True to its name,Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Versecontains a sprawling universe of Spideys.
But of all the varied web-slingers and wall-crawlers, none have made an impact among fans like Hobie Brown.
And Hobie had to be in the movie because that personality needed to be part of the story."
Hobie Brown, a.k.a. Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), in ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’.Everett Collection
“Some people were like, ‘Is there a way to simplify this?
There’s so many characters.
Do we really need Spider-Punk?'”
Spider-Punk concept art by character designer Ami Thompson.Ami Thompson, Character Designer
adds fellow writer-producerChris Miller.
“But once we got to know Daniel, we rewrote the part so it became more necessary.”
“Coming up with a character who is evencoolersomehow is a really fun challenge.”
Spider-Punk concept art by character designer Evan Monteiro.Evan Monteiro, Character Designer
Dos Santos points to one particular scene in the film, when Miles is imprisoned by the Spider Society.
He really saved the day."
He’s also one of the tallest characters on screen, a lanky presence who towers above even Miguel.
Spider-Punk in ‘Across the Spider-Verse’.Everett Collection
Powers also points out that one of Hobie’s best moments was a late addition improvised by Kaluuya himself.
“Initially, there wasn’t dialogue there,” Powers explains.
We threw that to Daniel in the recording booth and let him ad-lib a bunch of things.
He started saying lines like, ‘I was this cool the whole time.’
And that’s the one that stuck."
Imageworks had to invent several different software programs and tools to be able to do that."
As for Hobie’s future?
“Anything is possible,” Thompson says with a smile.
“But I think it’s fair to say you’ll see Hobie again for sure.”
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verseis available now on digital and on 4K UHD and Blu-Ray Sept. 5.
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