Can Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse beat Incredibles 2 at the Oscars?

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has been loved by audiences and critics, but can it break Disney’s near monopoly in this category?

It’s a big year for superhero movies when it comes to awards season. While superhero films don’t usually grab nominations for big categories, this year is different. Black Panther has received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has grabbed the nomination for Best Animated Feature for the 91st Academy Awards.

Both of these films pushed their respective genres forward in impactful ways, both artistically and socially, and it’s good to see this being recognized. While Into the Spider-Verse has definitely received a lot of hype and praise, especially within nerd communities, the question is if it can really get the Oscar win.

The other nominees in this category are Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Mirai, but many believe the two biggest contenders are Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Incredibles 2.

When looking at the past winners in this category, there is clearly a trend. Disney and Disney-Pixar films have won Best Animated Feature 11 out of the past 14 years since The Incredibles took home the Oscar in 2005. Let’s break down a few of things to consider to see which film is more likely to win.

While these studios do put out some amazing movies, there does seem to be some amount of favoritism in the Academy in this category. There have been many lesser known animated movies that push at boundaries and do creative work that is often less expected than what Disney puts out, but it seems like the Academy doesn’t quite know what to do with these films.

Precedence vs. animation innovation

There is a strong chance that Incredibles 2 will take the win if we are looking at precedence, but Into the Spider-Verse might still have a fighting chance. While both films did well with both critics and audiences, the animation style (more like styles) showcased in Spider-Man were new and fresh as opposed to the signature Pixar style of Incredibles 2.

If the Academy wants to be taken seriously, it would be a smart idea to give Spider-Verse the win as it showed that innovation and new approaches in animated movies can be done beautifully and received favorably by audiences.

Plot and Story

When looking at the plots of the two movies, it’s always hard to compare as both had enjoyable stories that people could relate to. On a social level, it’s easy to see that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is more significant.

The message that anyone can be a hero was amazing. Plus, there was so much care taken to show Miles Morales as an ordinary Afro-Latino kid from Brooklyn who does extraordinary things simply because of his good heart.

Hype

As far as hype is concerned, it’s not necessarily the deciding factor of who gets the win. While it does seem like Into the Spider-Verse received more attention, it also came out more recently. In the world of comic book fans, Into the Spider-Verse clearly got talked about more, but there are many audiences, especially families with young kids, who are more invested in stories like Incredibles 2. So, which movie you heard talked about more likely depends on your demographics and interests.

Overall, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse should win over Incredibles 2 or any other films in the Best Animated Feature category. It was a much more ground-breaking and significant film in the genre, and it would send a message that animated movies that aren’t from Disney deserve to win, too. Into the Spider-Verse already won Best Animated Picture at the Golden Globes, so it’s clear that it has the power and ability to win big awards.

Which movie in the Best Animated Picture category do you think should win the Oscar? Share your thoughts with us!