'Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse' Proves Superhero Movies Should Be Animated
- Details
- Category: Commentary
- Published: Tuesday, 29 January 2019 13:55
- Written by Lupe Rodriguez Haas
Not everyone can capture Marvel's success story when it comes to superheroes but there is another way. The latest Spider-Man movie, INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE proves there's life for overexposed superheroes like Batman, Superman and the web crime-fighter in animated form. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE is highly original and groundbreaking for a superhero movie. Warner Bros. did it with THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE, one of the funniest and top favorite Batman movies of all time, so perhaps they should consider taking Superman the same route. Here's why.
The reason Marvel's live-action movies worked can be attributed to the fact that the characters only lived in the comic books and perhaps some animated shorts somewhere, but they never saw the light of day on the big or small screen. It's fresh and new unlike superheroes such as Superman, Batman and Spider-man which have so many iterations it is hard to keep track. Sony found a way to make Spider-man fresh again.
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE is now an Academy Award nominee for best animated movie and a Golden Globe winner for best animated film. The Miles Morales Spider-man now exists in the same world as Tom Holland's web-slinging superhero. Sony resurrected Peter Parker by loaning him out to Marvel's AVENGERS movies and it paid off. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING was a refreshing new tale of the Marvel superhero, but will FAR FROM HOME capture the same magic and how long can Sony keep the franchise going before we get another SPIDER-MAN 3? Oh, the horror of thinking about that movie.
One solution to extending the SPIDER-MAN franchise was in an animated form with SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, and it did the job. Critically and financially, the animated movie has enjoyed immense success and it could soon be crowned an Oscar. The movie was original, funny and it introduced the first Afro-Latino superhero onto the big screen. Produced by Phil Lord (co-screenwriter) and Christopher Miller, the film did what can't be done in a live-action by bringing in other Spider-man iterations with Peni Parker, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham and Gwen Stacy web-slinging. There's no way you could get away with that in a live-action setting. The film also plays with superhero tropes and multi-dimensions. The end credits suggest Sony still has another film in the works which would be amazing.
Another animated film which took a known superhero and gave it new life was the LEGO BATMAN MOVIE voiced by Will Arnett. The Dark Knight was first introduced in THE LEGO MOVIE and was an instant hit so they gave the DC anti-hero a hilarious spin-off. Again the animated film played with what we know about the crusader and turned it on its heels. Instead of focusing on new Batman movies (currently in the works), Warner Bros. should continue that franchise via the LEGO movies.
Perhaps that's the solution to Warner Bros.' JUSTICE LEAGUE problem is the animated route. What we saw of the Justice League in THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE was a hoot so why not revive the DC Comic superheroes in that fashion. The writers and filmmakers would have so much fun with that, and so would the audience.
While animated movies may not make nearly as much as live-action, it's all about the profitability. There's a huge difference between the budget of a live-action and one of an animated film, so it seems like an easy decision.
Once Marvel exhausts their live-action superheroes, they too can give new life to the Marvel superheroes in animation.