Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a great movie, plain and simple. That it’s filled with so many Easter eggs and callbacks only adds to the incredible story and characters that inhabit the film. Some of those were revealed in promotional materials, but others were expertly kept secret so fans could experience them in the theater. Now that the movie’s been out a few weeks, the team behind it is pulling back that curtain.
Chris Miller, one of the film’s writers and producers, tweeted two photos Tuesday of one of the film’s biggest, most surprising cameos. It links back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a very fun, clever way while also not really ruining anything. If you’ve seen the movie, you probably know what we mean, but if you haven’t seen it, now’s the time to turn away.
We’re talking about the moment when Miles is being taken through all the various anomalies at Spider-Verse HQ and we see, very briefly, Donald Glover as the Prowler. Glover, of course, is one of our most prolific artists, not just in movies and TV but in music too. So to get him to do a cameo is incredible on its own. That it’s such an amazing wink at the audience is even better.
You may remember that in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man meets a character named Aaron, played by Glover, who mentions a nephew. Yes, Glover is Miles Morales’ Uncle Aaron in the MCU. While we haven’t seen him since then, nor have we seen Miles in live-action (not yet; it’s coming), we now know that this Uncle Aaron, like most Uncle Aarons in the Spider-Verse, becomes the Prowler. And Miller tweeted out two behind-the-scenes images of them shooting the cameo with the live-action Prowler suit. “This was a fun day we had playing around with an old pal,” Miller said with these photos, noting that the Prowler costume was designed by Trayce Gigi Field.
Does this mean we’ll see Glover in the MCU as the Prowler? Could he show down with Miles Morales? Who knows. What we do know is that by including the cameo, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse paid off one of the biggest teases in recent comic book memory.
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