Hypno Hustler Is The Next Sony’s Spiderverse Project

Sony has shortlisted another member of the SpiderMan villain squad for its next Sony’s Spider-Man Universe project – Hypno Hustler, and it will star Donald

By Mohit Srivastava
December 23,2022
Featured Image

 In the series of movies based on the “Spider-Man” universe villains (Venom, Venom 2, and Morbius) Sony Pictures is now developing another new film. The movie is currently untitled but is reported to feature a Tier II Marvel villain – Hypno-Hustler. The movie will be written by Myles Murphy (son of Eddie Murphy) and will be produced and will star Donald Glover in the titular role.

Who is Hypno-Hustler?

The current iteration of Hypno-Hustler in Marvel comics

Debuting with Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #24 (1978), Antoine Delsoin aka Hypno-Hustler is a leader of a band called – the Mercy Killers. He is a musician and uses hypnosis technology in his instruments on his audience in order to rob them. The character was created by Bill Mantlo and Frank Springer, and is regarded as one of the worst Spider-Man villains of all time. In the comics, Antoine’s equipment was upgraded by Tinkerer, and in his present iteration, even Hustler’s goggles can hallucinate his audience. With the help of his upgraded guitar and his band of ‘Mercy Killers’, Hustler is able to perform mass hypnosis on his audiences. A Marvel’s ‘B-lister’ villain, with his all-silver costume and period-specific hairdo, Hypno-Hustler soon seemed like an instant relic of a pop culture fad gone by. 

Antoine Delsoin even developed boots that can emit knockout gas on demand, and have retractable knives in the soles. Hypno-Hustler’s headphones protect him from his own hypnotic music. In the comics, Hustler and his ‘Mercy-Killers’ band tried to rob a Nightclub’s safe, and the present audience. Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) was at the club and during his fight, Spider-Man discovers that Hypno-Hustler’s headphones protected him from his own hypnotic music. Spider-Man manages to remove them from Hypno-Hustler causing him to become a victim of his own hypnosis. When the audience was free of the hypnosis, Hypno-Hustler and his Mercy Killers were webbed up and left for the police. 

Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU)

Movies in Sony’s Spiderman Universe

Deciding to ride on Marvel’s most popular IP – Spiderman, Sony Pictures decided to produce a bunch of movies centered on Spiderman villain squads. However, the studio continued to produce Spiderman movies starring Tom Holland with Marvel Studios (Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)). Along with these, Sony developed Venom (2018) as the first entry into its own fictional universe. Later, Sony and Marvel Studios renegotiated their deal in 2019 to share the Spider-Man character between the MCU and their standalone Marvel-based films, which was followed by the release of Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) and Morbius (2022). 

Although there were nods in these movies to linking them with the main MCU timeline, these have largely been less of a hit and more of a miss, by the writers. It is still unclear if the events of Sony’s movies are a part of the main MCU or not, or if they will have any visible impact on the MCU in the future. Apart from the currently announced Hypno-Hustler, Sony is also developing Kraven the Hunter (2023), El Muerto (2024), Madame Webb (2024), and Spider-Woman (TBA). If the reports are to be believed, several other films and television series are also in various stages of development set in the same shared universe.

Donald Glover and Marvel

Donald Glover

Notably, Donald Glover made an appearance in a brief role in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. In one of the deleted scenes of the movie, it was implied that his character was none other than the uncle of Miles Morales – Aaron Davis. As all comic book fans are aware, Miles’s uncle goes on to become the villain – Prowler, who is much more powerful, menacing, and well-known than Hypno-Hustler. Even the fans hoped to see him as Prowler in the future, but fates had other plans.  Glover also voiced Miles in the 2015 Disney XD series “Ultimate Spider-Man.”

The 39 years old actor-musician, Donald Glover, according to the Hollywood Reporter, was intrigued by the idea of the character of Hypno-Hustler. The musical aspects of the character sparked his interest in him. Glover says that since the character does not have any Marvel baggage, so they can interpret him as they like. Glover eyes on making the film a disco period piece, a cyberpunk future play, or even a modern hip-hop version. Spiderman will probably not make an appearance in the movie, as has been the case with other SSU movies. Glover will surely bring his musical talents to use in the movie, and how will it ring with the audiences and critics remains to be seen.

Read More About