Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse did include a Lego version of the titular hero, but the Spider-Verse sequel nearly had an additional toy cameo.
What was the other toy cameo in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse?
One of the Sony Pictures Animation movie’s three directors, Joaquim Dos Santos, told Empire that a Toy Biz figure of Spider-Man was originally going to show up in the movie. It would be held by a “giant kid’s hand,” rather than moving by itself through stop-motion like Lego Spider-Man.
“One of the Toy Biz Spider-Man toys was going to show up and he was going to have a giant kid’s hand that would go off-screen and hold him,” Dos Santos stated. “We wanted to make sure Spider Society could have jokes and things like Bag-Man, but when Miles showed up you wanted to be in awe of this place. It had to feel cool, emotionally. With Spider-Punk in the mix, how could it not be?”
Toy Biz was a toy company that created Marvel figures from 1993 to 2006. It was responsible for the creation of the popular Marvel Legends line of 6″ action figures, which began in 2002 and is still made today, though by Hasbro from 2006 onwards.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson. It features the voices of Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy, Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker, Issa Rae as Spider-Woman, Daniel Kaluuya as Spider-Punk, Karan Soni as Spider-Man India, Oscar Isaac as Spider-Man 2099, Jason Schwartzman as The Spot, Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis, Luna Lauren Velez as Rio Morales, Greta Lee as Lyla, Andy Samberg as Scarlet Spider, and more.
“Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Spider-Verse saga, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” reads the Marvel movie’s synopsis. “After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most.”
