Daniel Kaluuya Is Playing a Pretty Awesome Spider-Man in ‘Across the Spider-Verse’

The cast for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse just keeps getting better and better! While we know that the original team from Into the Spider-Verse has come back together to fight a new villain (meaning that Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, and the rest of our favorites are joining a new cast of Spider-Friends)—and yes, the inclusion of Spider-Man 2099 as Oscar Isaac and bringing in Issa Rae to play Spider-Woman had me counting the days—the movie is now adding Daniel Kaluuya to its ranks and OH MY GOD WHY IS IT NOT 2023?!

Kaluuya is playing Hobart “Hobie” Brown, a.k.a. Spider-Punk—you know, the Spider-Man with the spikey mohawk and cool denim vest? For the most part, Spider-Man fans can recognize Spider-Punk on sight alone but they might not know much about Hobie outside of the iconic look for his Spidey persona.

So now that we know he’s going to be joining the ranks of some of our faves in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, let’s talk a bit about who Hobie is and what we can expect out of Kaluuya’s performance.

Who is Spider-Punk?

First of all, again, he wears a cool vest with pins on it so I instantly loved him. But Hobie is a fun addition to the Spider-Fam. Hobie’s world is…well, one ruled by President Osborn. He’s also a Spider-Man who is willing to fight for the rights of those who need his help. Protest Spidey? We all should be praising Spider-Punk daily.

Fighting with the power of the people and a punk rock edge fits in not only with our current society but also with Spider-Punk’s entire vibe and having him as part of the Spider-Verse world is fun. Making him Daniel Kaluuya? That’s perfection. Now Hobie has a lot of connections to other Marvel heroes but because this is a Spider-Verse movie, I’m assuming they’re going to focus more on just him which is exciting!

Including Spider-Punk, who was created in 2015, isn’t that rare for the franchise either because they did add Ghost-Spider to the first film (who was also created in 2015). The franchise continues to mix older Spider-Friends with new comic takes on the mantle and that’s why, I think, these movies will continue to work as the story grows.

(image: Universal Pictures)