Sony Pays Off Major Spider

Sep 13, 2023

A six-year-old Spider-Man: Homecoming villain tease has finally been paid off by Sony, and it sets up Tom Holland's Spider-Man 4 in the MCU.

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse!Sony begins setting up Tom Holland's Spider-Man 4 by paying off a Spider-Man: Homecoming villain tease in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Marvel Studios and Sony set Peter Parker up for a new future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe during the conclusion of Spider-Man: No Way Home. The multiverse story ended with the entire world forgetting who Peter Parker is, leaving Holland's version of the character alone after the death of Aunt May, MJ and Ned not knowing him, and more. This was not meant to be the end of Spider-Man's story, as the studios began planning for an MCU Spider-Man 4 as the start of a new trilogy starring Holland.

Development has continued on the movie for the last year, with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige hyping the exciting ideas that are being worked on for Spider-Man 4's story. However, details about the story and what characters will be involved have been kept under wraps. Reports have indicated that Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Zendaya's MJ will be back, while speculation has mounted that Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio) could be the villain. It seems as though the MCU's Spider-Man 4 will not involve the multiverse as heavily as Spider-Man: No Way Home, but it could still be a factor based on Sony's Spider-Man: Homecoming villain reveal.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse delivers a big surprise by having Donald Glover cameo as a live-action Prowler. When Miles Morales finally makes it to the Spider-Society headquarters, he is given a tour of the location and an overview of their multiverse mission. This includes visiting a room that is full of multiverse anomalies, people the Spider-Society captured because they traveled to the wrong universe and risked breaking the canon. Miles sees several different villain anomalies during this sequence, such as a moose version of Mysterio to a literal rhino. The scene is ripe for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Easter eggs, including a surprise Donald Glover Prowler cameo.

Donald Glover's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse cameo is relatively brief. He is shown in live-action trapped in one of the Spider-Society's cells wearing a full purple Prowler costume. The scene allows Donald Glover's Prowler to momentarily interact with Miles Morales, who takes notice of seeing his uncle again, especially as a live-action character. It marks the second time that the Spider-Verse movies have included Glover in some fashion. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Aaron Davis' TV has an animated version of the Community scene where Donald Glover wears Spider-Man pajamas. The actor once campaigned to be Miles Morales in live-action before playing his uncle.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's Prowler appearance delivers on a tease from Spider-Man: Homecoming, as this is where Donald Glover's villain was first introduced six years ago. Glover played Aaron Davis, a low-level criminal who had interactions with Vulture and Spider-Man, in the 2017 MCU movie. Although he is a criminal, he develops a small bond with Spider-Man because he wants the city to stay safe for his nephew, Miles. The introduction of Aaron Davis not only provided a path for Miles Morales to join the MCU, but it also sent signals to comic readers that Glover could become the Prowler in the future.

Spider-Man: Homecoming set up Donald Glover to have an important MCU role, but he has not been seen in the franchise over the last six years. This is despite two sequels starring Tom Holland being made during that time. The continued absence of Donald Glover's Prowler created questions about where he has been. While Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse does not wholly explain why he has been absent from the sequels, the movie does confirm that Prowler went to another universe at some point after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse's events before the Spider-Society captured him.

Sony's decision to pay off the Spider-Man: Homecoming villain tease at this time could be a way to set up Spider-Man 4 having Prowler as the villain. The Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Donald Glover cameo brings him back into the Marvel family - and not as part of Sony's plans for a Hypno-Hustler movie starring him. The Spider-Society does not keep its captured anomalies as prisoners forever, as they instead use a machine to send them back to their correct universes. This means that Donald Glover's Prowler will return to the MCU timeline sometime after Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's ending.

Prowler's return to the MCU means that he could be Spider-Man 4's villain now. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse puts Donald Glover in a live-action Prowler costume, confirming that he has already taken a villainous turn before his capture. There is an expectation that the MCU's Spider-Man 4 will bring the scale back down to focus on Spider-Man's street-level adventures, instead of international espionage and multiverse madness. Prowler would be an excellent choice to be Peter Parker's next foe then. Aaron Davis' return through the multiverse could allow him to work with Kingpin or other New York villains to torment Spider-Man.

It is not officially confirmed that Donald Glover's The Prowler will return in Spider-Man 4. Neither Sony nor Marvel Studios have commented on the surprise return and what it means for the future. However, the decision for Sony to allow the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Prowler cameo is telling enough. It becomes a smart way to begin setting the stage for the MCU's Spider-Man 4 by bringing the live-action universes into the fold and reminding audiences that this villain is still out there. His experience with the Spider-Society might even help inform certain events in Spider-Man 4.

Another reason why it would make sense for Donald Glover's Prowler to return in Spider-Man 4 is to further the plan to bring Miles Morales to live-action. Sony has confirmed they have plans to put Miles in a live-action movie in the near future. This could be a sign that the hopes of Tom Holland's Peter Parker helping mentor Miles could finally happen in his fourth solo movie. Considering how Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse makes Aaron's death an even more important event in Miles' origin story, Donald Glover's Prowler returning in Spider-Man 4 could be his last appearance in live-action.