Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse's Nick Kondo, a lead animator at Sony, explains why one particular scene was extremely difficult to animate. In 2018, Sony brought Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) to life with marvelous technicolored animation, making it one of the the most ambitious Spider-Man films to date. That hard work clearly paid off, seeing as the movie won an Oscar for Best Animated Film and was quickly promised a sequel, which is currently in production.

Into The Spider-Verse offered more than just ambitious visuals; the plot felt equally groundbreaking compared to previous Spider-Man movies because it was the first to explore the multiverse. Along with discovering his new powers, Miles learns about the infinite universes and all the other Spider-People within them – such as Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), and Spider-Ham (John Mulaney). And even on top of all that, Into The Spider-Verse executed a very emotionally complicated plot. By the end of the movie, Miles suffers through the loss of his Uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali), Miles' closest family member, who also turns out to be one of the enemies Miles is fighting against.

Related: The Key Lesson Spider-Man 3 Needs To Learn From Into The Spider-Verse

All these moving parts could have resulted in a film that felt loaded or confusing. But luckily, Into The Spider-Verse had talented and thoughtful people working in all departments. Nick Kondo, who worked in the Animation Department as a Senior Animator on the film, was recently asked what the most difficult scene was to animate, which inspired him to explain a number of difficult scenes on Twitter. Kondo brings up technically difficult moments, such as when all the Spider-People are hiding in Miles' dorm room, or when Gwen punches Green Goblin so hard he turns back into his human form. Ultimately, Kondo decides that the most difficult scene was the one in which Miles is crouching over his uncle's dead body while also evading being discovered by his dad. You can see Kondo's full Twitter thread below:

Kondo's emotional perseverance certainly paid off. It goes to show that when artists feel a personal connection to what they're making, it can result in truly authentic and impactful work. Although it took a couple months to animate, every detail on screen was necessary in order to properly create one cohesive picture to represent the emotional resonance of the scene.

Audiences have already been promised even more impressive visuals in Spider-Verse sequel. It's probably fair to say that Into the Spider-Verse 2 will premiere new ways to conceptualize emotion through animation if they explore a developing romance between Miles and Gwen. Fans are also anticipating the introduction of Spider-Man 2099, as was teased in the movie's end credits scene. In short, the best may be yet to come from Kondo and all the masterminds behind the sequel. Into the Spider-Verse 2 will release in theaters on October 7, 2022.

Next: Spider-Verse: Every Spider-Man Easter Egg & Secret

Source: Nick Kondo