‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Character Designer Kris Anka Decries Critics Of Overweight Spider-Society Members As “Fatphobic”
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Seemingly unable to accept that the characters he created may only be considered appealing by a very small percentage of the population, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse artist Kris Anka has responded to the wide disapproval of his overweight Spider-Society member designs by decrying any and all of his critics as ‘fatphobic’.
Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) finds himself in over his head in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Sony Pictures Animation
As seen in Across the Spider-Verse, alongside such recognizable web-slingers as the Spectacular Spider-Man, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Ben Reilly, the further ranks of the film’s central ‘Spider-Society’ are filled out with a number of non-descript, almost ‘generic’ original characters.
All variants of the eponymous hero, a number of these recruits featured such characteristics as being female, fat, or a combination of the two.
The Spider-Society recreates the infamous ‘Spider-Man pointing meme’ in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Sony Animation
On July 27th, Marvel Comics artist Kristafer Anaka took to his personal Twitter/X account to reveal his involvement in designing these “Generic Spiders”.
“I tried my best to include as much of a range of l body types I could,” Anka explained of his design process. “If anyone can wear the mask, we have to do the work to show that it can be anyone.”
Kris Anka via Twitter
A few hours after making his initial post, Anka would return to his Tweet to respond to a supposed wave of criticisms being leveled towards his more ’round’ designs.
(It should be noted that, as of writing, a search of his post’s replies and retweets returns only three ‘size critical’ messages, none of which managed to garner more than 1,000 individual views).
Ben Reilly (Andy Samberg) makes his cinematic debut in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (2023), Sony Pictures
“‘Realistically all spider-men should be thin cause blah blah blah’ get the fuck outta here with that s–t,” Anka proclaimed. “You’re not defending a fake things honor, you’re just being fat phobic.”
“None of this is realistic,” he added. “Just let people have fun and enjoy s–t.”
Kris Anka via Twitter
In response to Anka’s insulting, several fans responded by pointing out how, from a practical perspective, it was entirely impossible for a ‘fat Spider-Man’ to be an active superhero.
“Being fat isn’t a spider trait,” stated @KARMAENVY. “‘Realistic’ accounts for the rules established in universe. Fat phobic isn’t a thing. Accept you’re unrealistic and make all the spiderpigs you like.”
@KARMAENVY via Twitter
“Spider-Man in popular media has always been depicted as fit as a result of the bite,” said @DeliciouslyNull. “Fat is not fit. It’s not a hard line to draw.”
@DeliciouslyNull via Twitter
“In most stories spider characters either gain muscle mass immediately or become more fit by doing superhero stuff”, @cujo9356 noted of the wall-crawler’s history. “It isn’t fatphobic to point out that Across the Spider-Verse seems to be an outlier to this.”
@cujo9356 via Twitter
@doggybluguts likewise asserted, “Uhhhh…For a fictional story to be good and make sense you have to have SOME realistic basis.”
“The spider men should be athletic in some way to make sense,” they continued. “A fat spider man is not practical. Please use your head.”
@doggybluguts Twitter
For those interested, since making his initial post, Anka has shared three more ‘batches‘ of his Spider-Society designs through his personal Twitter/X account.
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