Remember when Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse came out, and we pretty much all agreed in that moment that we’ve solved comic book movies and probably don’t need to make any more, lest they bear the fatal burden of getting compared to Across the Spider-Verse?
There was almost too much to love about the second entry in Miles Morales’ odyssey. The masterful characterization, inch-perfect control over its tension, and, of course, the supremely delectable animation are just a few of the many cogs that make the Spider-Verse machine tick as beautifully as it does.
It’s even proof that comic book movies are more than capable of providing top-class fan service without needing to sacrifice quality, with the most prominent example of that being Donald Glover’s live-action, split-second appearance as the Prowler; a clear nod to Glover’s role of Aaron Davis in the MCU. In another universe, however, this cameo may have instead been Spider-Verse‘s greatest infraction.
In a recent interview with Collider, the Across the Spider-Verse directing trio of Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson revealed that Glover’s cameo was filmed just weeks before the movie released to theaters, and their backup plan was… interesting, we’ll say.
“There were several things in those previews that we hadn’t really sorted out yet, like you guys probably remember the Donald Glover cameo — he hadn’t agreed to do it yet. So in the preview, we had, like, a South Park -style cardboard cutout of Donald Glover. He was like, ‘Hai, I’m Donald Glover,’ and he was just like a flappy head, and everyone was cracking up.”
Different strokes for different folks, of course, but the mental image that that quote conjures up is uncanny in all the worst ways, and while I personally wasn’t prone to geeking over Glover’s appearance in Across the Spider-Verse, I think it’s now my favorite part of the movie, having been exposed to what could have been.
(featured image: Sony Pictures)
