Article Lead Image

Donald Glover is finally getting a crack at playing Spider-Man

Better late than never. 

 

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Internet Culture

Posted on Aug 26, 2014   Updated on May 30, 2021, 5:11 pm CDT

Donald Glover is finally getting to play Spider-Man—in an animated TV series, at least.

When Sony was auditioning actors to play Peter Parker in the Amazing Spider-Man franchise, Glover inspired a fan campaign demanding that he be allowed to audition for the role. This campaign obviously wasn’t very successful, but the idea of Glover as Spider-Man lived on.

Once the comics introduced African American/Hispanic teenager Miles Morales as Peter Parker’s replacement, some people even began hoping that a Morales-centric movie might happen one day, with Glover in the lead role. Even years after the #Donald4Spiderman campaign was at its peak, fans were excited to find out that Glover is voicing Miles Morales in the cartoon Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors on Disney XD.

Great news about Donald Glover. I bloody love Miles Morales, he’s an awesome character & a great Spider-Man. Looking forward to seeing that!

— Andy W. Clift (@andyWclift) August 26, 2014

we (the Internet) should make a collective agreement to boycott Sony Spider-man films that way we might get a @donaldglover @Marvel movie

— Ian Pugsley (@IPugsley) August 26, 2014

DONALD GLOVER IS SPIDERMAN?? WHAT??/ I ACTUALYL LIKE SPIDERMAN NOW THAT’S ALL IT TAKES INSTANTLY WOW

— Robin|롭인 @ mcn (@Robi_nn) August 26, 2014

Lol might only watch the Spider-Man animated series for Donald Glover as Miles.

— Jideobi.0 (@NewGenXMan) August 26, 2014

It’s official #Donald4SpiderMan

— JG_DIEHARD (@JosephGordonDie) August 26, 2014

In the new cartoon, Peter Parker visits an alternate universe where Miles Morales is Spider-Man, and at first, Peter assumes Miles is just another version of himself. 

“That’s the great part about the Spider-Man costume: He can be anybody,” Glover told USA Today. “Spider-Man could be a girl. Spider-Man could be an old man. You don’t know. So I just tried to be as me as possible, because you’re always just going to bring it back to yourself when you watch the show.”

At 30, Glover is sadly too old to play to play a teen Miles Morales onscreen, but as a voice actor he was clearly the ideal choice for the role. 

Photo via USAToday/Disney

Share this article
*First Published: Aug 26, 2014, 2:23 pm CDT