Of all the new Spiders introduced in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verseit’s hard to argue that someone is as cool as Hobie Brown. Hobie, he spider punk, became an immediate fan favorite upon its release in theaters earlier this year thanks to its rebellious spirit, beautiful animation, and unique voice. Some might even argue that Hobie is the same or even cooler than Miles Morales, the protagonist of the films. Franchise writers and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller can be counted among them.
Speaking to EW about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Lord and Miller talked about the process that brought Hobie Brown to the screen and made him an instant icon. The directors said that in the third film of the series, the character was almost not left. Beyond Spider Versesbut once they met Kaluuya, they decided to give him an even bigger role.
“For a while, he was in and out of the picture because we weren’t sure which elements we were going to keep in this part, and which ones would carry over to the next film,” Lord explained. “When we met Daniel Kaluuya, we decided it had to be Hobie Brown, whatever the cost. And Hobie had to be in the movie because that person was supposed to be part of the story.”
“Some people have asked, ‘Is there a way to simplify this?’ There are so many characters. Do we really need Spider-Punk?” Miller added. “But once we met Daniel, we rewrote the role to make it more necessary.”
The makers went on to state that one of the goals of making the film’s version of Spider-Punk was to try and make him even cooler than Miles Morales, which is hard to do given that Miles is already awesome. Needless to say, they succeeded.

“The problem is that Miles is a really strong character, one of the most powerful Spider-Men you can imagine,” Miller continued. “Finding a character that is even cooler in some way is a really fun challenge.”
Daniel Kaluuya brings Spider-Punk to life
As Lord and Miller explained, Hobi couldn’t exist without Kalui. There is a deep connection between the actor and the character. Earlier this year, Kaluuya spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about a possible role for Spider-Punk.
“I went into a real studio. I was there with co-director Kemp Powers, writer-producers Chris Miller and Phil Lord, and I really wanted to. I wanted to work with them,” Kauya explained. “I’m a big fan of them and a big fan of their films, so we got to the point. We had a great conversation about the character, the narrative and his storyline, especially since you don’t quite understand the script. So it was like, “Okay, great. So what story am I telling? What am I serving here? How can I best serve you guys the story, as well as the fans of Spider-Punk and this universe?” So we had a good talk and it was great to line up with them. And then we spent the first hour and a half rehearsing the voice.”