Years after influencing the creation of Miles Morales by wearing Spider-Man pajamas in the Community episode “Anthropology 101” following campaigns to get him cast in The Amazing Spider-Man, Donald Glover appeared in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming as Aaron Davis, uncle to Miles and a criminal that Tom Holland’s Peter Parker ran into. Half a decade later, Glover has been tapped to produce and star in a movie about one of Spidey’s more obscure villains, The Hypno-Hustler.
This is the latest entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe to be announced, with the released movies in this franchise so far being Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Morbius. Myles Murphy, son of Eddie Murphy, is writing the officially-untitled project, and according to THR, Glover “sparked to the musical aspect of the character” and him having “less Marvel canon baggage,” allowing the Solo: A Star Wars Story vet to put his own spin on Hypno-Hustler. Between that and Murphy’s take, that was enough for Sony to give a Hypno-Hustler feature the greenlight, though it remains to be seen just what kind of musical setting we’ll find the cinematic version of the character in.
Debuting in 1978’s Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #24, Antoine Desloin, a.k.a. the Hypo-Hustler, is very much a product of his time, with his gimmick revolving around disco music. Hypo-Hustler led a band called the Mercy Killers, and they would use their special instruments to hypnotize audiences and rob them. Although Hypno-Hustler still periodically shows up in the Spider-Man comics, he’s by no means high up in the Web-Slinger’s rogues gallery hierarchy like Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. Hypno-Hustler has previously appeared in an episode of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the video game Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.
This Hypno-Hustler movie will be Donald Glover’s third Spider-Man-related project, as along with Spider-Man: Homecoming, he briefly voiced Miles Morales on the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series before being succeeded by Ogie Banks. Glover’s scene from the aforementioned Community episode was also briefly shown in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Presumably Glover playing Hypno-Hustler further reduces the already-low chances that his Aaron David will become Prowler in the MCU.
Ironically, with the way Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has shaped out, it’s doubtful that Donald Glover’s Hypno-Hustler will ever cross paths with Spidey, but it’ll be interesting to see how this features shapes up and boosts the minor supervillain’s profile. Glover is also set to lead the Mr and Mrs. Smith series, which will co-star actors like Maya Erskine, Parker Posey, Michaela Coel, John Turtorro, Paul Dano and Wagner Moura, and be accessible to Amazon Prime Video subscribers.
Other upcoming movies in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe include Kraven the Hunter, El Muerto, Madame Web and Venom 3. CinemaBlend will continue providing updates on all these projects, and you’re also welcome to look through our lineup of 2023 movie releases.
