G’day, Spidey! Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse originally planned to introduce Australian Spider-Man (and instantly kill him)

Peter B. Parker and Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is an amazing movie that manages to pack in as many Spideys as possible, classic or otherwise. Even so, a lot of the webheads were inevitably left on the cutting room floor. Producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller have revealed which of their favourites didn’t make it into the final version and, yes, this is (somehow) a whole lot weirder than Spider-Ham.

Speaking to Slash Film, Lord opens up about one such Spider-Verse absentee: “You know who didn’t make the cut who’s a pretty big regret of mine?” Lord ponders, “Australian Spider-Man.”

I didgeridon’t believe that. Out of all of the webslingers that didn’t show up – including the one that eventually did make it into the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse post-credits scene – Australian Spider-Man counts as one of the biggest misses? Well, there’s actually a pretty good reason for that.

The (single) scene in which Australian Spider-Man shows up probably would have ranked among one of the funniest in the entire Spider-Canon. But you can see why it was cut, as Lord reveals: “There was a point in the draft where Spider-People kept showing up and just being there. ‘Sorry guys, I’m late.’ And then Australian Spider-Man showed up at one point and was immediately killed.”

Yeah… It’s probably a bit too mean-spirited to our Aussie cousins and shows off too many potential Spider-Men, Women, and who-knows-what-else that could feasibly be explored in a sequel. Still, I’m half hoping there’s an animated draft floating around in the special features when Spider-Verse eventually gets a home release, even if Chris Miller jokes that it’s “lost to time.”

Bummer. Maybe we’ll never get the chance to see Spidey do a shoey.

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.