The doubters keep saying that Tobey and Andrew aren’t in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” To them I say, what the hell was punching Lizard in the trailer? The most likely answer being one of our old spider-boys has been CGI’ed out. I know, bringing back old actors to roles they’ve since long left behind is not very common, but have you seen the cast of villains for the film? It seems almost foolish to doubt that the other Spider-men won’t show up if they brought back Jamie Fox’s Electro for crying out loud.
If that still ain’t enough to convince the skeptics, then let me show you five just as unlikely crossovers that actually happened. I’m sure it’ll make a believer out of you.
5. Abbot and Costello + Universal Monsters
Abbot and Costello were an immensely famous and successful comedy duo in the 1940s. It cannot be overstated how influential and funny these guys were. The world famous, “Who’s on first?” is a classic that is still quoted to this day. So, when Universal was smashing their monster movies together who else could they add in? Oh, I know, two of the biggest comedians at the time. I guess those movies were a bit too scary for some and so the studio thought these fellas would lighten the mood. I’d say they were more than successful.
4. Ralph Breaks The Internet
“Wreck-It Ralph” could have been on here, but in comparison to its sequel, the amount of Disney self-promotion is truly something to behold. We got Marvel, Star Wars, and every single Disney princess all in one place. It’s something that could only happen because Disney is a cultural force that will consume us all one day.
3. Space Jam
Wait, we aren’t done with corporate self-promotional films. We got Warner Bros’ answer with “Space Jam.” The film was literally based on a Nike commercial. The sequel is even more packed to the brim with odd and out of place crossovers. The guys from “A Clockwork Orange” were in that one. Has anyone who made “Space Jam: A New Legacy” seen “A Clockwork Orange?” Corporate self-promotion can quite literally lead to anything crossing over it seems.
2. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Speaking of which, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is the perfect version of this type of film. It has all your favorite classic cartoon characters together and yet still is an original film that doesn’t rely on the novelty of seeing Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny together. Even though, that scene is iconic.
1. Glass
Last and certainly least likely or expected was “Glass.” M Night. Shyamalan sure loves his twists. So, when it turned out “Split” and “Unbreakable” were set in the same universe, everyone was like, “Wait, what?” “Unbreakable” at that point was released well over ten years ago and despite being one of M Night Shyamalan’s better films, it never really had the impact to warrant a sequel or follow up. My point is, no one asked for this, but we still got it anyways.
In conclusion, we’re likely to see a lot of old faces return as Marvel dives deeper into the multiverse. If any of these films can’t convince you that movie studios will throw boatloads of money at projects like these, then you just have trust issues from being wrong about Quicksilver in “Wandavision.” The multiverse and the multitude of crossovers are coming and Marvel is certainly not alone in this as you can see.
