When Avengers: Endgame came out in 2019, we were introduced to “America’s Ass” thanks to a hilarious line first coined by Paul Rudd's Scott Lang during the titular heroes' time heist. And, in CinemaBlend’s favorite movie of 2023, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara gave Steve Rogers a run for the money, as the hero from the Sony Animation feature was a hit. Ultimately, the internet was thirsty for Spider-Man 2099. And, as the filmmaker’s recently revealed, they very much intended for O'Hara to be a "thirst trap."
When the Across The Spider-Verse team were awarded the Letterboxd trophy for the highest-rated movie of 2023, they sat down to read audience reviews from fans of the film. One of the reviews read. “Shout out to whoever made the decision to give the Oscar Isaac Spider-Man an absolutely ginormous ass.” Funny enough, Justin K. Thompson sharing some surprising sentiments on that front (or behind?):
That would be me! I was literally on butt detail the whole movie. From the beginning, [I was] self-appointed, and I said tighter, tighter, tighter… We wanted him to be a thirst trap from day one.
That’s right. One doesn’t mistakenly make a character as attractive as Miguel O’Hara is in Across The Spider-Verse. Justin K. Thompson specifically took credit for being on “butt detail” during the movie’s production due to his aim to make Spider-Man 2099 an absolute hottie from the very beginning of production. To which we say, thank you for your service, king! Co-director Kemp Powers also chimed in, saying this:
We gotta make up for a lot of years for male objectification of the other sex.
Truly, for years, so many female characters have been drawn for the male gaze, with a character like Roger Rabbit’s Jessica Rabbit being a prime example. It sounds like the filmmakers wanted to even the playing field and really focus on giving audiences some male characters to dream about. As writer/producer Phil Lord shared as well:
As a filmmaking team, we’re really devoted to male hotness. We’re representing male hotness in cinema… That’s why Hobie Brown is like, really sexy.
Honestly, they knew what they were doing with the entire Across The Spider-Verse cast! You can check out the full video of the Spider-Verse filmmakers talking about Miguel O’Hara’s “ginormous ass” below, amidst the team winning the top spot on the Letterboxd 2023 highest rated films list:
In addition to the acclaimed sequel earning the aforementioned honor, we also named it the best of all the Spider-Man movies, and it's also among the 2024 Oscar nominees that's up for Best Animated Feature. We certainly haven’t seen the last of Miguel O’Hara following the cliffhanger ending of Across The Spider-Verse. I'm curious as to how the creative team manages to maintain (or expand upon) his sexiness in the trilogy capper, Beyond The Spider-Verse, which is currently in production. While we wait, you can revisit Across or check it out for the first time using a Netflix subscription.
