Donald Glover Says He’s “Too Old” to Play a Live-Action Spider-Man

Donald Glover says that he’s too old to be Spider-Man now. Vanity Fair had the Mr. & Mrs. Smith stars take a Lie Detector Test together. Maya Erskine asked Glover if his cameo in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was a make-up for the fan-favorite actor not getting to be the costumed hero. He had to laugh at this question before pointing out it’s been a long time since #DonaldForSpiderMan was trending on social media. All those years have made it doubtful that he would get to swing from the rooftops as Miles Morales or any other Spider-Man variant. However, he did leave the door open for one interesting return to the Spider-Verse. Check out the video down below!

“No!” Glover chuckled. “I don’t think they even thought about it. There’s definitely going to be like a Miles Morales live-action eventually, and I think they’re probably more concerned with me being Prowler in that or something like that. I’m too old to be Spider-Man now.”

Donald Glover Plays The Prowler

Fans got a little bit of their wish when Glover popped up as The Prowler in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. A lot of viewers were completely caught off-guard when the Community star was sitting across from an animated Miles Morales. The crew who worked on Across the Spider-Verse hustled very hard to give all those fans a dream cameo. Costume designer Trayce Gigi Field talked about getting the suit ready for The Prowler in almost total secrecy. Actually, she also knew Glover from a previous project, so that helped make this easier.

Field began, “Building The Prowler Sueprsuit w/ the help of the amazing @lemyhime was the coolest. Thank you @chrizmillr @philordy for such a fun #project Love Being part of the #spiderverse #Family. Side note (slide 3) – I worked with @donaldglover many years ago on a film called #thetodolist – he is every bit as sweet as I remembered #custom #costumebuild #nofittingsnecessary #madetoorder #theprowler #supersuit #lovemyjob #costmes”

How Did Spider-Verse Get That Cameo Done?

With big movie cameos like this, it can be tough to keep them under wraps. Spider-Verse directors Kemp Powers, Joaquim Dos Santos and Justin Thompson walked Variety through the process last year. Glover has had a long history with these characters as fans have kept his name associated with Spider-Man at every turn. When Phil Lord and Chris Miller called in a favor, the chance was simply too good to pass up. And so, in a tiny space, they crafted one of the movie’s biggest surprises.

“It was shot at a studio in New York,” Powers revealed. “Chris Miller flew to be there in person, and Phil Lord and I were on the video feed giving direction. We got it in at the 11th hour. As a matter of fact, even in audience preview screenings, it was a little cardboard cutout of Donald Glover.”

“We knew it was still going to land, though, because the idea of it still got people geeked,” Dos Santos added. “That’s when you know you have something.”

Do you want live-action Prowler moving forward? Let us know down in the comments!