Spider-Verse producers say they had to fight to keep the best new character in Across the Spider-Verse

(Image credit: Sony)

There were so many versions of Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse that Spider-Punk – arguably the coolest one – almost didn't make the cut.

"Some people were like, 'Is there a way to simplify this? There's so many characters. Do we really need Spider-Punk?'" writer-producer Chris Miller told Entertainment Weekly. "But once we got to know Daniel [Kaluuya], we rewrote the part so it became more necessary."

Spider-Punk aka Hobart Brown first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #10 back in 2015 and was given his first solo comic book mini-series in 2022, written by Cody Ziglar with art by Justin Mason. In the 2014-2015 Spider-Verse storyline, Earth-138's version of Spider-Man is Spider-Punk – is Hobart homeless teenager who was bitten by an irradiated spider that was infected by President Norman Osborne's toxic waste dumping. Daniel Kaluuya voices Spider-Punk in Across the Spider-Verse, the character's first-ever film appearance.

"[Spider-Punk] 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," explained writer-producer Phil Lord. "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."

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.