Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse arrived as a movie full of surprises. The long-awaited sequel to the 2018 animated film hit theaters in June and has already become one of the most successful releases of the year, proving not only to live up to the original, but for many even surpassing it and paving the way for an epic concluding chapter with Beyond the Spider-Verse.
As with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the second part includes the participation of several Spider-People, many more than its predecessor in fact. And the number of connections to Marvel Comics mythology and even references to the Marvel Cinematic Universe continue to surprise fans every time they discover a new Easter Egg.
Since the release of one of the first trailers, when Miguel O'Hara (Oscar Isaac) names the Earth-19999, Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, Sony Pictures anticipated a close tie with the MCU and the film. But it could be even deeper.
On his Twitter account, the artist Kris Anka, who worked on the characters design for Across the Spider-Verse, published some images of Donald Glover's Prowler, one of the big surprises of the film. But that's not all, the descriptions that appear in the images reads "MCU Prowler", which means that the character belongs to the Disney franchise:
“‘We have a Prowler’. One of the more fun surprising assignments was getting to lay down some first pass designs for the Donald Glover Prowler. I looked at racing suits and riot gear to try to translate the prowler design into real life.”
Who is Prowler?
Created by Stan Lee with artists John Buscema and Jim Mooney, the character made his first appearance in 1969's The Amazing Spider-Man #78. Throughout Marvel Comics history, different people have worn the Prowler mantle, sometimes being an ally and sometimes an enemy of the famous Brooklyn hero.
However, the most popular version of the character is Hobart "Hobie" Brown, a teenager who perfected his suit's own technology and began using it for criminal activities, which lead him to fight against Spider-Man. But being forgiven by the hero, Hobie reconsiders his life choices and decides to change the course of his destiny.
In Into the Spider-Verse the character is played by Mahershala Ali and is Miles Morales’ uncle, Aaron. However, in the sequel, in addition to Donald Glover's appearance as an alternate version of the character, Miles from Earth-42 also appears wearing the Prowler suit.
In Beyond the Spider-Verse, the original Miles will have to find a way to return to his reality, but he’ll have to deal with Prowler Miles and the Earth-42 version of his uncle, who have them kidnapped. Gwen and some Spider-People like Miles’ friends from the first movie and new allies like Spider-Punk and Pavitr Prabhakar, will go to Earth-42 to help him while The Spot is lose on Miles original Earth, where Miguel and the rest of the Spider-People are trying to stop the villain from wrecking the Multiverse.