Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse producer and co-writer Chris Miller has offered a behind-the-scenes look at the acclaimed animated film’s biggest live-action cameo.
On Twitter, Miller shared a pair of photos that peel back the curtain on Donald Glover‘s cameo as Aaron Davis/the Prowler. The first photo shows Glover sitting in front of a greenscreen as he actually shoots the cameo. The second, meanwhile, simply shows the actor/rapper hanging out in his Prowler costume. The costume was designed by Trayce Gigi Field, who previously worked with Miller on his Apple TV+ series The Afterparty.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s live-action cameos
In Across the Spider-Verse, Miles Morales/Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) encounters the Spider-Society, an organization of Spider-People from across the multiverse tasked with correcting temporal anomalies. One individual in the Spider-Society’s custody is a version of Miles’ uncle, Aaron Davis, played by Glover. Glover previously portrayed the character in the 2017 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Glover certainly isn’t the only actor to have a live-action cameo in the otherwise animated Across the Spider-Verse. The film also sees Peggy Lu reprise her role as Mrs. Chen from Sony’s Venom movies. That said, Glover’s Prowler is a live-action character who finds himself in an animated world. In contrast, Mrs. Chen exists in her own live-action universe, where she is paid a visit by the animated villain of the piece, The Spot (Jason Schwartzman).
Across the Spider-Verse features appearances by a number of other live-action characters, such as Andrew Garfield’s version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. However, cameos like Garfield’s were achieved by using archive footage from existing Sony films (2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man, in this case).
As for Glover, his cameo as the Prowler may not be his final foray into Sony’s Spider-Verse. The man also known as Childish Gambino is attached to star as Hypno-Hustler in a live-action film about the obscure Spider-Man villain. Myles Murphy is writing the film, which currently lacks a release date.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is in theaters now.
