Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse followed Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) as he became the new Spider-Man and joined other Spider-People from various dimensions in order to save New York City from Kingpin. At it's core, that may sound like just another Spidey flick, but it wound up becoming a huge success in all respects, even taking home the Best Animated Feature award at 2019's Oscars ceremony, and with its eye-popping colour and kinetic action full of designs ripped straight from the funny pages, it's not hard to see why.
Needless to say, anticipations are high for the upcoming Spider-Verse sequel, which officially swung into production last summer, and Variety has reported that Sony Pictures Animation have tapped Joaquim Dos Santos (The Legend of Korra), Kemp Powers (Soul), and Justin K. Thompson (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) with directing the sequel. Dos Santos' role in the production has previously been reported, but Variety says that the three directors have been working together on the Spider-Verse sequel from the start. "The crew behind the ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ set such a ridiculously high bar, and we’re humbled to take on the challenge of charting the next chapter in the story of Miles Morales," the directing team said in a joint statement. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will once again serve as producers on the sequel, but they'll also be joining David Callaham (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) as screenwriters. In their own statement, Lord and Miller said:
We are so lucky to have Joaquim, Justin and Kemp on the ‘Spider-Verse’ team. We are huge fans of Joaquim’s work — he makes his characters so heartfelt and unique, and he can tell an emotional story with an action sequence the way a musical does through a song. Justin is a maverick filmmaker who relentlessly pursues visual innovation and surprise but always in support of the emotional storytelling. Kemp’s work is incisive and ambitious and funny — with a writer’s wisdom and a director’s heart — he just knows what matters in every scene. All three of them elevate every project they take on, and they are certainly raising our game. We honestly just like them and want to be their friends and we’re hoping working on this movie together for the next few years will totally make that happen.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 is slated for an October 7, 2022 release.