Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is finally out in theaters, and it presents a love letter to Spider-Man fans like no other. Following Miles Morales, who finds himself at odds with the ever-growing Spider-Society after he doesn't approve of their ways of stopping the Spot, the film sees him go on a multiverse journey like no other.
The thing about Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is that it packs in a whole lot of cameos from the wall-crawlers 60-year long history. One of those cameos includes a character that might have just confirmed that the Spider-Verse universe connects to the MCU as well.
Note: SPOILERS for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be present in this article. Proceed with caution.
Donald Glover cameos as the Prowler in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Yes! That's right, Donald Glover does indeed make a live-action cameo in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Playing the role of Prowler, aka Aaron Davis, the actor appears in one of the scenes of the film for a brief moment, but his cameo might just have confirmed something bigger.
Donald Glover was first introduced as Aaron Davis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The actor had a small cameo in Spider-Man: Homecoming, where Tom Holland's Spider-Man has a conversation with him, asking him for information about a weapon's deal. It's in that scene that Davis confirms that he has a nephew as well, confirming that Miles Morales exists in the MCU as well.
In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Glover's Prowler can be seen trapped in one of the cells of the Spider-Society. This comes as a result of the Super Collider in the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse climax sucking all the villains into different dimensions and them being rehabilated once again to their own universes.
Glover just has a quick line in the movie where he interacts with Miles Morales, but this might just confirm that the Spider-Verse universe connects to the MCU as well. While it's not confirmed where Glover's Prowler is from, it still throws a hint at us. However, this is not the only MCU connection found in the movie.
During the film's opening, Miguel O'Hara can be seen mocking the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, where he name-drops Doctor Strange and calls the MCU Earth-19999, the official designation for it before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness came out and retconned it to Earth-616.
The film also features cameos from Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, who make appearances through reused footage from The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man. With them having already appeared in Spider-Man: Now Way Home and Across the Spider-Verse having made their universes canon, it can be pretty much speculated that the MCU connects to the animated film as well.
However it may be, here's hoping that we might soon get our answer for it in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, which releases in theaters on March 29, 2024.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, is currently playing in theaters.