Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has become a bonafide hit for Sony Pictures, opening up an entire new franchise set in an animated Spider-Man multiverse. As Into the Spider-Verse continues to gain momentum in theaters, and generate strong word-of-mouth, the filmmakers are revealing more and more about things like deleted scenes or ideas that were left on the cutting room floor.
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One thing Marvel fans noticed was that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘s origin story for Miles Morales largely skipped over one major character from the comics: Ganke Lee, Miles’ best friend who helps him with his Spider-Man career. It’s already been revealed that Ganke will play a larger role in the Spider-Verse sequels, but as we learned from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse -The Art of the Movie art book, Ganke originally had a bigger role in this first film:
As you can see in the storyboards by Riccardo Durante above, there was indeed a scene during Into the Spider-Verse that would’ve put Ganke in the spotlight. Following the storyboard art, it seems like Ganke was featured in the forest sequence that saw Miles and Peter B. Parker trying to escape from the Kingpin’s research station, while being pursued by Olivia Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus.
This version of the sequence is somewhat out of sync with the rest of the movie, as it seems like Peter B. Parker and Miles actually leave Ganke stranded in the forest. On the one hand, it seems like Ganke would’ve been fine, as Doc Ock was wholly focused on catching the two Spider-Men making their web-slinging escape. On the other hand, that forest was about to get swarmed by Kingpin’s forces, so it probably wouldn’t be the best place for poor Ganke to be wandering around in by himself.
In 20/20 hindsight, the change was probably for the best. The forest sequence plays as a major bonding moment between Miles and Peter B., and also serves as an epic introduction to Spider-Gwen, when she swings in to rescue the boys from that evil villainess. That’s about all that the audience could handle at that point – and Ganke would’ve just been extraneous filler. as it stands, Ganke serves as a pretty entertaining running gag throughout the film, appearing as Miles’ roommate at boarding school without ever speaking a line, and instead offering hilarious reactions to all the Spider-Man craziness going on around him. As for why Ganke was so oblivious to Miles’ perdicament, here’s what Production designer Justin K. Thompson revealed:
“He is one of the most gifted students at the Academy,” Thompson said. “We see him stay up all night working on his quantum entanglement thesis. He’s so single-mindedly focused that he seems completely oblivious to anything his roommate might be up to.”
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is now in theaters. Venom is now on home video. Spider-Man: Far From Home hits theaters on July 5, 2019.
