Deadpool Star Joins Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse As Fan-Favorite Hero
Karan Soni, who is known for playing the taxi driver in Deadpool and Deadpool 2, has been cast as Spider-Man India in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
At this point, we are mere months away from the premiere of the highly anticipated sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The 2018 Oscar-winning animated feature created new standards for comic book-based movies and animated films, and fans can’t wait to see what is coming next. As we get closer to the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Sony Pictures and Marvel Entertainment are broadcasting more information about the movie, including announcing that Deadpool actor Karan Soni is voicing the part of Spider-Man India.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Indian actor Karan Soni, who is best known for his part as the sweet but murderous taxi driver Dopinder in Deadpool and Deadpool 2, will voice Spider-Man India, aka Pavitr Prabhakar, in the upcoming Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Soni will join a cast that includes Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy, Oscar Isaac as Miguel O’Hara, and Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker. It has also been rumored that Tom Holland will appear as a live-action Peter Parker interacting with the animated characters in a possible cross-over between the two Marvel universes.
It’s not yet known how big of a role Soni’s Spider-Man India will play in Across the Spider-Verse, but we do know that he will be only one of many Spider-People that Miles Morales will meet in the upcoming feature. Across the Spider-Verse was penned by Phil Lord, who also wrote Into the Spider-Verse. Christopher Miller and Dava Calaham partnered with Lord to write the script for the sequel.
Into the Spider-Verse, was praised for its original art design and unique storytelling. The movie dove into the Multiverse years before the MCU or the DCU did, and it won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Across the Spider-Verse is expected to dive much further into the Multiverse as Miles meets the superheroes in charge of protecting the Multiverse’s existence and he explores more of what it means to be a hero.
While the first Spider-Verse film was cherished among adults and children, Across the Spider-Verse senior animator Ere Santos warns that the sequel will take a darker tone that may not be as appropriate for kids. The character of Miles Morales has grown up since he learned to control his new Spidey-Powers. He’s facing bigger challenges in the sequel than he did in the first movie, so it would make sense that the content of the film might be a little more mature than the first feature.
Across the Spider-Verse is based on the 2014-2015 Marvel Comics series Spider-Verse, which contains brutal events. So it makes sense that the second film will also take on a slightly darker tone. In fact, the second and third films in the Spider-Verse franchise were originally going to be combined into one movie that was as ambitious as Avengers: Endgame.
Santos described how Sony was going to try and squeeze the entire world-building of the Spider-Verse into under three hours, but eventually, the production company decided it would be better to split the movie into Across the Spider-Verse and the third film, Beyond the Spider-Verse, to give more time for character development. Overall, it was probably a good call.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will release in theaters on June 2, 2023.
