Who Framed Miles Morales: Will Beyond The Spider-Verse Blend Live-Action Into Animation?
Contains spoilers for "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"
"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" changed the game as far as animation. It was a visual spectacle, bringing various Spider-People together from different universes, each one with a unique art style. With Miles Morales traversing the multiverse in "Across the Spider-Verse," whole new worlds and hundreds of different Spider-Folks are brought into the equation, amping everything done so well in the first film to the next level.
But naturally, "Across the Spider-Verse" isn't the end of the story just yet. The film ends with a "To Be Continued.." tease, with the whole story being completed by next year's "Beyond the Spider-Verse." Seeing how the latest installment of Miles' story builds on what came before, it's only natural to wonder where "Beyond" could take things further.
When appearing on the ReelBlend podcast, writers and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller spoke about the film at length and were even asked if the next movie will incorporate more live-action elements, effectively making the series "Who Framed Miles Morales" (a play on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"). Miller explained how they're genuinely invested in keeping this in the animated realm: "At its core, you know, what's really special about this version of the multiverse is a thing that can't be done in live-action, which is that each world is rendered in a completely different art style, different animation style. And you can feel the hand of a different artist and get immersed inside of a different painting in each universe." But of course, Miller suggests anything can happen.
There have to be at least a few surprises for Beyond the Spider-Verse
To its credit, "Across the Spider-Verse" does have a handful of live-action moments. When The Spot discovers the true extent of his powers, he travels to Mrs. Chen's convenience store from the live-action "Venom" movies. And as Miles learns about canon events from Miguel O'Hara, there's archival footage from the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield "Spider-Man" movies. However, there's little doubt fans would be ecstatic to see this concept taken to another level by getting some live-action Spider-People directly involved with Miles' journey, perhaps with some characters breaking through into the Sony-verse to set up a Sinister Six project, something "Across the Spider-Verse" already kind of does.
While Chris Miller's initial statement implies that they're interested in keeping this franchise primarily animated, he doesn't rule out live-action elements entirely. He concludes by stating, "That said, anything is possible in the multiverse, and that's part of the fun of it." There are all kinds of Spider-People introduced in "Across the Spider-Verse" from a myriad of realities. And obviously, the live-action projects aren't excluded in any manner since The Spot is able to go to Venom's live-action world pretty easily.
However, it sounds like if live-action characters do factor into the story of "Beyond the Spider-Verse," it would probably be in a limited capacity. The unique animation style is a big selling point of these movies, and getting live-action actors to interact with cartoons could threaten the franchise's integrity. But if any series could pull off a "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," it would be this one.
"Beyond the Spider-Verse" is scheduled to come out on March 29, 2024, while "Across the Spider-Verse" is now in theaters.