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Daniel Kaluuya and his screenwriting partner Ajon Singh don’t have much to say yet about their upcoming Spider-Punk movie. In a recent conversation with Deadline, Kaluuya, who first voiced the character in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, said only that he and Singh are in the “finishing stages” of the script and when asked about more info, he just said, “TBD.”
Truthfully, they don’t really need to say much. Unlike the majority of people who make a Spider-Man film, Kaluuya and Singh don’t have to contend with mountains of comic book backstory or even a major supporting role when fleshing out their character. Spider-Punk has been around in Marvel comics for just over a decade, and he only had a few minutes of screentime in Across the Spider-Verse.
And yet, that limited amount of attention was enough to set in stone one element of Spider-Punk, an element that’s become increasingly difficult to do in our current political climate. Spider-Punk must be absolutely anarchist, and against capitalism and the police in particular.
Although Hobie Brown has existed in the mainline Marvel Universe since 1969, when he debuted as the Prowler, the Spider-Punk version is relatively new. Created by Dan Slott and Olivier Coipel, Spider-Punk first appeared in 2014’s Amazing Spider-Man #10, part of the Spider-Verse crossover that inspired the hit movies. A back-up story by Jed MacKay and Sheldon Vella in 2015’s Spider-Verse #2 really established the character, then called the Anarchic Spider-Man.
Hobie gained his powers while squatting in a property owned by Norman Osborn, the slum-lord-turned-fascist president. Joined by Captain Anarchy (his world’s version of Captain America, represented by Karl Morgenthau a.k.a. Flagsmasher instead of Steve Rogers) and the tattooed Robbie Banner a.k.a. Hulk, the Anarchic Spider-Man resists the Kingpin’s businesses, Osborn’s police, and even the Nazi punks Kraven and the Hunters.
Surprisingly, a lot of that back story makes it into Spider-Punk’s introduction in Across the Spider-Verse. Rendered in unstable newsprint, Hobie brags about “antagonizing fascists” and staging “unpermitted political action/performance art pieces” and, um, briefly being a runway model. Amidst the collage of images accompanying his backstory, we see Hobie and his pals defacing the Kingpin’s advertisements, punching cops, and leading riots. We even notice the blue laces on his boots, indicating ACAB sentiments.
While Spider-Verse leaves space for poking fun at Hobie (“I thought you didn’t believe in labels,” quips Miles Morales after Spider-Punk calls anyone who wants to be a hero an “autocrat”), it’s also quite clear in the character’s morals. He hates the police, he mistrusts government.
Obviously, those sentiments are unpopular in popular culture. Cop shows remain mainstays on television and military action makes up a good chunk of film and video games. Moreover, studio heads seek increased profits by appeasing conservative forces in power, as demonstrated by Disney suspending Jimmy Kimmel and Paramount head David Ellison seeking President Trump’s approval. The consolidation of Warner Brothers into Netflix only makes things more difficult.
Yet, if Kaluuya and Singh are going to do anything with Spider-Punk, they must be anarchic, they must be against the police. Obviously, it isn’t up to them, and their bosses—the global megacorporation Sony—will have to approve it. But if they don’t make a Spider-Punk who hates cops and capitalism, then they aren’t making Spider-Punk at all.
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