Today in Random: Miles Morales Only Exists ‘Cause Donald Glover Wore This Shirt on Community

(SPOT.ph) Given the popularity of comic book movies these days, it’s charmingly amusing how relatively little the general public knows about the actual origin stories of these popular comic superheroes. 

The average moviegoer probably wouldn’t know that Thor started off as an amnesiac human doctor who would tap his walking stick on the ground to become the mighty god, or that the Incredible Hulk was originally gray and only later changed to green due the printer’s inability to consistently produce the color, or that the character of Wonder Woman was inspired by a bondage fetish the creator of the lie detector had in his literal “throuple” relationship (Editor’s Note: this is a story for a later date.). 

However, even with all these strange tales both on the page and behind the pen, we’ve somehow made “getting bit by a radioactive spider” a totally normal thing to take seriously—judging by the 10 Spider-Man movies that have dropped in just the past two decades. And with the release of the latest Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse taking over the social media-verse, it’s best to remember Spider-Man Miles Morales has a wacky origin himself involving a three-second scene of Donald Glover on Community.

Also read: Wait, Why Are There So Many Spider-Man Universes Again?

Here’s the strange story behind Miles Morales Spider-Man character origins:

Winding the clock back to the 2000s, Marvel Comics launched their “Ultimates” line of comics, which centered on the “Ultimates” universe. Basically, this was a sandbox, taking place outside the main Marvel continuity, where creators were free to relaunch and recreate popular heroes like the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man, without having to worry about the 40 years of backstory there was at that point. 

It was a successful endeavor, with the Ultimates line running alongside the main Marvel universe for the next decade.

By the year 2010, a relaunch was also brewing on the movies’ side of things. After three successful films, Sony Pictures decided to discontinue the Spider-Man series of Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi and opted to pursue a reboot starring a new actor in the role instead. A popular online petition then arose from fans online wanting comedian, artist, and actor Donald Glover to take on the role for The Amazing Spider-Man. Although Glover never reportedly auditioned—and of course the role ultimately went to Andrew Garfield—at least Stan Lee himself gave his support. (io9)

In the wake of the fan casting, the creatives behind the show Community, which Glover was starring on at the time, included a cheeky reference to the online petition by showing Glover in Spider-Man pajamas for a quick shot during a sequence that depicted all the main characters getting out of bed, as part of the second season premiere, “Anthropology 101.” Funnily, the episode was directed by Joe Russo, who went on to co-direct Captain America: Civil War—where Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe—and a few other minor Avengers movies called Infinity War and Endgame, you might’ve heard of ‘em.

The episode airing was the crucial turning point in our timeline—as momentous as Uncle Ben dying in all of Peter Parker’s timelines (oops, sorry). Marvel Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, who at the time was working on creating a new character to take over the role of Spider-Man in the Ultimates universe, saw Glover’s depiction in the episode and said, “I would like to see that book.” And, well, he was writing that very book. (USA Today)

Almost a year after the airing of the Community episode in 2010, Miles Morales was born onto the comics, created by Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli. He was an entirely new creation, a 13-year-old kid of African-American and Puerto Rican descent, who would assume the mantle of Spider-Man after the death of the Ultimate universe’s Peter Parker.

This Ultimate universe Spider-Man quickly became a hit in the mainstream, possibly the most popular modern Marvel character, beating out the 2008 Guardians of the Galaxy and Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel. Since Miles’ creation in 2011, the character has gotten his own four-season Disney animated series in 2012, has become the protagonist of his own video game in 2019 and the upcoming Spider-Man 2 release, and, of course, is the central character of the theatrically released Spider-Verse animated films.

As for Glover, he’s still incredibly involved in Miles Morales’ ongoing existence across all media. He voiced Miles himself in the character’s first animated series, Ultimate Spider-Man. He has appeared in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe as Miles’ uncle, Aaron Davis, which lays the groundwork for Miles to become Holland’s future apprentice. Also, of course, he was that cameo in the latest Across the Spider-Verse. Not too shabby. 

As the proverb goes, “a butterfly flaps its wings and a hurricane is created somewhere across the world,” but from a spider’s point of view, these random events are all connected in a web of life and destiny… That’s a reference to the comics, which are worth the deep dive.

Also read: Comics 101: Who Are the New Guardians of the Galaxy?

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is currently showing in cinemas.