Spidey may soon have another foe to worry about, with Sony setting its sights on a new spin-off movie based on the Spider-Man villain Hypno-Hustler. Better still, the superhero movie producer has tapped Donald Glover, better known as Childish Gambino, for the lead role and producing duties. With Sony actively expanding its Spider-Man film universe, it’s no surprise that the studio is turning to lesser-known villains/characters as it plans to take on the MCU with a live-adaptation universe of its own.
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Importantly, Donald Glover has, on many previous occasions, expressed interest in taking on the role of Spider-Man and has even lent his voice to Miles Morales in 2015’s Disney XD series Ultimate Spider-Man. The news that the actor is currently in active talks with Sony to star and produce a new movie centred around Hypno-Hustler comes via The Hollywood Reporter, which notes that Myles Murphy, the son of well-known comedian Eddie Murphy is linked with the project and will be penning down the script.
As of writing, the film has no working title but is going to dive deep into the life of Hypno-Hustler, one of the unexplored Spider-Man villains. The character made its comic debut with Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #24 issue in November 1978 and was the brainchild of Bill Mantlo and Frank Springer. Hypno-Hustler, whose real name is Antoine Desloin in the comics, is the lead singer of the Mercy Killers and has the power to perform hypnosis using his special guitar.
Even though Hypno-Hustler carries the supervillain tag, he is often times considered one of the dumbest/funniest Spider-Man adversaries in comics and not much of a threat. However, The Hollywood Reporter says that Glover was captivated by Hypno-Hustler’s musical side and also since “he has less Marvel canon baggage, freeing him to greater interpretations.” We are light on information surrounding the movie’s plot and no other actors are currently linked to the project. There are even whispers that Murphy has pitched a story idea, details of which are kept under tight wraps.
If you ask us, we would love to see a Hypno-Hustler origin movie that explores Donald Grover’s character’s past/present life and how he came to be what he is today. Sony can take many creative liberties here and even gently set Grover’s character as the next big menace for Spider-Man. Who wouldn’t love to see Spidey saving the day from a mad guitarist hypnotizing the streets of New York in true comic fashion? But Hypno-Hustler isn’t the only Spider-Man-related character Sony has in store.
Kraven the Hunter, another prominent Spidey foe, is getting his own live-adaptation movie with the same name slated to hit theatres on October 6, 2023. Villains aside, the studio is also currently hard at work on several different movies, such as Madame Web and Spider-Woman, all set to hit theatres within the next couple of years. Guess, Spider-Man‘s world is about to get a whole lot bigger soon.
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