Donald Glover will be appearing in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming, Deadline reported Tuesday. Glover’s role hasn’t been announced yet, but unfortunately it won’t be Spider-Man: Tom Holland will be doing the web-slinging, just as he did in Captain America: Civil War.
Glover appearing in a Spider-Man movie is big news, because he was the subject of an internet campaign to be cast as the web-head back in 2010. Like most great ideas, it started in the comments below an article. Marc Bernadin’s editorial for i09 about the lily-white casting process that eventually gave the role to Andrew Garfield attracted the usual garbage fire, but a commenter by the name of “Rootadoo” suggested Donald Glover play Spider-Man. Then someone else brought the suggestion to Glover on Twitter, and the internet did what the internet does. As Yohana Desta noted over at Mashable, Glover discussed the ensuing chaos on his stand-up special Weirdo back in 2012:
The #donald4spiderman campaign was as effective as most hashtag activism: It didn’t get Glover the role in 2010, nor did its brief revival after Garfield retired. But at long last, Glover will at least be in a Spider-Man movie, even if he won’t be playing anyone’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. At 32, Glover is probably too old to be one of Peter Parker’s friends, Michael Keaton is playing the main villain, and he’d make a terrible Aunt May even if Marisa Tomei didn’t already have the role. So he’ll probably be a secondary villain, the kind that gets killed in the first hour. We’re holding out for Jackson “Axel” Weele, aka “Big Wheel,” aka the “Dynamic Donut of Destruction,” an embezzler-turned-supervillain who terrorized New York in a gigantic rolling metal wheel. The Marvel Cinematic Universe needs the kind of gravitas only Big Wheel can bring if it’s going to compete with DC. Spider-Man: Homecoming will roll into theaters on July 7, 2017.
