-dropping

Are you ready for a hyperbolic, completely uncritical look at why Into The Spider-Verse is the best superhero movie of the last decade and beyond?

Brilliant. Let's get started.

Probably best to begin with the aesthetics and visual design.

Producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller wanted Into The Spider-Verse to have a unique look from the beginning, which resulted in over 140 animators combining computer animation with a hand-drawn style designed to mimic comic book art.

When I heard about this, I was cynical. Movies that take visual risks or pioneer unique art styles tend to review well by default. "Here's your cookie for trying something different." This is the kind of thing that tends to make movie critics salivate like Pavlov's dogs.

But it's not enough, right? Plenty of animated movies (*cough* Kubo and the Two Strings) have pioneering art styles but are complete snooze fests. That's not the case here.

Into The Spider-Verse has an integrated aesthetic, but what really elevates the movie is how inventive it is, how vibrant it is, with visual storytelling.

I always think about the above scene, when Peter Parker and Miles Morales, the two main "Spider-Men," attempt to escape a villain's lab. They're spotted and every scientist in the building hops up, springs into action immediately. Except one. Who just keeps eating her lunch. She's seen this all before. This is a villain's lair. There's always some superhero trying to mess with their shit. This is just another day at the office. Literally. She just wants to finish her tea break.

It's a split-second, but betrays an insane commitment to detail. A commitment to be inventive, to subvert, to engage with weird ideas and be brave with them. It's a spirit that infects every single frame of this movie.

How about the visual design of Kingpin, who is almost comically oversized, but still emanates an incredibly intimidating aura.

How about the fact that Into The Spider-Verse seamlessly blends characters from different universes (noir, anime, traditional 1930s animation), providing each with its own unique visual flair, but somehow makes everything feel like it belongs in the same movie?

That's ignoring how this movie moves -- at a schizophrenic pace with action sequences that never let up, and never stop surprising you. Like when Miles Morales gets one hand stuck to an unconscious Peter Parker and another stuck to a moving subway train and chaos ensues. Or when an inexperienced Morales has to escape The Prowler by scrambling through abandoned tunnels using powers he's only just acquired. Every sequence leaps off the screen with an intense, dramatically overactive sense of imagination. It feels at once meticulously planned, but spontaneously performed.

It's impossible to take your eyes off the screen.

The script is... [chef's kiss]

It's not necessarily the script that elevates Into The Spider-Verse. "Script" is just a catch-all term for the story, which takes a traditional hero's journey and twists it in all sorts of strange directions. It's shorthand for the way it takes the traditional Spider-Man myth (man gets bitten by spider, man watches uncle die, man becomes inspired to grow into his responsibilities) and subverts it while maintaining great respect for the timeless story device it has become.

It even comments on itself as an origin story, in a meta sense, without becoming overbearing or robbing its audience of living in the moment of Miles Morales' journey toward becoming Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse juggles all these internal responsibilities (to be cool, to be funny, to not take itself seriously, to have heart, to be sincere but smart, to be sentimental but not sickly sweet) and does so effortlessly. Or -- at the very least -- does an incredible job of masking the effort it takes to create a superhero movie that does everything perfectly.

In its own way, Into The Spider-Verse is a small miracle.

Actually it's a huge miracle.

It does all these things without rushing or overstaying its welcome. Most of its storytelling comes visually, without exposition. It does the stories of multiple characters justice. Miles Morales' journey, obviously, is exquisitely told, but so too is old man Peter Parker, a Spider-Man we've never seen before: middle-aged, bored, depressed, broken by a failed marriage. A man who'd rather take the bus than swing through New York City. Even Kingpin is a sympathetic villain, driven by a desire to rescue his own wife and children from death.

Every loose end is tied -- quickly, subtly, intelligently, without issue -- in a way that makes almost every other superhero movie feel clunky and old-fashioned.

This movie feels real

For an animated movie about six spider-people from six different dimensions using supernatural powers to defeat a 900-pound man and robot cyborgs in suits, Into The Spider-Verse is remarkably grounded.

It's a story about family, about what it means to be a father, what it means to be a son. What it means to wrestle with the expectations of others and live up to your own potential. More than any other animated movie I've ever seen, it feels performed. It has the spontaneous energy and heart of a screwball comedy, the incredible scale of superhero action at its best.

You'd have to go all the way back to The Iron Giant or The Incredibles to find an animated movie that feels this real. A movie that delivers on almost every possible spectrum you could invent, but still feels original and new.

If you haven't watched Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, you're selling yourself short. Like me, you've probably spent the last few decades wallowing in the mediocrity of the superhero dirge. That's fine. That's good.

But maybe it's worth reminding yourself what it's like to enjoy something great.

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Why Into The Spider-Verse is still the best superhero movie ever made

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No one was ready for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. We're not used to superhero movies being masterpieces. We're used to mediocrity. Superhero movies thrive on mediocrity. I used to complain about superhero fatigue, now I embrace it. Go for your life, Marvel, make your three-star movies a couple of times a year.