The problem with owning one superhero character and the universe they live in—in this case, Sony Pictures owning Spider-Man and everything within the Spider-Man universe, and that’s it—is it leaves you with a lot of limitations. That said, something like “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” really showed how you could expand things with a lot of flavor, style, and attitude with the right creative team. This is maybe why we’re cautiously optimistic about a “Hypno-Hustler,” Spider-Man villain movie. Is the character obscure and kind of dumb? Yes, but the man behind the project likely to put an inventive spin on it is “Atlanta” star and creator Donald Glover.
Having finished a four-season run on FX’s “Atlanta,” Glover is open for business on new projects, and THR reports that one of his first is starring and producing in a Hypno-Hustler” superhero/villain movie for Sony.
Glover is no stranger to comic book movies. Fans championed for years for him to play a live-action Miles Morales in Sony’s Marvel-produced “Spider-Man” movies. He even briefly appears in “Spider-Man: Homecoming” in a tiny cameo that alludes to Morales. Beyond that, back in 2017, Glover was trying to adapt a “Deadpool” animated cartoon for TV series for FX, but the project eventually fell apart.
Myles Murphy, comedian Eddie Murphy’s son, is on board to write the project, but there are no details beyond a script that centers on the obscure Hypno-Hustler. That character is… a choice, a product of the 1970s disco era. He appeared in 1970s Spider-Man comics as the leader of a band called the Mercy Killers, using hypnosis technology from his instruments on his audience in order to rob them.
Something tells me they’ll probably update that choice. Apparently, the characters shows up on a lot of Marvel’s worst character lists, but THR says Glover took to the character because “he has less Marvel cannon baggage, freeing him to greater interpretations.” So hopefully, that means doing whatever with it he wants. Maybe an innovative filmmaker like “Atlanta” helmer Hiro Murai makes this work.
Next up for Sony’s Spiderverse, “Kraven the Hunter,” set for an October 6, 2023 release, “Madame Web,” swinging into theaters February 16, 2024, and a Spider-Woman movie reportedly in development by director Olivia Wilde.
