Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is all about multiverse theories what ifs, which allows for alternate scenes and gags such as Peter Parker's Christmas album. But perhaps the greatest hypothetical came in a recent bombshell, which revealed that the Academy Award winning animated film almost had a cameo from all three actors in the Spider-Man Universe of Characters … thanks to Spider-Ham.
In the middle of last night’s quarantine watch party for Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, producer Chris Miller revealed on Twitter that an early pitch for a post-credits tag involved this rather ambitious scenario:
It’s kind of amazing how all Chris Miller has to do is say “Andrew, Tobey, and Tom”, and the world automatically knows what this tweet implies. With Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, and Tom Holland all in the mix for this pitched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse cameo, the action would have been uber-exciting for fans of the Spider-Man franchise to behold.
Chris Miller's comments from Comic Book's #QuarantineWatchParty also mentions the fact that John Mulaney’s beloved Spider-Ham would have been included in the gag. Known for cracking up viewers and providing a lot of NSFW ad-libs when recording Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, having this SNL writing alum teamed up with the full spectrum of live-action Peter Parkers would have been quite the sight to see.
Of course, just as “what if” is one of the most powerful phrases in history, so is “too soon”. Shut down by the folks at Sony when pitching this Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse gag, the moment would ultimately be rejected. But the post-credits gag we did end up getting, involving Oscar Isaac voicing Miguel O’Hara’s Spider-Man 2099 variant in a nod to the classic TV cartoon, was still pretty priceless.
The bright side of this whole scenario is that judging by the wording of said rejection, it doesn’t sound like the prospect is totally out of the question for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2.
Currently re-slotted for an October 7, 2022 release date, this sequel’s subjects of speculation will naturally turn to whether we’ll see Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, and Tom Holland in action for that second universe bending adventure in this series.
Then again, that’s also dependent on if it doesn’t already happen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, another Marvel Comics adaptation that’s been tipped as the perfect opportunity to unite the web crawlers. And since Sam Raimi has been roped in to direct that specific film, it could be a very distinct possibility.
While we lost out on an early gag that would have truly stacked Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse’s cast beyond amazing, or even superior, that doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen. Much like any timeline or multiverse, all it takes is some time, a bit of waiting, and a leap of faith.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 slings its way into theaters on October 7, 2022.
