Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse didn't just introduce fans to a new style of animation and a new on-screen web-slinger with Miles Morales, but a whole roster of comic-book Spideys from Spider-Man Noir to Spider-Ham.
The first film's cast is set to expand even further with 2023's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, followed by the franchise's threequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, in 2024.
Out ahead of Spider-Verse 2, certain wall-crawlers have already been confirmed, including Spider-Woman, Spider-Man 2099, and Spider-Punk.
And now, new merchandise has revealed more about Spider-Punk and how he differs from page to screen.
British Spider-Man Confirmed for Spider-Verse 2
Following the release of a Spider-Verse 2 jigsaw puzzle that revealed Spider-Punk's design, Reddit user u/Electrical_Gold shared a photo of the character's action figure.
Another Reddit user, u/Parking-Balance111, posted a photo of the action figure packaging which describes Spider-Punk as being British.
This is a departure from the comics where Spider-Punk wasn't British but rather an American teenager named Hobart Brown.
After gaining his powers from a spider exposed to illegal waste dumping, Brown became the Leader of the Spider Army, rallied support from the lower class, and fought against President Norman Osborn.
He also fought alongside Karl Morningdew's Captain Anarchy and Robbie Banner's Hulk.
At one point, Brown used 15000 volts of punk rock to disable tech and even defeated President Osborn by smashing him over the head with his guitar.
Even though Across the Spider-Verse's Spider-Punk isn't American, he is similar to the character's comic book design in that both wield a webbed guitar and feature a mohawk of spikes.
Also, his new British background explains why the character's design for the film sports a Union Jack patch on his arm.
A British Spider-Punk Isn't an Original Concept
While it appears that Sony is going in a different direction with Spider-Punk for Spider-Verse 2, his British background isn't an original idea.
Spider-Punk's design was actually Olivier Coipel's concept for Spider-UK. And, even though it didn't suit the desired direction, comic book writer Dan Slott liked the concept so much that he decided to use it for a new Spidey.
Also, it's worth noting that Across the Spider-Verse won't be the first time Spider-Punk speaks with a British accent.
In the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, Spider-Punk happens to have a Cockney accent.
Due to how many Spider-related heroes will be populating this film, Spider-Verse 2 likely went with a UK-based Spider-Punk in order to further differentiate him, and his sound, from the other characters.
It will be interesting to see if the film has any other changes in store for this punk rock webhead and if there will be any callbacks to his comic book identity.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse arrives in theaters on June 2, 2023.
