
In that interview, the comic book writer addressed Glover’s Community Easter egg and said, “He looked fantastic! I saw him in the costume and thought, ‘I would like to read that book.’ So I was glad I was writing that book.'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' Star Daniel Kaluuya on Creating Spider-Punk and Catching That Surprise Character

However, Bendis confirmed in a 2011 interview with USA Today that Glover nonetheless did get to make an impact on the overall history of the Spider-Man mythos. Glover didn’t, of course, end up getting a chance to play the role in that film, which ultimately went to Andrew Garfield. Glover’s Spider-Man pajamas in that episode were famously a reference to the failed online campaign that was run in the hopes that the actor would get an audition for the lead role in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. That same year, Brian Michael Bendis, who co-created the character with artist Sara Pichelli, revealed that Miles was partly inspired by Glover and, in specific, his brief appearance in Spider-Man pajamas in the season 2 premiere of the NBC sitcom, Community. As Marvel fans will likely remember, Miles Morales made his comic book debut in 2011. Of course, the scene’s importance goes far beyond its connections to Glover’s small role in Homecoming. The scene, in other words, finally lets Glover’s Aaron Davis share a moment with, at the very least, a version of his nephew that he referenced six years ago in Spider-Man: Homecoming. It also lets him interact on-screen with Shameik Moore’s animated iteration of Miles Morales. The cameo lets Glover do what Spider-Man: Homecoming didn’t and wear a live-action version of The Prowler’s armor. With all that in mind, Glover appears very briefly in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as an anomalous version of The Prowler who was captured by Miguel O’Hara and his Spider Society friends.


He was, notably, never given the chance to don his character’s iconic Prowler suit in the film, but a largely comedic scene he shared with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker did open the door for him to reference his “nephew,” which well-versed comic book fans immediately knew at the time was a nod to Miles Morales. The Prowler in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. The actor famously played the role of Aaron Davis a.k.a. Outside of his cameo in Across the Spider-Verse, Donald Glover has only ever appeared in one other Spider-Man movie. It also gives Across the Spider-Verse the opportunity to feature a live-action cameo from none other than Donald Glover, an actor whose on-screen Spider-Man history may be a bit limited, but whose offscreen impact on the Spider-Verse franchise cannot be overstated.
