Spider-Punk Was Almost Cut From SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE
Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya) was easily one of the best and most unique variants of Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. The creative team brought this character to life in such a cool way, he added such an awesome dynamic to the story, and he stood out above the rest. Well, it turns out that Hobie Brown was almost cut from the movie!
While the directors of the film, Kemp Powers, Joaquim Dos Santos, and Justin K. Thompson, expected Spider-Punk to be a hit, Santos admitted that at one point the character nearly didn't make the final cut of the film. During an interview with GamesRadar, he said:
"It's funny as he had to earn his way into the film - he almost got cut out of the movie! There were versions of the Spider-Society he wasn't involved in - but the scenes suffered for him not being in it. It became really elevated when he joined."
If the scenes suffered without the character, why did they even consider removing him from the movie? There’s no explanation, but they are happy that they kept him in the film! Powers talked about the response they were seeing from fans saying:
"It was so gratifying for him to be such a hit as when information was leaking out about the movie, many people were asking online where their favorites were, like Spider-Man Noir etc. We were like all 'come on, you gotta trust us, you'll love the new characters' but the fans came back saying they wouldn't. But hey - look what happened!"
Spider-Punk ended up being such a popular character, that fans are hoping that one day he’ll get his own standalone spinoff film. There’s definitely a lot of stuff to explore in Hobie's world, and that goes for ever single one of the other Spider-Man variants in the movie. Thompson explained:
"Whilst making this movie we wanted to ensure that all of our characters and the dimensions they come from could open up - honestly, it was like making six films. We invested as much into each of them so they could stand alone if needed. And we wanted to give audiences a true sense that they were visiting something as fleshed out as a separate movie. We were geeking out whilst making it thinking how rad it would be to work on an entire film set in just one of these dimensions. We've heard from fans that they want a Spider-Punk series or a Spider-Gwen short - I'd love to see a Pav short!".
With all of the different Spider-Man variants in this movie, there are spinoff films that can go on for years and years to come. As of right now, a Spider-Woman spinoff is in development, but Spider-Punk should definitely be next on the list.
