Warning – This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has delivered one of the most ambitious and successful animated Marvel projects ever, and it is not short on plenty of cameo appearances from many of the Spider-Men and Spider-Women to have graced the pages of Marvel Comics over the years. Among its more unexpected appearances is the return of Donald Glover as his Spider-Man: Homecoming character Prowler, which takes the form a live-action Glover interacting with the animated Miles Morales in a jail cell in Spider Society HQ. But how did such a cameo appearance take place? Directors Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson and Joaquim Dos Santos revealed all to Variety about the eleventh hour addition to the movie. Powers said:
"It was shot at a studio in New York. Chris Miller flew to be there in person, and Phil Lord and I were on the video feed giving direction. We got it in at the 11th hour. As a matter of fact, even in audience preview screenings, it was a little cardboard cutout of Donald Glover."
Jumping in, Dos Santos added that the expectation of the scene happening made them believe it was always going to work. He said:
"We knew it was still going to land, though, because the idea of it still got people geeked. That's when you know you have something."
One thing that is undeniable is that Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse has something, and many people have already discovered that on its opening weekend, which proved to be a record-breaker for Sony Animation.
How Does Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Make Its Live-Action Moments Work?
Although Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is an animated movie, the utilization of some live-action moments just adds that little be more to an already packed film. Alongside Glover’s appearance, there is also archival footage of some other familiar faces in Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. However, there were originally a lot more live action crossovers planned for the story, but as Powers explained, sometimes less is definitely more.
"There were times when we had huge live-action sequences in the film, and it just turned into a bad joke. 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."
Even though 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a hit, it was hard to predict just how universally praised the sequel would be. Having scored near-perfect reviews, a soaring box office and earning itself a place among this year’s blockbuster releases, all of this bodes well for the third movie, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, which is still expected to arrive in 2024.
Can the third movie deliver an unprecedented almost perfect trilogy ender? That is something that we will just have to wait and see, but it is hard to imagine anything other than another massive success for Sony. Let’s face it, after their recent live-action Spider-Man related movies, it is something they have been desperately in need of.