The Untold Truth Of Marvel Villain The Prowler

When it comes to comic book superhero rogues' galleries, Spider-Man's roster of villains ranks as high as anyone's. From Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin to Venom and Kraven the Hunter, there's seemingly no end to the long list of infamous arch-enemies. But there's one baddie in the pantheon of Spidey's greatest foes who has never been regarded quite as highly as those more notable names, but who has begun receiving a fair amount of attention lately, thanks to some appearances on the big screen.

Initially clad in a purple and black outfit, the Prowler has upgraded his suit and equipment over the years. With a specially-designed glider cape and paramilitary weapons, the Prowler also has a number of high-tech gadgets at his disposal that provide him with everything from sleeping gas and grenades to flares and steel-tipped claws. 

One of Spider-Man's older adversaries, the Prowler made his debut way back in 1969 when Stan Lee was still writing the title. He received a 21st-century update when "Ultimate Spider-Man" introduced a new version in 2011. Over the years, the Prowler has been a villain, a hero, and is often something in between. But as one of Marvel's lesser-known members of Spider-Man's collection of bad guys, there's a lot you might not know about him. So grab your web fluid and tell Aunt May you'll be out late, because this is the untold truth of the Prowler.

Fans of Marvel movies or readers of the current comics may only be familiar with Aaron Davis, the uncle of Miles Morales, who has been under the Prowler's mask in more recent years. But if you're just learning about the purple-pleated anti-hero called the Prowler, you should probably know that Davis is just the most recent in a long line of villains and heroes who have used that name and costume. 

The first made his debut all the way back in 1969, in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #78, the creation of Stan Lee, John Buscema, and Jim Mooney (with an assist from a pint-sized future star, but more on that later). His first alter ego was a young man named Hobart "Hobie" Brown, who came up with a criminal scheme to become a costumed burglar and thief under the guise of the Prowler, while returning the items for a reward as Hobie Brown. Eventually, after tangling with Spider-Man, Hobie gave up the criminal life, but his costume and equipment were stolen by the villain Bella Donna, who used them to become the second Prowler.

The medical student Rick Lawson later discovers Hobie Brown's costume and tech, becoming yet another version of the Prowler and going on a revenge spree against his enemies. Aaron Davis isn't even the most recent Prowler, as a clone of Hobie Brown took up the mantle for a short period, too.

Even if most of today's fans may be more familiar with Aaron Davis as the Prowler, Hobart Brown arguably has a more fascinating journey under the purple and black mask. During his time as the Prowler, he went from ordinary window washer to petty crook, but when he turned his life around and put his criminal past behind him, he didn't put the costume away forever. In fact, Hobie eventually became an ally of Spider-Man, even helping out Peter Parker by dressing up as Spider-Man to keep his secret identity safe.

During his friendship with Spider-Man, he also tried to join the Defenders — to no avail — and helped clear Peter Parker's name in a story that saw him working with other reformed villains like Puma and Sandman. But that's not all: Spider-Man trusted Hobie so much that he even had him break into a nefarious biotech company where the Jackal and the Lizard were working to give Max Dillon his Electro powers back.

Hobie later aided Spider-Man again during the "Identity Crisis" storyline, helping the webhead with new equipment when he took on the identity of the Hornet. Years later, Hobie himself took up that very same moniker during the "King in Black" event, when Knull, the God of Symbiotes, came to Earth with an army of symbiote soldiers at his command.

These days, Aaron Davis is a villain in the mainline Marvel Universe, donning his costume as the Prowler to menace multiple heroes. But as those who have followed Davis' career as a crook will no doubt remember, Davis doesn't actually come from Marvel's Earth-616 universe. 

The creation of writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli, Aaron Davis debuted in the pages of "Ultimate Spider-Man #1" after the series relaunched in 2011. A new take on the longtime Spider-Man villain, this version of the Prowler was the uncle of the Ultimate Universe's newest Spider-Man, Miles Morales. He had played a small role in his nephew being granted spider-powers, as it was his theft of equipment from Osborn Industries that led a genetically modified spider to tag along in his bag, later biting young Morales. After Davis discovered that his nephew was the new Spider-Man, he actually tried to blackmail the young hero into becoming his partner in crime.

But after the events of Marvel's massive "Secret Wars" storyline in 2015, parts of the Ultimate universe merged with the Earth-616 universe. This brought both Miles Morales and his uncle Aaron Davis into the main Marvel continuity, and from there, Davis continued his criminal ways as the Prowler. For a time, he had no memory of his life in the other universe, but during the "Ultimatum" storyline, Davis remembered his true past.

When he arrives in the Marvel Earth-616 universe, Aaron Davis doesn't realize that he is from another reality, and that his entire existence has been rewritten. The problem for Marvel, though, was that there were now two different versions of the Prowler running around, and they needed to somehow explain this development. How they dealt with it at first was to re-introduce Davis as a new villain, the Iron Spider, donning a black version of Peter Parker's Stark tech outfit.

With this new supervillain persona, Davis assembled his own version of the Sinister Six, comprised of Electro, Sandman, Spot, Bombshell, and Hobgoblin. And a major point of the storyline is the mysterious identity of this new Iron Spider: Even his fellow evil teammates don't know who he really is. They also don't entirely trust him, leading to trouble within the Sinister Six itself. Together, though, they steal a SHIELD Helicarrier and face off with the young Spider-Man Miles Morales, who eventually learns that it's his Uncle Aaron leading the team of baddies. It was also the final storyline of "Spider-Man," as the series concluded with its final issue #240, relaunching later as "Miles Morales: Spider-Man."

There are few characters in the Spider-Man family with a more complicated history than Ben Reilly. Created as a clone of Peter Parker in a key storyline in the 1970s, he was quickly killed off — or so readers believed at the time. In the 1990s, he returned, with the controversial revelation that Spider-Man had actually been the clone for all those years. This was later retconned, of course, and the clone took the name of Ben Reilly, who had apparently survived and taken a new identity. He even took up his own superhero persona, the Scarlet Spider.

In the 2000s, in a conflict with a third clone named Kaine, Reilly was killed, but because this is comics — where nobody stays dead forever — he came back once more not long after. But this time, his return was not a secret survival, but a resurrection by the Jackal, and the Prowler played a key part in bringing him back from the dead. This version of the Prowler, however, wasn't Aaron Davis, but a clone of Hobie Brown, who the Jackal had created to serve as his henchman alongside Electro.

In the story, though, the clone of Hobie — like the real one — switches sides and aids Peter Parker and a clone of Jean DeWolff. In the end, this clone of the Prowler was found to be imperfect, and before his body could give out on him, he sacrificed his life to help stop Electro.

Over the years there have been plenty of alternate versions of Spider-Man, from Miguel O'Hara to Ben Reilly and Spider-Ham. But in the 2014 crossover event "Spider-Verse," fans were introduced to dozens more, with the addition of such unique variants as Spider-UK, Spider-Gwen, and Spider-Ma'am. Of the new versions met in that storyline was the rebel hero known as Spider-Punk. 

Hailing from Earth-138, Spider-Punk first appeared in "Amazing Spider-Man" #10 in 2015, from writer Dan Slott and artist Olivier Coipel. Originally designed by Coipel to be Spider-UK, writer Slott rejected the design in favor of a more Captain Britain-like look, but resurrected the idea for a separate character who quickly became a fan favorite. But what's he doing in an article about the Prowler? Well, when it came time to learn more about who Spider-Punk really was, we discovered that his alter ego was none other than Hobie Brown.

On Earth-138, Brown was a homeless teen bitten by a radioactive spider that had been doused in toxic waste. Taking on his superhero identity as Spider-Punk, Brown fights back against President Osborn, who uses shock troops to strike at New York City. In "Spider-Verse," Brown joins the army of Spider-Men known as the Web Warriors alongside Peter Parker, Miles Morales, Spider-Ham, and Spider-Gwen. Perhaps even more popular than the Prowler, this version of Brown has seen appearances in games, animation, and in "Across the Spider-Verse."

While Hobie Brown was off becoming Spider-Punk on Earth-138, the Hobie Brown of Marvel's Earth-616 universe was getting his life turned around after being a minor supervillain. Often torn between good and evil, Brown reformed to become a hero of sorts, though he still struggled to stay on the straight and narrow. He sided against the government in the 2006 event "Civil War" and found himself briefly imprisoned by SHIELD, but later became part of Parker Industries.

Following the events that saw him cloned by the Jackal, Brown became conflicted over who he really was: real or clone, hero or villain? He decided to leave Peter's company and go looking for answers on his own. That led to the discovery of a criminal enterprise called Fairgray Pay, a crowdfunded corporation run by a deadly and mysterious enemy known as the Rumor, whose origins can be traced back to World War II.

When all was said and done, it was Iron Man himself — Tony Stark — who helped save the day, literally and figuratively. In addition to helping Spider-Man and the Prowler to defeat the Rumor, Tony Stark bought Fairgray Pay and made it a subsidiary of Stark Industries, recruiting Hobie Brown to run the company. Stark even compares his journey to becoming a hero to Hobie's, admitting to his many misdeeds as essentially an arms dealer.

It's not often that a villain will get their own series. It takes a unique and special character to warrant turning even a reformed baddie into one worthy of their own title, with the likes of "Deadpool" and "Venom" being among the select few. But believe it or not, villain-turned-hero the Prowler didn't receive just one monthly comic book series, but two, with the first landing back in the 1990s.

Perhaps trying to capitalize on the fact that his long flowing cape and big black eyes gave him a strong resemblance to the sizzling hot Spawn at Image Comics, the Prowler was given his own title in 1994. In that series, Hobie Brown is forced to put the costume back on when a villain called the Nightcreeper steals his technology and uses it to go on a crime spree. The series didn't last long, running just four issues, but saw the Prowler take on Spidey's nemesis the Vulture before it came to a close.

The Prowler's second series arrived in 2017, and it too was short-lived, though it did manage to run a couple of issues longer. Published to coincide with the "Clone Conspiracy" story, it saw Hobie back as the Prowler, this time leading an investigation into New U Technologies at the behest of Spider-Man, who he was working for at Parker Industries at the time.

The Prowler has appeared on screen more than once, showing up in movies, TV shows, and video games going back decades. This includes popping up in both live-action — where he's been played by an Emmy-winning actor — and animation, showing up in "Into the Spider-Verse" voiced by an Oscar winner. But in his very first appearance on screen, he was played by a journeyman TV veteran who went on to become a science fiction icon.

That appearance came in a 1994 episode of "Spider-Man: The Animated Series," in the episode "Partners in Danger, Chapter 11: The Prowler," where he's voiced by Tim Russ. At the time, Russ was mostly a guest actor who would pop up on various TV shows across the dial — everything from "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" to "21 Jump Street" — and he was arguably best known for his iconic appearance in "Spaceballs" as the trooper who tells Darth Helmet, "we ain't found s***!"

A year later, following his role as the Prowler, Russ snagged a part in the main cast of "Star Trek: Voyager" as the emotionless Vulcan, Lt. Tuvok. He played the part for all seven seasons of the show's run, and even returned to the franchise in 2023, when he popped up in "Star Trek: Picard" during its final season.

One of many canceled Marvel movies we'll never get to see, Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 4" would have followed the 2007 threequel. Unfortunately, delays in development forced Sony's hand, and the movie was scrapped to make way for the rebooted "Amazing Spider-Man" in 2012, to ensure they could keep the rights to the character. But Raimi's fourth film was an ambitious one, with multiple main villains, led by John Malkovich as the Vulture. 

Future Catwoman actress Anne Hathaway was also tapped to play the Black Cat, but according to leaked storyboards, there were other Spidey villains who would have popped up. As chronicled by Collider, the film would have opened with a montage of Spider-Man battling a series of different adversaries from the comics, defeating and apprehending them. While the most notable to appear would have been Bruce Campbell playing the glass-bowled Mysterio, the montage would have also included the likes of Stilt-Man, the Rhino, and the Shocker — the latter two of whom wound up appearing in "Amazing Spider-Man" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming," played by Paul Giamatti and Bokeem Woodbine, respectively. But the montage also would have featured the Prowler.

Though it's unknown how big of a scene the Prowler would have appeared in, or even if he would be unmasked to reveal Hobie Brown, it's a tantalizing glimpse into what would have been his first live-action appearance.

The Prowler's first big screen outing was delayed when Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 4" was halted, but one could rightly argue that it was all for the best. Because when he did finally show up in cinemas, he had a bigger role to play — though it happened in an unexpected way. It all went down in "Spider-Man: Homecoming," which saw Peter Parker enter the MCU properly after his small role in "Captain America: Civil War." 

In the film, Peter is on the hunt for illegal weapons dealers led by Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), and he tracks a local crook to a meeting with gun runners in possession of alien technology. That crook is none other than Aaron Davis, though he isn't suited up as a villain just yet. He's played by none other than Donald Glover, who he lets slip a few sly nods to his character's backstory. When confronted by Spider-Man, he mentions having a nephew in the city, which is the first allusion to Miles Morales on film.

Of course, Morales took the spotlight in "Into the Spider-Verse," where his Uncle Aaron shows up as the masked villain the Prowler (voiced by Mahershala Ali) in the character's first costumed appearance in the movies. Despite his death in that film, he returns in "Across the Spider-Verse" — only this time it's Glover reprising his role in a surprising live-action sequence that has him wearing his super-villain costume for the first time.

In the annals of comic book history, the creation of the original Prowler, Hobie Brown, is properly credited to writer Stan Lee and artists John Buscema and Jim Mooney. This makes sense, because that was the creative team responsible for his first appearance. But if one digs a little deeper, there's a somewhat surprising fourth name involved: John Romita Jr. 

But what's so surprising about superstar artist John Romita Jr. being partly responsible for creating the Prowler, you might ask? Well, the fact that he was just a child at the time. Son of legendary Marvel artist John Romita — who was still drawing covers for "Amazing Spider-Man" in the late 1960s — young Romita Jr. took it upon himself to create a new villain for his dad's comic, and presented a sketch to his father. "I just had the standard skin-tight costume," Romita Jr. recounted (per CBR). "I was twelve or 13, whatever it was. It was a dopey costume, but, as a good father, he took it to Stan Lee and said, 'Look at what my son's been doing!; Stan said, 'That's a good name. I don't like the costume, but that's a good name.' And it became what it became."

Sure, the Prowler's look wasn't his doing, nor was his alter ego Hobart Brown or his origin as a down-on-his-luck window washer who turns to crime. But the name? That's all John Romita Jr.