Hobart Brown (Earth-138)

**Overview**
Quotes

* Hobie Brown
* Spider-Man

- ****Spider-Punk****[src]

**Hobart "Hobie" Brown** is a teenager who, after being bitten by a radioactive spider gained spider-like powers and abilities, became the masked vigilante known as **Spider-Man** as a way to fight against the oppressive regime of Earth-138.

Fighting against the corrupted government of his city, Spider-Man managed to make a lot of enemies and allies equally with his rebellious and intriguing personality. Along with his looks, he managed to be nicknamed by the city, his villains and most of his allies as **Spider-Punk**.

He eventually formally affiliated with the Spider-Society until he quit after helping Miles escape, starting a chaotic chase in Nueva York.

## Biography

### Early Life

#### Life as Spider-Man

Hobart Brown is a homeless "foul-mouthed" teenager living as a squatter on a canal boat, which serves as his headquarters. He was bitten by a radioactive spider, giving him spider-like powers and leading to him taking up the mantle of Spider-Man in his universe's Camden, New London. As Spider-Man, he is a performer and an activist against the fascism and corrupt systems of his world. Hobie often includes his music and art as part of his activism.

#### Joining the Spider-Society

Despite his disdain for organised power and government, Hobie was recruited by Miguel O'Hara as part of the Spider-Society. With his time as part of the Spider-Society, he befriended Gwen Stacy and allowed her to temporarily reside in his universe and hang out with him. This friendship would also lead Hobie to befriend Pavitr Prabhakar, with the two becoming close friends. As a part of the Spider-Society he would go on missions with Gwen to capture anomalies, one of these missions resulting in the capture of a Prowler variant. Gwen would also end up joining his band at some point.

### Spider-Wars

#### Fight at Mumbattan

*"What's up with your suit? Is he bleeding from his armpits?"
 "Miles, Hobie. Hobie, Miles."*
―Spider-Punk and Spider-Woman on Miles Morales[src]

When Miles, Gwen and Pavitr were struggling to take down a barrier to get to the Spot, Hobie would be the one to come to the rescue, using his guitar to shatter the force field. Hobie would introduce himself to Miles and give him some advice on his venom powers as the group fought against the Spot while also telling Gwen she left her toothbrush and "jumper" at his place. Unfortunately, the group would fail to stop Spot and would helplessly watch as he absorbed the power of the Collider.

*"Man like Miles, my guy!"*
―Hobie to Miles[src]

As the building began to collapse, Hobie, Miles, Pavitr and Gwen would attempt to stop the falling rubble and when that failed, they would save all the civilians in the path of the rubble. After Miles rescued Inspector Singh and Hobie and Pavitr rescued Gayatri the group of spiders would celebrate their victory alongside the citizens of Mumbattan. Their celebration is cut short by a hole opening in the ground, allegedly caused by a disrupted canon event. Jess and a team of spiders would arrive to contain the rift. Jess would order Gwen, Miles and Hobie to return to HQ to see Miguel. Although Hobie claimed he and Miles don't follow orders, he would reluctantly end up going back to HQ.

#### Arriving at the Spider-Society

*"How are you even cooler under your mask?"
 - "I was this cool the whole time."*
―Miles and Hobie[src]

Upon arriving at HQ, Hobie would unmask himself in front of Miles who was in awe by how cool he looked. The elevator took them up to the main area of the HQ, with Hobie commenting that the massive hub was a bit much. He asked Gwen how much she had told Miles about the Society, just before Miles glitched out behind them. As they headed for Miguel's lab, Hobie would see Miles interact with a Prowler anomaly and commented that he caught that one himself. After running into Margo, Hobie, Miles and Gwen would watch as she sent a Rhino variant back home, Hobie commenting on the Go Home Machine's great name and how it was "super humane and not creepy".

*"Just don’t enlist till you know what war you’re fighting."*
―Hobie to Miles[src]

As the group pressed onwards, Hobie would begin to steal pieces from the lab while talking to Miles about his family as he attempted to sow seeds of doubt about joining the Society. When Miles asked him why he's here, Hobie would tell him he was just looking out for his drummer. As they arrived at Miguel's lab, Hobie would watch from the shadows as Miguel scolded Gwen and Miles for breaking the canon event as well as the arrival of Peter. As Miguel began to explain the canon to Miles, Hobie would egg Miles on after he protested against letting his father die. After Miguel imprisoned Miles, Hobie would be the only one to help Miles, reminding him to use his palms to break electric barriers, allowing Miles to escape.

#### Quitting the Spider-Society

*"Just for the record, I quit."*
―Spider-Punk[src]

As the Spider-People began to chase Miles, Hobie, confident that he could create another watch from the pieces he stole, removed his Gizmo and left through a portal to complete his project.

### Rescuing Miles

Hobie would deliver his finished watch to Gwen's dad, correctly predicting that Gwen would return home. After Gwen was able to reconcile with her father, he gave her the new watch so they could go out and rescue Miles. Hobie would be recruited by Gwen into the newly reformed Spider-Gang. He would assemble on the roof of Peter's house before swinging through the open portal to save his friend.

## Personality

*"I hate labels. I'm not a hero, because calling yourself a hero makes you a self-mythologizing, narcissistic autocrat."
 - "Come on! I thought you hated labels."*
―Hobie and Miles[src]

Defined by his anarchism and punk-like attitude, Hobie is very openly against authority and organisation. In his home universe, he is openly against the authoritative regimes that plague his world. He is also a performer, combining with his anti-authority personality to perform his self-defined acts of unpermitted political action under the veil of performing arts. Hobie's rebelliousness makes his affiliation with the Spider-Society tenuous at best; when asked by Miles as to why he's part of the society, he says it's to look out for his drummer.

Hobie is rather outgoing and sociable, becoming good friends with Gwen Stacy and Pavitr Prabhakar after becoming part of the Spider-Society. He naturally connects with Gwen's musical talents as a drummer, as well as Pavitr's youthful and free-spirited demeanour. Hobie and Gwen are close friends, with Hobie letting Gwen take refuge at his place. He also connects well with Miles, who he had heard about from Gwen prior to meeting him. While Miles was opposed to Hobie at first for initially thinking his friendship with Gwen was something more, it all went away as Miles quickly grew to like him, as Hobie was nothing but supportive of Miles and his tendency to act on his own, praising him for saving Inspector Singh and offering him advice on how to effectively use his venom powers. When the Spider-Society turned on Miles, Hobie was the only one to help Miles escape by reiterating the advice he gave him before, and quitting the society right after the chase began.

Hobie is a talented musician, a trait which he uses within his performing art pieces. He believes proclaiming to be a hero is negative, referring to it as "self-mythologising" and "narcissistic", which is part of what puts him at odds with the Spider-Society. Because of this, he believes himself not to be a role-model. Despite this he still has high praise for himself, referring to himself as "this cool the whole time" when he unmasks in front of Miles.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Spider physiology**: Hobie possesses the proportional physical capabilities of a spider, giving him enhanced strength, agility and reflexes, as well as the abilities of a spider, such as climbing walls and his Spider-Sense.
	+ **Superhuman strength**: Hobie possesses the proportional strength of a spider, allowing him to battle with foes in combat that would otherwise overwhelm him. Hobie uses this strength alongside Gwen to lift up falling rubble during the collapse of Alchemax. Additionally, this strength also allows him to jump great distances and heights.
	+ **Superhuman speed**: Hobie also possesses the proportional speed of a spider, making him able to run and move at speeds above the capabilities of a human athlete. Hobie is seen using his heightened speed when helping save the citizens of Mumbathan.
	+ **Superhuman agility**: Hobie possesses enhanced agility that are far beyond the natural physical limits of an Olympic-level gymnast.
	+ **Superhuman durability**: Hobie's body is far tougher and denser than a regular human as he can withstand falls from extreme heights, blunt force trauma, and superhuman blows with little damage.
	+ **Wall-crawling**: Hobie possesses the ability to cling onto any surface using just his fingertips and feet.
	+ **Spider-Sense**: When danger is present, Hobie experiences a buzzing sensation in his head as a sort of warning system, allowing him to react accordingly. His spider-sense offers him a near complete awareness of his surroundings that, in conjunction with his reflexes, allows him to instinctively dodge or counter nearly all attacks. His spider-sense also helps him recognize other individuals with spider-powers, making them have some sort of connection.
* **Color and Design Change**: Thanks to the nature of his dimension, Hobie's body tends to change between a wide variety of colors depending on the atmosphere and his mood. Although Hobie claims he isn't consistent. He tends to turn pink when he talks about or is near the people he loves and grey when the situation gets serious. Hobie is also shown to change his character design between 2D and 3D randomly.

### Abilities

*"Bit of advice. Use the palm, not just your fingers."*
―Hobie to Miles[src]

* **Gifted Intellect**: Hobie, like many other Spider-People, is highly intelligent. While visiting the Spider-Society's headquarters, he discreetly stole components to assemble the Web-Watch for Gwen as a substitute for the Multiversal Gizmo.
* **Musician:** Hobie is in a band and knows how to play the guitar.

## Equipment

### Weapons

* **Web-Shooters**: Hobie is equipped with wrist-mounted web-shooters which he uses as Spider-Man to spin a strong, spider-like webbing. These Web-Shooters are activated by a wrist-mounted button in Hobie's hand. These webs are often used for swinging around high-rise, urban areas, but can also be used to hold structures in place or immobilize foes.
* **Electric guitar**: Hobie, as a punk-rock musician, has a guitar which he uses as part of his Spider-Punk persona. This guitar can play frequencies strong enough to cause electronic equipment to malfunction, as well as blast people away.

### Other Equipment

* **Spider-Punk Suit**: Hobie has his own, punk-themed Spider-Man Suit that he uses in order to conceal his secret identity from the public. While still having the same red and blue colour scheme as the traditional Spider-Man suit, the patterns of Hobie's suit are a lot more scattered and chaotic, reflecting his anarchic personality. His mask's eye lenses have black mascara/eyeliner dripping down, and he has a mohawk of metal spikes protruding from his suit's mask. On top of the suit, he wears a blue crop top t-shirt and a black leather vest covered in patches and pins, with studs and "F/N/S/M" on the back, and spikes along the shoulders. He also wears plaid pants covered in patches, with two studded belts, and blue and pink suspenders that hang down. He wears long blue fingerless fishnet gloves with black painted nails, a lot of leather spiked/studded bracelets and choker collar, and long red boots with blue laces.

## Relationships

### Allies

* Spider-Gang - Teammates
	+ Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman - Close Friend
	+ Pavitr Prabhakar/Spider-Man India - Best Friend
	+ Margo Kess/Spider-Byte
	+ Peter B. Parker/Spider-Man
	+ Mayday Parker
	+ Peni Parker/SP//dr
	+ Peter Parker/Spider-Man Noir
	+ Peter Porker/Spider-Ham
* Miles Morales/Spider-Man - Friend

### Enemies

* Hubert Carpenter/Walrus
* Thomas Fireheart/Puma
* Archibald Dyker/Diamondhead
* Wilson Fisk/Kingpin - Nemesis

* Jonathan Ohnn/The Spot
* Aaron Davis/Prowler
* Spider-Society - Former Teammates
	+ Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099 - Former Ally
	+ Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman - Former Ally

## Trivia

* **Hobie Brown/ Spider-Punk** in the *Spider-Verse* saga is the first film incarnation of the iconic character. He's also the 2nd version of Spider-Punk to ever appear in animation, after the version voiced by Drake Bell in the *Ultimate Spider-Man* animated series.
* Hobie has been a Spider-Person for 3 years.
* In original 616 comic continuity, Hobart was the original **Prowler**. The Prowler moniker eventually being well-known associated to Miles' uncle, Aaron Davis, with Hobart became the current bearer of **Hornet** mantle as of *King in Black* crossover event.
* The song that plays for Hobie Brown's entrance is **On The Run by Cerebral Ballzy**.
* In his character poster, Hobie's boots appear to be ladder laced. In punk culture, ladder lacing with colored laces is a way to discreetly express your beliefs. Hobie's laces are blue and yellow. Blue laces mean the wearer has killed a police officer before and yellow laces mean the wearer is anti-racist. Although in the movie, Hobie does not wear the yellow laces, just the blue ones.
* According to the X-Ray for *Across the Spider-Verse* on Amazon:
	+ Actor Daniel Kaluuya, who voices Spider-Punk, says, *"I am from Camden, where Spider-Punk is from ― and where punk culture has a strong history. I could lean into my roots and be playful with how and what he says, knowing exactly where it comes from."*
	+ Director Kemp Powers explains, *"You can describe Hobie as a cross between Iggy Pop, Bad Brains, and Spider-Man. He actually lives on a canal boat, which serves as his headquarters."*
	+ Production designer Patrick O'Keefe explains, *"For Spider-Punk's world, we looked at using collages, new media, and working with Xerox machines to achieve the degradation that results from the reproduction of physical media over and over again."*
* When designing Spider-Punk, character designer Evan Monteiro designed Genderqueer Hobie, saying that it would be impossible to separate punk history from queer history.

## References

1. ↑ "Spider-Punk comes from the world New London that's basically a collage of punk-rock posters come to life."
 "He's from a world that's a bizarro mixture of seventies- and eighties-era London and modern-day New York"
2. ↑ Hijacking runway fashion shows is a popular form of protest. It’s often done for climate change and animal cruelty movements. In that scene Hobie was crashing a runway fashion show.
3. ↑ In an interview with the director Kemp Powers, during the talk of Hobies concept ideas one of the early concepts was "19-20" (they also considered making Miles, Gwen etc. older). However, after changes were done to the characters this was a scrapped concept.
 He is said to be "that cool, **slightly older boy**" by the director on page 110 of the art book.
 Producer and writer Phil Lord compared Hobies age to the members of Sex Pistols when they were starting off, which is at **16 and 17 years old**, saying *"Do remember that the Sex Pistols were all pretty damn young"*.
 With all of this said however his age has still been left unconfirmed and up to interpretation.
 The Korean version of the art book **states him to be a boy (as in child) specifically**
 and the movie implies a love triangle between him, Miles and Gwen who are both teens around 16-17.
4. ↑ "Lastly, I felt it was impossible to separate punk history from queer history, and my gut felt a more genderqueer Hobie would be the most radical vision of a black spiderpunk."