Daniel Kaluuya, who plays Hobby Brown/Spiderpunk in Spider-Man : Through the Spider-Verse, reflects on what it was like to be a part of the production and his character’s relationship with the film’s protagonist, Miles Morales.
Kaluuya talked about how much he wanted to be a part of it, and what they did to make his Spider-Man : time-traveling Spider-Man character stand out. Most importantly, he talked about Brown’s rapport with Morales as Spider-Man, who is unique in the entire Spider-Verse.
Kaluuya admitted in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he is interested in working on the Spider-Man franchise. ‘I really wanted to be a part of it. It’s just about building the character with Kemp [Powers], Chris [Miller] and Phil [Lord] and then making it work. But yeah, I really wanted to be a part of it, and the character they portrayed for me was so clear and unique,” Kaluuya said. He then elaborated on why Brown was connected to Morales. “He saw Miles Doing the right thing anyway, especially in the [Mumbattan] segment. Hobie saw it piss people off, and he kind of likes that. Miles didn’t hold back either. He didn’t apologize for what he did. He said, ‘No, I want to do this. I will continue to do so. So Hobie saw that rebellious spirit. He identifies with him, he wants to support and help him. After he’d probably heard certain things about him, he looked at him and thought, ‘This kid’s not bad’. So Hobie knows that Miles will unlock the Spider Society’s system or status quo.
Brown’s influence helped Morales escape the clutches of Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara and the rest of the Spider-Verse in two key ways. One, he let Morales know that he was on his side in this matter, even before Morales rebelled by saying that it was “good” for him not to help the situation. Second, he reminds Miles that his powers can help him escape the prison that O’Hara has put him in. On top of that, Brown is one of the Spider-Men planning to travel to Earth-42 in the film’s final scene. Help Morales. Whether this is to get him out of the wrong dimension and/or to help save his father is anyone’s guess, but Brown is definitely on Team Miles.
While Brown may have come on board to provide fan service to die-hard Spider-Man fans, his role in the film suggests that Miles might not be quite the freak he’s been told. While O’Hara said that messing with canon events would destroy the fabric of Miles’ reality, just as O’Hara did when he messed with another dimension, Brown still sided with Miles on this matter, arguing that choosing not to Going to save someone when you have the chance is not heroism.
The real question is whether they’re right in this one, and all signs point to Miles and the rest of the Spider-Man trying to save Jefferson Davis in Miles’ world before his inevitable death. Of course, they also have to rescue Miles from the alternate reality he’s in, so that might be another problem in itself. Spider-Man : Into the Spider-Verse doesn’t technically have a climax, but that’s because it’s the first half of what will soon be an epic two-part series.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is in theaters now.