The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is expected to revolve around the multiverse, but even if it lives up to Tom Holland’s billing as the single most ambitious standalone superhero movie ever made, it’s still got a long way to go if it wants to match the levels of critical and audience acclaim that greeted Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Arguably the greatest animated comic book adaptation ever made, and without a doubt one of the finest superhero stories of the modern era, Into the Spider-Verse scored rave reviews across the board and landed the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The sequel is in production and heading to theaters in October of next year, but plot details are being kept under heavy guard for the time being.
However, Jake Johnson has confirmed that he will back as Peter B. Parker, the washed-up and disheveled version of the web-slinger. While his return may have been a foregone conclusion looking at how heavily he factored into the original, it’s still encouraging to hear it come straight from the man himself.
“I’ve been working on a contract. I believe Peter B. Parker is making a return. All I know is that I heard nothing for the longest time and I was very sad. I really loved playing Peter B. Parker. I would like to know what happens with Peter B. Parker. I think the way his journey ended in the first movie was very open-ended. So, when I got word that they were working on a deal or figuring it all out, I thought I truly can’t wait to see what the writers came up with.”
Christopher Daniel Barnes’ 1990s animated favorite has been rumored to join the lineup of Spideys, as has Spider-Man India Pavitr Prabhakar, while Kathryn Hahn would love to return as Oliva Octavius. So far, though, the only names officially confirmed are Johnson’s Peter, Shameik Moore’s Miles Morales, Hailee Steinfeld’s Gwen Stacy and Issa Rae’s Jessica Drew, but there will be plenty more to come.
As part of their overall deal with Sony, producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have been tasked to oversee and entire slate of film and television projects built out from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, so things are just getting started.