As Avatar: The Way of Water makes its international debut, fans have become familiar with a rising star who was featured in an often-overlooked cameo from Avengers: Endgame in the MCU.
Avatar 2 brought fans back to James Cameron's wide world of Pandora for the first time in 13 years, jumping into a new adventure behind Sam Worthington's Jake Sully and Zoe Saldaña's Neytiri. And on top of the new Na'vi heroes and villains that took center stage was a new human protagonist in Jack Champion, who goes by the nickname "Spider."
Spider is seen for a couple of quick moments in the trailers for Avatar 2, sporting a long pair of dreadlocks and shooting a bow and arrow as he goes into battle alongside the movie's alien protagonists. This isn't the first time that Champion has appeared in a mega-blockbuster, however, as he's also had a very brief role in Marvel's crown jewel...
Avatar 2 Star's Forgotten Role in Avengers: Endgame
Avatar: The Way of Water featured up-and-coming star Jack Champion as part of the cast, playing the role of Spider alongside Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, and Kate Winslet.
While this movie is helping Champion have a breakout moment in Hollywood, he was also seen for a quick moment in the second-highest-grossing movie of all-time, Marvel Studios' Avengers: Endgame.
Champion played the young boy who rode his bike past Paul Rudd's Scott Lang right after Ant-Man escaped from the Quantum Realm, going down the street and sending a chilling look in Rudd's direction. Champion is simply credited as "Kid on Bike" in the official cast listing.
Champion also spoke about his work on Avatar 2 in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter (THR).
He spent most of his teenage years working on this movie, explaining how he "literally grew up on set" playing the role of Spider and calling it a "wonderful experience" as a whole:
THR: "In the film, you look very young, but now you’ve grown up, because you’ve spent so much time working on this."
Champion: "Well, now I’m a man, I’m 18. I was 14 when I started live-action, 16 when I wrapped, and 12 when I started performance capture, so I literally grew up on set. And it’s just, I don’t know, it’s just a wonderful experience unlike anyone else I know, because I dropped out of public school just to film this and it’s just, I don’t know, life-changing."
Champion Ready for Avatar 2 Breakout
Being a part of Avengers: Endgame in any form was a life-changing experience for everybody involved as it became the culmination event of the Infinity Saga and, for a time, the highest-grossing movie ever made. And for Champion himself, being a part of that movie helped set him on an exciting path toward a long career as an actor, especially as he moved into a role in Avatar 2.
Considering that Avatar 2 took such a long time to make, Champion's experience in the business was different than most, going through puberty and some of his key developmental years while making an A-list blockbuster. Thankfully, his time on the Endgame set likely gave him a small taste of what it would be like when he took on bigger roles, and he's now set to embrace even bigger challenges as the years go by.
Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theaters worldwide, while Avengers: Endgame is streaming on Disney+.
