There was nearly ANOTHER version of Spider-Man in Into the Spider-Verse
A very different interpretation of the wallcrawler could have joined the action of the new animated movie
It’s fair to say that new animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has a whole lotta Spider-Men in it, with multiple versions of the iconic webbed hero joining forces after their parallel universes are smashed together in a villainous plot.
Aside from lead characters Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) there’s also Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) and Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), not to mention a couple of other alternate Spideys that pop up at the beginning and end of the movie (which we won’t spoil here).
So yep, that’s quite a lot – but now the team behind the movie have revealed that at one stage, there was another Spider-Man included in the movie, only to be swiftly cut just a few days after he was introduced into the script.
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“The line-up basically stayed the same from the beginning,” producer and co-writer Phil Lord told RadioTimes.com.
“For about one week we added Australian Spider-Man for one scene. And then he got the hook unfortunately; not canon.”
Yes, Aussie Spider-Man was very nearly a part of the Spider-Verse family, and we can’t stop thinking what he might have been like. Would he just be an entirely normal Spidey apart from his accent? Would he be wearing a cork hat, ready to wrestle alligators, cook up a barbecue and generally adhere to insulting stereotypes?
Sadly, we’ll never know – though Lord and his fellow producer Chris Miller did have their reasons for focusing on the particular Spider-people that DID make it into the movie.
“When we started the movie we were really excited to tell Miles Morales' story,” Miller told RadioTimes.com.
“That was sort of what got us interested in doing an animated Spider-Man in the first place, the chance to tell Miles Morales' story. And then the idea of partnering him up with an older, washed-up Peter Parker as a mentor who doesn't know how to be a mentor felt like a great way to have a multi-generational type of story.
“Then once the door to the multiverse was opened, we obviously got a little bit carried away...”
Enter Spider-Ham, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Gwen, Peni Parker and more.
“A lot of the other characters were based on trying to find these characters who were coming from as different worlds as possible both visually, aesthetically and in their animation style,” Miller explained. “And also in their personal experience.
“They could all hit on this theme of, it doesn't matter what walk of life you came from, how old or young you are, if you're a boy or a girl. We all have something in common, we all can be a hero. And you're not alone.
“And that felt like something that was really powerful to us, and really resonated to what was true about what [Spider-Man creators] Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created back in the 60s.”
Sadly, Aussie Spider-Man didn’t quite make the same criteria. Oh well – there’s always the sequel.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is in UK cinemas now
