We’ve seen Spider-Man on the big and small screen countless times at this point, and while each different version has its own strengths and weaknesses, fans were near-universally blown away by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. That was something we had never seen before. It has fans very excited for the sequel, and one filmmaker is going to build that hype even more, as he’s comparing it to one of the most popular sequels of all time.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse wasn’t quite the cultural phenomenon that Star Wars was, but both movies certainly pushed their audience to see movies in very different ways. Perhaps it isn’t the wild a comparison when Christopher Miller tells Empire that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, is the Empire Strikes Back of this trilogy. He explains…
People who’ve seen Across… have told us that it feels like The Empire Strikes Back of the Spider-Verse franchise. It shows you worlds you haven’t seen, and it’s an emotional story that ends in a place where you need to see the third one. So, yeah: this is our Empire.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back certainly expanded the universe of the first film, and the trailers alone have shown us that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will very much do the same thing. However, as was the case by the time Empire came along, we know Spider-Verse is a trilogy, and so it sounds like this new film will give us an ending that might not, strictly speaking, be called a cliffhanger, but will certainly leave us knowing that there is more story to be told.
Of course, Across the Spider-Verse has another element to it that is comparable to Empire, in that it’s a sequel that has a pretty significant hill to climb. Star Wars literally changed the movie industry forever, and while Spider-Verse didn’t quite do that, it was that rare movie that was a massive box office blockbuster, a critically acclaimed movie, and a major award winner. Whether Spider-Verse 2 will be able to match its original when it comes to reception will be a big question.
Today Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is largely seen as the best movie in the original trilogy, though that wasn't quite the case at the time. Even if Across the Spider-Verse doesn’t have quite the impact of the first film out of the gate, as long as it’s a worthy successor, we can guess that plenty of fans will be waiting for the third one as soon as the second one is over, just as Christopher Miller says.
