There was once a lot of hype surrounding Donald Glover‘s role in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Apart from being a popular actor, Glover had long been associated with playing Miles Morales on the big screen, so fans were hoping that this was finally going to become a reality. As it turned out though, he wasn’t playing Miles – instead, he had a small role as Aaron Davis, Miles Morales’ uncle in the comics. In effect, his character was there to set up an appearance for Miles later down the road.
It’s encouraging, then, that it looks like Glover is open to returning to the MCU for further appearances. While chatting with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor remarked that he was “not ruling out a future with Spider-Man.”
THR also elaborated on how Glover’s role in the movie came about. Apparently, the character was included specifically for him. The site also theorizes that his role might be a backdoor approach to setting up a Miles Morales spinoff. However, we haven’t heard any news that there’s such a movie in the works, so that’s purely speculation.
Regardless, here’s what THR has to say:
“In fact, it was Homecoming director Jon Watts who approached Glover, no longer age-appropriate for the part of Spidey, to play a small but meaningful role, which could prove more significant if the studio decides to greenlight a rumored spinoff about Miles Morales, the nephew of Glover’s character. “If you don’t do [the part],” Watts told Glover before Homecoming, “we aren’t going to [include] it.”
Though Miles might not be making his live-action debut any time soon, he’ll be seen on cinema screens in the not too distant future. Dope‘s Shameik Moore will voice the Ultimate Spider-Man in an animated movie from Sony starring the character. Mahershala Ali and Liev Schreiber have also signed up for roles in the film and it’s expected to hit theatres on December 14th, 2018.
Donald Glover, meanwhile, will feature as Lando Calrissian in Ron Howard’s Han Solo movie next May and is also set to voice Simba in Disney’s Lion King reboot.