To close the Annecy presentation, which saw 15 minutes of work in progress footage screen for the first time before a public audience, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” directors Joaquim dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson picked up. Curtains the big bad of the film - an enigmatic antagonist known as The Spot.
"For those who aren't hardcore cannon nerds, The Spot is one of the deepest cuts in Spider-Man's rogue gallery," said co-director Kemp. "But he has one super-power that really got our entire team excited: his entire body is covered in tiny inter-dimensional portals that can send him wherever he wants to go."
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The villain, played by Jason Schwartzman, will use those portals as weapons against returning webslingers Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), while bringing in new Spider-Verse heroes like Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) and Jessica Drew (Issa Rae).
According to the filmmakers, the villain will have a character design reminiscent of an unfinished sketch, with blue construction lines reminiscent of a comic book artist's rough drawing before the work is sent to an inker. The design itself will evolve over the course of the film as the character changes and grows, taking on a more fearsome shape as he learns to better apply his own powers, as seen here in an early form.
Meet The Spot, Miles Morales's most formidable foe yet. 🕳 Voiced by Jason Schwartzman, see him in action in Spider-Man: Across the #SpiderVerse, exclusively in movie theaters June 2, 2023. pic.twitter.com/1aAmMjMcpX
— Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (@SpiderVerse) June 13, 2022
"We thought it would be really cool if the portals felt like living ink that had spilled or splattered on the comic artist's drawing," Kemp said before showing test animation footage to the rapt and cheering crowd. "His very simple power provided our team with an endless number of exciting challenges and permutations."