Artist: Childish Gambino
Song: “Not Going Back”
Album: EP (mixtape released March 8, 2011) EP was released 8 Days before his official first studio album Camp. You can download it free here.
Lyric: “I didn’t know he had it in him/ Couldn’t see me as Spider-Man, but now I’m spittin’ Venom/ Now you payin’ attention, pick your fuckin’ face up/ When I wanna be a superhero, I just wake up.”
Character Reference/Meaning:
Who brought us the topic for today’s “Diggin’ Through the Crates?” Well It’s just your friendly neighborhood rapper, Childish Gambino a.k.a. Donald Glover. Donald Glover is everywhere; he is one of the stars of NBC’s Community, he is a rising rap star, He has done stand-up comedy on Comedy Central, and he wrote for NBC’s 30 Rock, this kid can do everything. Why couldn’t he be Spider-Man on top of that? I’m all for it! In fact, so were many other people. In news of a Spider-Man reboot back in 2010, a fan of Childish Gambino’s suggested that he would be a great candidate to play Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man.
This news hit the Twitter-verse by storm with people retweeting #donald4spiderman after encouragement from Childish himself. Even Stan Lee, the godfather of comics said he believed Glover would be a great choice to play Peter Parker and should be allowed to audition for the part. Ultimately, he did was not given the role; however, a year after the campaign the new Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man introduced Miles Morales who just happens to be African-American and Latino…and look suspiciously just like Donald Glover. Writer Brian Michael Bendis told popular media that he had developed the concept for Miles Morales before the #donald4spiderman campaign yet he did give him credit for his overall appearance. Also, just another little Easter Egg, in the first episode of Season 2 of Community, Troy (played by Donald Glover) is seen hopping out of bed sporting his Spider-Man full body pajamas and stretching very hero like, possible campaign advertising, I think so! After seeing this Community episode, Bendis said, “I saw him in the costume and thought, ‘I would like to read that book.’” So basically when you are reading the new Ultimate Spider-Man you are reading Miles Morales a.k.a. Donald Glover a.k.a. Childish Gambino. Sadly, Gambino did not get the role of Peter Parker, but based on the new Amazing Spider-Man 2 trailer, I have no doubts it’ll be a fantastic film. Who’ knows, since we couldn’t see him as Spider-Man, maybe we could see him as Venom.
Written by Evan Lowe
Hush Comics 