One of the most exciting new spider-variants making his debut in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse this summer is Hobie Brown, with Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya providing the character’s voice. As in the comics, this version of Hobie moonlights as a denim-clad take on the webslinger affectionately known as Spider-Punk. And while the plot of the upcoming sequel primarily revolves around a clash of ideals between Shameik Moore’s Miles Morales and Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099, Kaluuya says we’ll see where Hobie falls on either side of that debate.
The sequel finds Miles and Miguel coming to blows over whether to sacrifice one life to save countless others. For Miles, the answer is a resounding “no,” but Miguel strongly disagrees. Hobie’s own comic book history — which famously showed him killing the Norman Osborn of his universe to protect New York’s less fortunate — suggests that he will take Miguel’s side when Across the Spider-Verse hits theaters. But although he can’t reveal as much just yet, Kaluuya recently told IGN that all of the film’s spider-heroes will struggle with this conflict.
“I think it’s the throughline and what makes [Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and David Callaham] great writers is that everything speaks to that central theme and everyone has a version of it,” said Kaluuya. “Spider-Punk has a quite a few scenes where he interfaces with that dilemma, with Miles. I think it’s something that is not littered, but is in the majority of the film.”
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Kaluuya rarely gets to his use his native British accent onscreen. However, Across the Spider-Verse is shaking things up a bit. Hobie might be American in the comics, but the filmmakers tweaked the character’s backstory by making him a U.K. resident — which is actually fitting, given the country’s own storied punk scene that birthed influential bands like The Clash and The Sex Pistols.
“I think the fact that he’s from New London and he’s a resistor, he’s counterculture,” added Kaluuya. “He’s from the place that I grew up, Camden, which is very punk and we’ve got punk history, a massive punk beat. We had a lot of conversations about what that would sound like.”
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will hit theaters on June 2.
Are you excited to watch Kaluuya’s character interact with the film’s other variants? Let us know in the comment section below!
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