Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was a feast to the eyes, not just with its beautiful animation, but with the cameos stuffed into every second. The film’s writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller reveal is the biggest surprise cameo has a future in the spider-verse.
Readers beware! The article below contains massive spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Read at your own risk!
Among the dozens of cameos hidden in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, none was more shocking to fans than Donald Glover appearing as Aaron Davis, a.k.a. The Prowler. While many fans wondered if Glover would continue to play the role given his history with the character, writer Phil Lord says the cameo was a favor, and that he isn’t committed to anything beyond this film:
“Yeah, it was definitely a personal reach-out to Donald, who we love and stayed close with,” Lord tells the Rolling Stone. “We reached out and were like, ‘We thought of something. It will be so easy. And you commit to nothing.’ And he was really excited to be part of it. He loved the first movie. He has kids that he wanted to surprise by having dad in the movie.”
Phil Lord’s writing partner for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse echoed this sentiment in the same interview, praising costume designer Trayce Gigi Field for being able to transform Donald Glover into The Prowler in “a matter of weeks”:
“And we did a fun little shoot. And we got Trayce Gigi Field, who was the costume designer for the first season of [Miller’s Apple TV+ series] ‘The Afterparty’ to build a Prowler suit in a matter of weeks,” He explains. “These things often take months or years to build and she really did an amazing job designing and building something really quickly so we could all come together and get him into the film.”
With Donald Glover now attached to Sony’s Hypno Hustler project, it’s unlikely he’ll be seen as the Prowler anywhere else besides Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. However, even such a quick cameo means the world to many fans who have been begging to see Glover in a spider suit for years.
The team behind Across The Spider-Verse
Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson from a screenplay written by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Dave Callaham, Across The Spider-Verse also features the voice talents of Jake Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Jason Schwartzman, Rachel Dratch, Shea Whigham and Jorma Taccone. Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg are producing the upcoming movie alongside Lord and Miller, who also worked on its predecessor.
The Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse synopsis reads as follows: “Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Oscar-winning Spider-Verse saga… After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most.”
Stay tuned for the latest news regarding the Spider-Verse and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
