How Richard Pryor Indirectly Altered The Course Of Marvel Comics

Have you ever had a conversation with a friend that ended up being mind-blowing? Well, over a Friendsgiving dinner, a buddy of mine took me on a journey through the connections between Richard Pryor and the comic book universe of Marvel. And let me tell you, it's a wild ride worth sharing.

It all starts with Richard Pryor getting an early discharge from the Army. A lot of people don't know that Richard was in the army before becoming a comedian. However, he spent a lot of his time in the military incarcerated because of an incident that happened during his time in West Germany.

After he was discharged, he decided to give stand up comedy a shot. In the beginning, his comedy wasn't edgy, but once he started getting vulgar, his fame quickly rose.

That's when movie opportunities started coming up. Richard was in an 80s film called "The Toy" where he was an old rich man's play thing. In one of the movie's scenes, Richard is seen wearing Spider-Man pajamas.

Almost 30 years later, a sitcom by the name of "Community" was on television. On the show a character named Troy Barnes (played by Donald Glover) was living with Pierce Hawthorne (played by Chevy Chase) and their whole situation was very similar to the plot of "The Toy."

To pay homage to Pryor's movie, the opening credits of one of the episodes had Troy waking up in Pierce's house, wearing Spider-Man pajamas. Which sparked the idea that Donald Glover should play the next live action Spider-Man. Hence, the hashtag #DonaldForSpiderman was born.

At the time, Sony was looking into rebooting the Spider-Man movies following Tobey Maguire's run as the super hero and fans of community flooded social media with the idea that Donald should play the next version of the character on the big screen. That role, however, was taken by Andrew Garfield.

But because of how many people wanted Donald to play Spider-Man, it caught the attention of the people at Marvel comics and an artist named Brian Bendis decided to create a new character named Miles Morales -- The first black/hispanic Spider-Man.

Miles immediately became a huge hit with fans. He took off! Everyone loved Miles, but while different versions of Peter Parker have existed in comics, Marvel had never really explored the idea of the "spider-verse" before. But because of the popularity of Miles Morales, it helped to kick off what was soon to be known as the spider-verse.

Donald eventually gets to voice Miles in a Spider-Man cartoon and he even plays Aaron Davis (who is Miles' uncle) in the MCU. He even directly references Miles in Tom Holland's "Homecoming" Spider-Man movie.

One could argue this all happened because of Richard Pryor.

So the next time you make a career change, you might just be taking the first step of a path that can change the world... and pop culture.

It has been five long years since we last saw Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Before we get into our review of the latest, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, let's recap some of what went down in Sony's 2018 animated flick.

Technically, it was first multi-verse film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (The concept first appeared on the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2019's Avengers: Endgame). Into the Spiderverse delighted fans with its pop of colors, amazing soundtrack, and stunning animation. We meet the young teen, Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He gets bit by a radioactive spider and gains super-spider abilities. While struggling to find who he is supposed to be, the brilliant Morales attends Brooklyn Visions Academy, a school for the academically gifted. Morales is passionate about his artwork and graphic design.

His parents, though so loving, are embarrassingly overbearing. His father is a police officer and his mother is a nurse. Miles' uncle Aaron (voiced by Mahershala Ali) is also the Prowler, as Miles soon learns. But Aaron takes him to a subway station to turn his sketchbook art into graffiti. That's when Miles gets bitten by the radioactive spider. Once he wakes up with spider powers, Miles returns to the subway station and finds the dead spider glitching on the ground with "Alchemax 42" written on its back. Upon doing his research, Miles discovers Alchemax is a company helping Kingpin (voiced by Liev Schreiber) build a super-collider. The Kingpin wants to use this technology to access parallel universes to bring back his dead wife and daughter.

Finding the super-collider underneath the city, Miles meets Peter Parker's Spider-Man. Spider-Man fights the Green Goblin but gets caught in the super-collider. As a result, all the Spider-Men who have been bitten by a radioactive spider from other universes are brought into Miles' universe. He meets Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), Peter Porker AKA Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), and Peni Parker.

After the super-collider explodes and the Spider-Man from Miles' universe dies, he is left with the dying wish to make sure the super-collider is destroyed. Otherwise, it can destroy Brooklyn. Once Miles discovers Peter B. Parker, he tells him he needs a mentor. Though Peter B. Parker is an empty shell of the hero -- and man -- he used to be, taking Miles under his wing reawakens the Spider-Man he once was. Miles and the rest of his Spider-Man allies successfully defeat Kingpin and destroy the super-collider. Through his experience, Miles realizes who he is and discovers what it truly means to be Spider-Man.

Keep reading below to read our spoiler-free review of the second installment, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse:

As we are reunited with "Brooklyn's one and only Spider-Man," we see that Miles' relationship with his parents is even more strained. After Miles abruptly leaves the meeting with parents and his guidance counselor to continue battling The Spot (voiced by Jason Schwartzman), his guidance counselor tells them, "He's lying to you. And I think you know it." Not long after, Gwen Stacy appears above Miles' bed to ask if he wants to get out of there. Behind her, a portal to the multi-verse. Following his crush, he goes to the Spider-Man HQ, where he meets a pregnant, motorcycle-riding Spider-Woman AKA Jessica Drew (Issa Rae), Spider-Punk (voiced by Daniel Kaluuya), and Spider-Man India AKA Pavitr Prabhakar.

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures.

We are introduced to The Spot in the trailer, in a scene where Miles tries to apprehend him in a bodega. The Spot can seemingly transport things through the spots within the black-hole ink blots on his body, making him a slippery foe for Miles. We also meet Spider-Man 2099 AKA Miguel O'Hara, who we aren't sure is an ally or a villain. At the end of Into the Spiderverse, we saw Miguel monitoring the multi-verse and using a Dimensional Travel Watch that allows for travel through various dimensions. As the leader of the immense spider team, Miguel blatantly rejects Miles' offer to join. Miguel tells Miles, "Being Spider-Man is a sacrifice. You have a choice between saving one person and saving every world." Sounds very much like Kang the Conqueror's philosophy of sacrificing people for the greater good of the universe. Responding in Spider-Man fashion, 15-year-old Miles says, "I can do both!"

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures.

In Across The Spider-Verse, Miles propels forward with his sense of self and his powers. As he says to Miguel in the trailer, "Everyone keeps telling me how my story is supposed to go! Nah, I'mma do my own thing." Miguel isn't the only one whose story we see develop, as Gwen Stacy's return shows us more of her life in her universe. As with the return of Peter B. Parker, who now has an adorable infant daughter named Mayday.

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures.

In the sequel, the animation is taken to the next level, with trippy watercolors and neon colors that change with the mood. From the striking comic book aesthetics of having the characters' skin flecked with comic book dots, to the psychadelic fusion of animation techniques, the film’s distinct art styles are made even more compelling watching it in Dolby Vision. It was easy to be immersed in these jaw-dropping visuals that amplified the action scenes that much more.

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures.