Highlights
- Spider-Punk's role in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was expanded and rewritten after Daniel Kaluuya was cast for the character, bringing a new level of inspiration and necessary personality to the film.
- Kaluuya's portrayal of Spider-Punk added a sense of coolness and uniqueness to the character, making it hard to imagine anyone else playing the part better.
- The casting choices in the Spider-Verse franchise have consistently been excellent, with actors like Jake Johnson, Oscar Isaac, and Hailee Steinfeld bringing their own inspired performances to their respective characters.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse introduced plenty of standout characters, but according to the film's producers Chris Miller and Phil Lord, one of the film's most standout additions, Hobie Brown, aka Spider-Punk, became a more prominent character following Daniel Kaluuya's casting, which inspired a rewrite.
Lord admitted that they weren't sure if or how they were going to integrate Spider-Punk into Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse until they met with Kaluuya. Miller explained that what Kaluuya brought to the table inspired them to rewrite Spider-Punk to seamlessly fit him into the film.
Lord and Miller explained how Kaluuya's casting as Spider-Punk changed everything while making Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. "He 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," Lord said to Entertainment Weekly. "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." Miller added that Daniel's portrayal made it easier. "Some people were like, 'Is there a way to simplify this? There's so many characters. Do we really need Spider-Punk?'" Miller said. "But once we got to know Daniel, we rewrote the part so it became more necessary."
Though Brown was an exciting addition to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, he had a bigger role besides looking and acting cool as Spider-Punk. He was the one who first told Miles Morales not to trust the Spider Society because they would ask him to do things he wasn't comfortable with while encouraging Miles to be independent as Spider-Man. Better yet, he helped Miles escape when he told him to use his palms to escape the electric forcefield prison Miguel kept him in to prevent him from saving his own father. Spider-Punk is also part of the Spider-team that wants to save Miles after he trapped himself in the wrong dimension.
Kaluuya was an excellent casting choice as Spider-Punk because he brought a sense of coolness to the table while coming off as someone who does his own thing. That's not something that happens in big-budget animated movies these days. In blockbuster movies, Hollywood will cast big-name actors in roles for the sole purpose of bringing in fans of said actors. While Kaluuya fits that bill as a big-name actor, he portrayed Spider-Punk so well that he made the character his own. In other words, it's hard to see how anyone could have played the part better than him. That's what made his casting so smart.
Kaluuya's casting was another in what's been a long list of perfect choices in this franchise. Jake Johnson was an excellent choice to play middle-aged, depressed Spider-Man, while Oscar Isaac more than held his own as the extremely damaged yet undyingly responsible Spider-Man 2099. Hailee Steinfeld did a great job playing Spider-Gwen with what she was asked of in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but she really got to stretch her legs when Gwen got much more development in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. While these are big-name actors who are getting these voice roles, it's clear that they are inspired choices too.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters and can be streamed digitally.
Source: Entertainment Weekly