For several years, Sony has been working on its own Marvel movie universe based on the Spider-Man characters. The first character – and the first movie – was still a logical choice, after all, ‘Venom’ is an iconic villain and anti-hero that even those who have little to do with Marvel comics can identify with. But since then, the roster of characters and projects has gotten more and more bizarre.
Even “Morbius” as the third title of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) was questionable, not only because the resulting movie is one of the worst superhero movies ever, but also because the pseudo-vampire isn’t exactly an iconic character. It then continues with “Kraven The Hunter”, which is very famous, but needs to be changed in its movie to the point where it hardly has anything to do with the comic book template: According to the protagonist, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the merciless master hunter Kraven ( “Avengers 2: Age Of Ultron”) should become an “animal lover and protector of nature” (!).
The other announced SSU films “El Muerto” and “Madame Web” also feature prominent casts, but the surprising selection of characters and previously known story information will certainly raise some eyebrows. But all this is nothing compared to the latest project now announced: Donald Glover (“Atlanta”, “Community”) will star in and produce a Marvel movie based on the villain Hypno-Hustler.
The Hypno-Hustler is probably the most obscure character in the rich collection of ‘Spider-Man’ figures that has made or will find its way to the big screen. Antoine Delsoin, as the villain is actually called, celebrated his debut in 1978 in the middle of the disco fever (!). Together with his band, the Mercy Killers, and their instruments equipped with hypnosis technology (!!) he robbed his audience and therefore had to deal with Spider-Man.
Pretty bizarre, but like the American industry magazine reported, Donald Glover focused on two aspects in particular: first, the musical aspect (Glover is also known as musician and rapper Childish Gambino), and second, the great freedom afforded by such an obscure character with only a few appearances in the Marvel canon.
Again writes, the “Hypno Hustler” movie could become anything: a disco movie with a 1970s setting, a reimagining as a hip-hop movie, or even a cyberpunk sci-fi hit. It will probably be a while before we find out more, as the project is still in its infancy…