Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse producer promises ‘nothing is off-limits’

If you thought Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse was the most audacious and boundary-pushing Spider-Man movie that you were ever going to see, get ready to have your expectations blown out of the water.

If you’ve watched the trailers for upcoming sequel Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (and I sincerely hope that you have), you’ll have noted that the new multiversal adventure boasts more Spider-People than you can shake a web at.

We’re talking video game Spider-Men, animated Spider-Men, Spider-Men from the future, pregnant Spider-Women, and even Spider-Therapists.

Thrillingly for those of us who have watched these trailers frame by frame to squeal with joy over every newly discovered cameo, we’ve barely begun to scratch the surface. In fact, longtime Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal has promised that absolutely anything - or anyone - could show up in this movie.

“Nothing's off limits,” Pascal tells GAMINGbible. “Sony owns all of the variations on the characters, but Marvel was great about any additional things that we needed, you know, because of our good relationship with Kevin Feige and, and Marvel they've always been really supportive and generous about the Spider-Verse movies.”

While Pascal obviously wouldn’t confirm whether this means live-action Spideys like Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire will make an appearance, our spider-sense is certainly tingling.

Gamers, of course, will be delighted to know that Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man - for our money one of the best versions of the character in years - will be showing up. While the fans out there lost their shit at this news, Pascal was taken slightly by surprise by the love for this particularly Spidey.

Sony Interactive Entertainment / The Author

“That was complete news to me,” Pascal laughed when asked if she was aware of how beloved Insomniac’s Spider-Man is. “But the incredible thing about all these versions of Spidey is that regardless of all the different variations on the character, it's always about the same thing in the end. It's always about the search for identity. And it's always about how difficult it is to do ordinary good things in the world.”

While a preponderance of Spider-Folk sounds great on paper, it doesn’t mean much if the story is a hot mess. If you’ve read recent Spider-Verse comic book stories you’ll have some idea of what I’m talking about. However, Pascal is aware that the best Spider-Man stories are rooted in deeply personal stakes, and that it should always be story over spectacle.

“We're always aware of the fans, because they're everything to us,” she says. “But we try really hard just to tell the stories that we need to tell. And not try to do things in the stories just because we think fans are gonna find little things. I mean, they always do anyway! But what we focus on first s is trying to tell the story of the movie that we're making. And then everywhere in the movie, you will of course, find embedded little clues.”

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse swings into theatres June 2, 2023.