More than four years after the hit superhero movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) graced the big screen, its highly anticipated sequel, Spider-Man: Through the Spider-Verse (2023), arrived in theaters last week and is full of artistic references.
The film’s very first fight scene takes place in an animated, glitch-packed rendering of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, featuring interior and exterior photos of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural marvel. The museum exhibits a pack of Jeff Koons Balloon Dog works – one large and many smaller editions, all in varying metallic hues.
A scene from Spider-Man: Through the Spider-Verse (2023) features works by Jeff Koons at the Guggenheim Museum Screenshot via YouTube
One of the characters involved in the Battle of Guggenheim is Vulture (voiced by Jorma Taccone), who in this film appears as if made of parchment paper. Its design is based on sketches by Leonardo da Vinci.
And, just like its predecessor, Spider-Man: Through the Spider-Verse features a Banksy scream from an anonymous onlooker. References to the secret British artist in both films occur after a malfunction occurs in the so-called Multiverse, causing a bizarre structure to appear in the street; this then prompts a passer-by to give his opinion: “Yeah, I think it’s a Banksy.”
Rapper Post Malone, who contributed the 18-time platinum song “Sunflower” to the first film’s soundtrack, is the voice behind the so-called “Brooklyn Bystander” (as the character is credited on IMDb) who makes this remark in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; although it is not yet confirmed if he took over Banksy’s scouting role for Spider-Man: Through the Spider-Verse.
