Daniel Kaluuya Cast As Spider-Punk In Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" remains not only one of the best superhero movies ever made but arguably the best Spider-Man film. Four years later, this movie remains an absolute marvel of storytelling and of animation, a film that changed the game for American animation, inspiring a stylized look that influenced everything from "The Mitchells vs. the Machines" to "The Bad Guys" and "Entergalactic."

The film, of course, was not just a fantastic superhero origin story, but the first time the multiverse was used as a main plot point in a superhero movie. Rather than just a montage with some cute filters, "Into the Spider-Verse" used the medium of animation to show the promise of the multiverse for superhero films, exploring vastly different places and characters that truly looked out of this world. 

The sequel, "Across the Spider-Verse," promises to be even more ambitious, with a villain that is meant to look as if he's drawn by many different artists, which required new tools to bring to life. Likewise, the film is bringing six new dimensions, each with a drastically different look from each other, and a bigger story that doesn't forget who is both the heart and the secret weapon of the franchise.

Now, after skipping an appearance in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," Daniel Kaluuya is coming back to Marvel, kind of.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Kaluuya is joining "Across the Spider-Verse" to play Hobart "Hobie" Brown, a.k.a. Spider-Punk. 

The character first appeared in 2015's "Spider-Verse" comic crossover, meant to be an alternate universe version of Prowler who instead became a Spider-Man after being bitten by a spider mutated by President Osborn's toxic waste. Later, Spider-Punk kills Osborn during a riot by bashing his head with a guitar. The character was created by Dan Slott and Olivier Coipel.

This is the latest character to join the movie, which is also set to introduce Issa Rae as Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman. We also know that Takuya Yamashiro, aka Japanese Spider-Man, aka the emissary of Hell from the 1978 "Spider-Man" TV series, is also making an appearance. Between Yamashiro and Spider-Punk, the doors are wide open for weird and unexpected Spider-Men to show up in the sequel. After all, they have Spider-Ham to beat in terms of weird alternate versions of Spider-Man. The answer, of course, is to bring the heavy hitters, like Spider-Ma'am (an alternate version where Aunt May is bitten by a spider), or Spiders-Man (a colony of intelligent spiders who think they are Peter Parker).

Whoever shows up, we know that "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is going to get very weird, and we can't wait for it.

"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" swings to theaters June 2, 2023.