Another obscure Spider-Man character – Hypno-Hustler – is getting a movie as Sony continues to expand its series of spin-off films.
Once upon a time, Donald Glover was a fan favourite choice to play Spider-Man, around the time that director Marc Webb was casting for his new take on the character (for The Amazing Spider-Man films).
Whilst the role would eventually go to Andrew Garfield, Glover would later pop up in a brief cameo in Spider-Man: Homecoming as a character that was supposed to be the uncle of Miles Morales, an alternative version of Spider-Man whom we haven’t yet seen in a live-action Spider-Man movie.
Now, reports are stating that Glover is returning once more to the Spider-Man universe, this time in one of Sony’s increasingly fringe takes on the Web-head’s mythos. We’ve had a couple of Venom films (with another on the way) that introduced the titular symbiote and his murderous offspring, Carnage, two of Spider-Man’s most popular antagonists. However, Sony’s successive announcements are coming increasingly from the left field with lesser-known characters such as Madame Web and El Muerto projects joining takes on more established villains such as 2022’s Morbius and the upcoming Kraven The Hunter film.
The latest project is definitely a take on a lesser-known character, with Glover set to play an obscure 1970s disco villain called the Hypno-Hustler, a disco fanatic who uses his powers of hypnosis to rob hapless dancers. If all of this feels like it’s beginning to descend into parody, you may recall that Eddie Izzard memorably played a disco-themed super-villain in the 1999 superhero spoof, Mystery Men.
Glover was reportedly interested in the role because the character’s low profile means he gets a lot of creative freedom to take the character in new directions. The actor just happens to be an exceedingly-talented musician as well, so we’re actually quite interested to see what he does here. We’ll bring you more on this one as we hear it.
The Hollywood Reporter
