Of all the new Spider people featured in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse introduced, it’s hard to argue that any are as cool as Hobie Brown. Hobie, aka Spider-Punk, became an instant favorite with fans after the movie hit theaters earlier this year, thanks to his rebellious spirit, stunning animation, and one-of-a-kind voice. Some would even argue that Hobie is as cool — or cooler — than Miles Morales, the main character of the films. Franchise writers and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller can be counted among that group.
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Speaking to EW about Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Lord and Miller opened up about the process of bringing Hobie Brown to the screen and making him an instant Spider-Icon. The filmmakers said that he was almost saved for the third film in the series, Beyond the Spider-Verse, but the moment they met with Kaluuya they decided to write the character an even bigger role.
“He was in and out of the picture for a little while because we weren’t sure which elements we were going to stick in this part and which were going to migrate to the next movie,” Lord explained. “When we met Daniel Kaluuya, we realized that he had to be Hobie Brown, no matter the cost. And Hobie had to be in the movie because that personality needed to be part of the story.”
“Some people were like, ‘Is there a way to simplify this? There’s so many characters. Do we really need Spider-Punk?’” Miller added. “But once we got to know Daniel, we rewrote the part so it became more necessary.”
The creators went on to say that part of the objective when creating the version of Spider-Punk in the movie was to try and make him even cooler than Miles Morales, which is tough to do considering Miles is already awesome. Needless to say, they succeeded.
“The challenge is that Miles is a really cool character — one of the coolest Spider-men that you can think of,” Miller continued. “Coming up with a character who is even cooler somehow is a really fun challenge.”
Daniel Kaluuya on Bringing Spider-Punk to Life
As Lord and Miller explained, Hobie couldn’t exist without Kaluuya. The actor and character are linked to their cores. Earlier this year, Kaluuya spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about getting the chance to play Spider-Punk.
“I made it into a proper studio. I was there with [co-director] Kemp [Powers], [writer-producers] Chris Miller and Phil Lord, and I really wanted that. I wanted to work with those guys,” Kauuya explained. “I’m a massive fan of them and a massive fan of their films, so we really got into the nuts and bolts. We had a big session to talk about the character and the narrative and his arc, especially because you don’t really get the script. So it was like, ‘Alright, cool. Then what story am I telling? What am I serving here? How can I best serve you guys, the narrative and also the fans of Spider-Punk and this universe?’ So we had a big chat, and it was great to build with them. And then we spent the first hour and a half just trying out the voice.”
