Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse features a couple of live-action cameos, though at least one of those moments was something of a disappointment.
The Spot encountering the Venom franchise's Mrs. Chen was a fun moment but one that recycled footage from Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Still, as underwhelming as it may have been, Donald Glover's surprise appearance as a live-action Prowler more than made up for it!
Talking to Variety, co-director Kemp Powers revealed how late that ended up falling into place.
"It was shot at a studio in New York," he explains. "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."
Co-director Joaquim Dos Santos adds, "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."
As exciting as that was, it sounds like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse once had even grander ambitions for an entire live-action sequence. While the filmmakers declined to reveal too many specific details about that, it sounds like it would have featured at least a few familiar faces.
"There were times when we had huge live-action sequences in the film, and it just turned into a bad joke," Powers says. "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.'"
Fans remain eager to see the live-action Spider-Men appear in 2024's Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, and it's entirely feasible this was where they once appeared. We'll just have to wait and see.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters.