Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse successfully managed to keep many of its biggest surprises under wraps, including the fact Jharrel Jerome (Moonlight) had been cast as a villainous Miles Morales Variant.
In the sequel's closing moments, Miles comes face-to-face with his Earth-42 doppelganger, a character we quickly learn is his world's Prowler. That's where we leave things, of course, and co-director Kemp Powers recently shed some light on the unexpected twist during a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter (via Toonado.com).
"We did some tweaks to it after screening it for audiences, but that cliffhanger was pretty much in the cards for a long, long time," the filmmaker confirms. "It was about making sure that while we did end on a cliffhanger, we had complete emotional arcs for the main characters for miles and for Gwen."
"We see them evolve from one place in the beginning of the film to another place at the end of the film, and that they have complete emotional arcs."
Powers would go on to say that this Prowler is actually called Miles G. Morales and hinted at a much larger role for the apparent villain when Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse rolls around next March.
"It was such an exciting character, it was actually hard for us to keep it a secret," he says. "Oh, man, the design is so different, it’s such a visual departure. And to explore how Miles might have developed if he were in a different world where he didn’t have his father, he was mentored by his uncle, what kind of kid would he be?"
"For people who see Miles G. Morales at the end, don’t judge a book by it’s cover. There’s a lot to learn about that character. It’s a very, very interesting character."
There's clearly more to him than meets the eye then, but Powers declined to reveal any new details about Beyond the Spider-Verse or whether it's been affected by the WGA strike.
Hopefully, we'll have more news to share with you soon.