Debuting in “Across the Spider-Verse” as a friend and possible love interest for Gwen Stacy, Hobie Brown made his first comic book appearance back in “Amazing Spider-Man” (Vol. 3) #10 in November 2014 before getting his first solo story in 2015’s “Spider-Verse” #2. He’s since been a part of various Spidey stories, but the character’s arrival in Sony’s latest Spider-Man effort will no doubt increase his popularity ten-fold — especially since he looks so damn cool.
Basically a punk show flyer brought to life, Spider-Punk’s uniqueness in “Across the Spider-Verse” is represented by his constantly-shifting appearance. Whereas Gwen, Miles, and even the newly introduced Indian Spider-Man all have a consistent look, Spider-Punk’s form is continually transforming, not only conveying his restless anti-establishment energy but allowing the animators to combine decades of punk culture into a single manifestation, challenging their own skills in the process.
Speaking to Discussing Film, directors Justin K. Thompson, Joaquim Dos Santos, and Kemp Powers explained their approach to animating Hobie Brown, with Thompson explaining that they wanted the character’s animation style to represent punk rock’s “rejection of norms, authority, and traditional ideas.” That meant trying a lot of “crazy experiments” that emulated the style of “punk rock zines and punk rock posters,” which Thompson noted are “hand cut, pasted, drawn, glued together, and then xeroxed as well.”
But the director’s vision for Spider-Punk went beyond some hollow pastiche of punk style, with the trio developing new tools to give Hobie the chaotic energy they were looking for.
