Spider-Man is deeply associated with New York. In fact, the city is basically a character in its own right, often shaping the mood of the web-slingers storylines. However, in the MCU, Peter Parker hasn’t been afraid to go past the Hudson River as he’s been jetting all over the world to fight evil. However, like his namesake animal, you won’t be finding Spider-Man on the water, as a Disney Imagineer has explained just why Spider-Man was dropped from their newest cruise ship show.
The Disney Wish has been generating loads of headlines in recent days. The new gigantic cruise ship features areas themed to the most popular Disney-owned IPs, including Star Wars, Disney Princesses, and Marvel. The core of the Marvel-themed section of the boat, called Worlds of Marvel, is the Dinner show Avengers: Quantum Encounter. This show is described by Disney as:
“Avengers: Quantum Encounter will follow Ant-Man and The Wasp as they embark on their first public speaking engagement on behalf of the Avengers. They are hosting a special presentation of the most powerful Super Hero technologies — such as Captain America’s shield, Iron Man’s arc reactor and Ant-Man’s Pym Particles — giving the audience an up-close look at holographic models, field reports and iconic scenes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe displayed on the screens surrounding the room.”
The experience has also made headlines due to Ant-Man referencing a popular and memetic fan theory as part of the experience. But, according to the Creative Director for Worlds of Marvel, Danny Handke, the experience nearly featured Spider-Man among the associated heroes. In an interview with The Direct, Handke explained that:
“We had a bunch of different characters picked that just changed over time. I saw early on a version of Sam Wilson as Captain America in his suit and it just looked amazing. And, I thought he has a connection to Ant-Man with Tic-Tac in the film, and you get Captain America the new leader, right? So that would just be amazing, so we brought Sam Wilson in. Ms. Marvel was a very late add. There was one version where it was Spider-Man for the longest time as the young character who’s super excited to be here and has never been on a cruise ship before.”
However, those who go to the dinner show will find that Spider-Man isn’t the excitable young hero. This role has been given to Marvel’s newest heroine, Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel. Handke says that:
“And when I saw the first footage of Ms. Marvel and Iman, and she’s a huge Avengers fan and Captain Marvel fan, it made perfect sense and to have her kind of tag along with Captain America and see that dynamic of him being serious and being a leader and her having fun just to be there. So it just kind of worked itself out having that casting.”
Avengers: Quantum Encounter is only available on the Disney Wish cruise ship. However, it shows that the MCU is packed full of unique and amazing heroes and that long-time fans are likely in for some unexpected crossovers in the coming years.