The following contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, now playing in theaters.
Donald Glover's cameo in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was added two months before the film's theatrical release.
In the movie, Spider-Man Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and other heroes visit the Nueva York headquarters of the Spider-Society on Earth-928. There, Miles comes across captured supervillains displaced from their respective dimensions, including a live-action Prowler/Aaron Davis played by Glover, who reprises his Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) with a new super suit. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, co-director Kemp Powers revealed that Glover's surprise appearance was filmed on April 5, just two months before the film's June 2 premiere date. "You have to understand that these things happen very spontaneously," Powers explained.
How Spider-Verse References Live-Action Spider-Men
Glover's Across the Spider-Verse cameo blends animation and live-action, but the film also does so by featuring Venom's Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu), as well as references to both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's respective Spider-Men. Powers has stated that there were plans for more live-action scenes in Across the Spider-Verse, but they were scrapped during production. "It just turned into a bad joke," he explained. "Even we didn’t like it anymore. And we just said, 'OK, enough, let’s make sure that it’s something precise that gets the most bang for the buck, and speaks to the story.'"
If Glover's Prowler is in fact the same version seen in Homecoming, his appearance in Across the Spider-Verse isn't the film's only nod to the MCU. An earlier scene sees Spider-Man 2099/Miguel O'Hara (Oscar Isaac) complain about "Doctor Strange and the little nerd back on Earth-199999," referencing the cataclysmic events of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). "The world of Miles Morales and Spider-Verse, it's not tied into the Marvel Cinematic Universe or anything like that," Powers said, adding, "But this is a [Phil Lord and Chris Miller] film. We like to have a little bit of fun, we like to be a little bit meta and to acknowledge the world in which we are creating these stories. That's the best way to explain it."
Screenwriters and producers Lord and Miller themselves admitted that they didn't ask for Marvel Studios' permission before writing in the No Way Home reference.
Spider-Verse Doesn't Fully Cross Over With the MCU Yet
In Feb. 2022, Lord and Miller addressed the possibility of Spider-Verse crossing over with the MCU. "The Multiverse is big and wide," Miller said then. "And all things grow... Why would you think a Multiverse, in which many things are possible, that [those things are] not related?"
Tom Holland, the MCU's own Spider-Man, has called Into the Spider-Verse the "best Spider-Man movie that's ever been made," but has yet to join the film franchise yet. There is a sequel on the way though, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, which serves as a direct follow-up to Across the Spider-Verse and is set to release in March 2024. Meanwhile, producer Amy Pascal has confirmed a live-action Miles Morales film is in development. Despite this, it is unknown as of writing if the project will be connected to the MCU and Holland's Peter Parker.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter