Invincible creator explains ‘Spider-Man’ cameo after divisive reaction
Prime Video/Image ComicsInvincible Season 2’s finale featured a major cameo from Spider-Man star Josh Keaton — although it wasn’t quite what fans expected, and Robert Kirkman has now explained what went down.
In Episode 8, Invincible faced off against Angstrom Levy, who flung him through several bizarre, frightening alternate multiverses. In one alternate dimension, he emerged in the middle of a scrap between Agent Spider (Keaton) and Professor Ock.
Keaton famously voiced the web-slinger in The Spectacular Spider-Man TV series, and given Invincible’s brief crossover with Spidey in the original comic, his casting credit led many to believe their meeting would be recreated in the show. That wasn’t quite the case, although Agent Spider is clearly a parody of Spider-Man, and he even seems to reference the Spider-Verse.
Lots of fans were just happy to hear Keaton’s voice in a similar role again, but it left others with a sour taste, with some wishing it wasn’t included at all if they couldn’t secure the rights.
In an interview with Variety, Kirkman explained: “It was just trying to figure out a way to keep that moment somewhat intact from the comics. It seemed like something that would be a fun and surprising way to do it. Amazon legal, painstakingly, was like, ‘No, the costume can’t be that color. We gotta get away from this and that.’
“There were a lot of eyes on that scene. We wanted to find an actor who had done Spider-Man before. [Supervising director] Dan Duncan came in immediately and was like, ‘Josh Keaton needs to do it. Spectacular Spider-Man is a great series.’ He had worked on it and said Josh was great.
“He seemed like the best possible choice because it’s animation to animation. It seemed like it would be a fun thing. That said, he’s not playing Spider-Man. That’s Agent Spider. There might be some similarities, but I think Josh’s nuanced performance as Agent Spider is completely different than the way he played Spider-Man in Spectacular Spider-Man. But who knows? My opinion may be somewhat biased.”
Invincible Seasons 1-2 are streaming now. In the meantime, you can check out all of our Season 2 recaps below, and find out what other new TV shows you should be streaming in April.
Episode 1 recap | Episode 2 recap | Episode 3 recap | Episode 4 recap | Episode 5 recap | Episode 6 recap | Episode 7 recap | Episode 8 recap | Is there an Episode 9?
