While Across The Spider-Verse is still standing strong in theaters going into it’s second week of release, co-director, Kemp Powers, has begun to return to his normal life, helping his son move out of his college dorm. But despite that, he’s still commented on some of his insights working on the film, including the big cameos and ending twist.
Back in 2017, Donald Glover made an appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming, as a lowly criminal that Spidey interrogates. But eagle eyed fans would catch that his character was Aaron Davis, uncle to Miles Morales. While the cameo has yet to play out in the MCU itself, it did have a nice payoff in the new film. Donald Glover appeared in full Prowler getup in the holding cells of Spider-Man 2099’s base of operations. While the cameo has gotten people talking, it was filmed very shortly before the movie was finished; two months before, in fact. Powers added, “You have to understand that these things happen very spontaneously.”
While the cameo did get quite a reaction, it wasn’t as visceral as the reaction to the ending. Miles has to race back to his dimension to save his father, only to find that he went to the wrong universe: one where his father died but Uncle Aaron lived. Upon finding out, he gets knocked out by a masked figure, revealed to be the alternate version of Miles.
“We did some tweaks to it after screening it for audiences, but that cliffhanger was pretty much in the cards for for a long, long time.” Powers also said that while the cliffhanger was a crucial part, he also wanted to make sure that the film still felt complete. And while they worked out the cliffhanger, they were also able to have fun designing the alternate Miles, both thematically and aesthetically. “Oh, man, the design is so different, it’s such a visual departure. And to explore how Miles might have developed if he were in a different world where he didn’t have his father, he was mentored by his uncle, what kind of kid would he be?”
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is playing now in theaters, for fans everywhere to appreciate. The film stars Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, and Oscar Isaac.