Saturday Night Live Appears To Destroy Valuable Spider-Man Comic During Sketch
Saturday Night Live had a surprisingly Marvel-heavy episode last night. The episode included an appearance by Marvel Studios' Ant-Man star Paul Rudd and a cameo by the Infinity Gauntlet. However, one moment likely made Marvel Comics collectors cringe. In a sketch about the origins of the slime that appeared on Nickelodeon in the 1980s, John Mulaney's character seems to be holding a Spider-Man comic book when he's bathed in the green goo. The comic's cover is that of The Amazing Spider-Man #194, featuring the first appearance of Black Cat. As the first appearance of a significant Spider-Man character, the issue can fetch around $2000 on the collector's market.
The good news is that it appears that this wasn't a copy of The Amazing Spider-Man #194 after all. On its face, It'd be odd for the SNL prop department to have a $2000 comic on hand or for the show to purchase such a high dollar item as a prop. By looking closely at freeze frames of the sketch, viewers can see that Mulaney is holding another comic wrapped in a high-quality printout of Amazing Spider-Man #194's cover to fit the 1980s setting of the sketch (though Marvel published the issue in 1979). Looking through Amazing Spider-Man #194 on Marvel Unlimited, its interior art doesn't come close to matching the inside pages glimpsed in the sketch. Take a look below.
Mulaney opened Saturday Night Live with a standup routine as his monologue. He wasn't afraid to get personal, including talking about the birth of his son with girlfriend Olivia Munn.
"We were in the delivery room, my girlfriend had just given birth. They put him on this warmer under this really bright light and he just looks up at the light," Mulaney said. "He was annoyed but he didn't say anything. That's my son. A polite man in an uncomfortable situation that's not going to make a fuss. He's a very good boy."
Next week's episode of Saturday Night Live will have Oscar Isaac hosting ahead of his debut as Marvel's newest hero in Moon Knight on Disney+ in March. The episode's musical guest is Charli XCX. Following that, DC gets a turn. Zoë Kravitz will host on the heels of her role as Catwoman in The Batman. Rosalía is the episode's musical guest.