'Challengers' director explains 'Spider-Verse' reference's link to Zendaya

Challengers director Luca Guadagnino cleared up the misconception surrounding Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in the film.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Guadagnino revealed that despite Zendaya's connection to Spider-Man universe the inclusion of Spider-Verse film in Challengers was coincidental and not at all intentional nod to her previous work.

Guadagnino said, "When you get rights for something to be used in a movie, it's very complicated, Amy Pascal, our amazing producer, was of help there. I said, 'Amy, can we use one of your catalog titles so it's going to be easier to clear them?'"

He added, "[Lily]'s a girl; she's not going to choose to watch The Social Network or The Post, but maybe she's going to watch a Spider-Man cartoon, so I said, 'Why not Spider-Verse?'"

It was only later that Guadagnino recognized how the reference might be perceived as an inside joke given Zendaya's association with the Spider-Man franchise.

The director admitted, "Now I realize that it sounded like an in-joke, which, you know, the unconscious guides us all the time."