| Prowler | |
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| The Hobie Brown incarnation of Prowler as depicted in The Amazing Spider-Man #78 (November 1969). Art by Jim Mooney. | |
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| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
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| In-story information | |
| Species | Human |
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The Prowler is an alias used by several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. These characters are primarily depicted as wearing a green and purple battle suit with a cape and clawed gauntlets.
The original version, Hobie Brown, [a] was created by Stan Lee, John Buscema and Jim Mooney, [1] based on a drawing by 13-year-old John Romita Jr., who also named the character. [2] The character was introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #78 (November 1969) as an adversary to the superhero Spider-Man. [1] An African-American teenage prodigy, Hobie created the Prowler technology to operate as a petty thief, but following his encounter with Spider-Man, he was convinced to turn his life around. Since his redemption, Hobie has served as a valuable ally to Spider-Man, as well as a superhero in his own right, leading the 1994 limited series Prowler.
Additionally, several other characters have used the Prowler alias and technology in the mainstream Marvel universe, including an unnamed self-titled "Second Prowler" (created by Lee and Steve Ditko) and medical intern Rick Lawson (created by Todd DeZago and Mike Wieringo). A clone of Hobie Brown (created by Dan Slott and R.B. Silva) serves as the lead character of a second Prowler limited series, which ties in with the 2016–2017 storyline "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy".
The Ultimate Marvel equivalent, Aaron Davis, was created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, and was introduced in Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #1 (November 2011) as the career criminal uncle of this reality's Spider-Man. Davis was incorporated into the primary Marvel continuity following Secret Wars as a separate version operating independently from the others.
Both Hobie Brown and Aaron Davis have appeared in several media adaptations outside of comics, including films, animated series, and video games. Davis in particular is portrayed by Donald Glover in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and voiced by Mahershala Ali in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Additionally, both actors make cameo appearances in the animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), in which Jharrel Jerome also voices Miles G. Morales, an original incarnation of the Prowler who will return in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (2027).
The original and most well-known iteration of Prowler, Hobie Brown, debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #78 (November 1969), and was created by writer Stan Lee and artists John Buscema and Jim Mooney. [3] [4] The character eventually appeared in his own solo comic, The Prowler. [5] The character was inspired by Romita's 13-year-old son John Romita Jr. who sketched a villain called the Prowler. Lee liked the name but not the costume; Romita combined the name with a design that he had previously intended for a character called the Stalker that was intended for the never-published The Spectacular Spider-Man #3. [2]
Since Hobie, several other characters have taken up the Prowler identity as well. The second version first appeared in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #47 (October 1980), and was created by Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. The third version, Rick Lawson, first appeared in The Sensational Spider-Man #16 (May 1997) and was created by writer Todd DeZago and artist Mike Wieringo.
The Ultimate Marvel iteration of Prowler, Aaron Davis, first appeared in Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #1 (November 2011) and was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli. The fourth Prowler, a clone of Hobie Brown, first appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 4 #17 (August 2016) and created by Dan Slott and R.B. Silva, serves as the protagonist of the "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" tie-in limited series Prowler, published from October 2016 to May 2017.
Hobie Brown is the original iteration of Prowler. Born in the Bronx, New York, he was a bright but angry African-American teenager who was fired from his window washer job. Intending to use his engineering skills for personal profit, he devises a plan to steal items while disguised as a supervillain and then return said items as Hobie. Donning his green and purple Prowler costume for the first time, Hobie sets out to rob the payroll office of the Daily Bugle , figuring that this will garner him quick publicity. However, he is caught in the act by Peter Parker. While struggling with Parker, he draws editor J. Jonah Jameson's attention. Parker, with no way to defeat Prowler without giving away his own secret identity, allows himself to be thrown through a window during the struggle, and saves himself once he is outside. Traumatized by the events, Hobie makes his escape to the building's roof, only to be confronted by Spider-Man. Spider-Man unmasks Hobie, but realizes he is just a misunderstood kid like Peter once was. Instead of handing him over to the police, he advises him to rethink his life. [6]
Hobie takes Spider-Man's advice to heart and gives up his criminal ways. He later impersonates Spider-Man at the hero's request – Spider-Man wearing a webbing mask – to convince Peter's friends that he was not Spider-Man after Peter 'confessed' the truth while delirious from a flu. [7] Hobie is convinced that Spider-Man was involved somehow in police captain George Stacy's death, and unsuccessfully tries to bring Spider-Man to justice. [8] Hobie eventually marries his love Mindy McPherson and settles down into a career as a construction worker. [8] [9]
Hobie begins to look after his 'little brother' Manuel "Manny" Lopez as a part of the Big Brother Program. When Manny is murdered, Prowler believes that White Tiger (Hector Ayala) was responsible and attempted to bring White Tiger to justice. [10] Prowler attempts to join the super-hero group the Defenders, only to be tossed into the harbor by Valkyrie, at which point he decided to retire the Prowler identity. [11] His Prowler equipment is stolen by a cat burglar to commit crimes for fashion criminal Bella Donna. Hobie is eager to join the search for the thieves, but Spider-Man insists that he stay home so he would not get into trouble, since the second Prowler had committed a felony murder. When Spider-Man defeats the second Prowler, the stolen equipment is returned to Hobie. [12]
Prowler later appears in California during Peter's Webs book deal. [13] He is first seen attacking the Black Fox (Raul Chalmers) for possession of a chalice to keep Mindy out of prison. Mindy accepts a bookkeeping job at Transcorp New York. The company has been caught in shady stock deals, and Mindy is set up and blamed for the crimes. Seeing it as the only way to clear Mindy's name, Hobie re-dons his Prowler costume and finds the books which Mindy had been blamed for stealing. He hides the books on an information chip and puts the information chip on the chalice, where no one would look for it. Prowler and Spider-Man then team up to take on the Black Fox and reclaim the chalice. Hobie vindicates his wife of stock fraud charges with the help of Spider-Man and Black Fox. [14]
Prowler later attempts to vindicate Spider-Man of a crime and first encounters Silver Sable and the Outlaws (including rehabilitated villains Sandman, Rocket Racer and Puma). [15] His safety designs are stolen by Justin Hammer. Hobie proves the design's flaws during an encounter with Hammer's hirelings. [16] Hobie assists the Outlaws on several occasions before formally joining them to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a Canadian official. [17] [18] [19] [20]
Later, Hobie is paralyzed during the Great Game. [21] In follow-up appearances, [22] he begins regaining movement of his paralyzed limbs. It is suggested that his paralysis is a result of mental rather than physical damage, as he was feeling frustrated over the recent theft of his costume, eventually regaining full mobility. [23] While recovering, Hobie provides Spidey with a jetpack used when assuming the Hornet identity during the Identity Crisis storyline. [24]
Prowler is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. in Ms. Marvel's Civil War tie-in. [25] Escaping incarceration, he attends the wake for Stilt-Man (Wilbur Day), along with many other villains and former villains. Prowler narrowly escapes injury as Spider-Man and Puma escort him from the wake shortly before it is bombed by the Punisher. [26]
When Peter Parker elevates Parker Industries into a global franchise with Spider-Man officially acting as a "bodyguard" as part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel branding, Hobie Brown is hired to act as Spider-Man in situations where the public would expect to see Peter and Spider-Man in the same place. Following a fight against Zodiac's Pisces Sect, Peter tells Hobie to change into his Prowler costume and that they will retrieve the Webware together before Zodiac undoes his encryption. [27]
Before The Clone Conspiracy storyline and crossover, wanting to know more about New U Technologies, Peter sends Prowler to infiltrate. He ends up encountering Electro (Francine Frye). Prowler is chased around by Electro and is accidentally killed. [28] In the aftermath, Rita Clarkson takes Spider-Man to where people who were subjected to the New U Technologies treatment are being held. The Prowler is among these people, as it is revealed that turned out that the Prowler who died was a clone. [29] Julia Carpenter later talks to the real Prowler, who has just emerged from cryo-sleep, and tells him about his clone's actions. [30] Hobie is then seen talking to Peter about his future, wondering which direction he will take. He heads home, where he is last seen conflicted about his own identity. [31]
Hobie next attacks the F.E.A.S.T. center, which had been re-established by May Parker. He tells Spider-Man that he was investigating a crowdfunding group called Fairgray Pay after he funneled some money to help a sick friend, which never reached him, and broke into the center since it is almost wholly funded by the group. He and Spider-Man break into the company's head office with help from Marnie, Peter's neighbor known also as The Rumor. [32] After an intense battle, Spider-Man, Prowler and Rumor escape, with help from Captain America. Prowler is left in his home after being knocked out from the fight. He later wakes up to find that Spider-Man managed to defeat the head of Fairgray Pay with help from Iron Man, who bought out the company. During their conversation, Prowler is offered a job as the new head of Fairgray Pay, which he quickly accepts. [33]
During the "King in Black" storyline, Hobie is shown to have taken up the alias of Hornet during the Symbiote invasion. [34]
During the "Gang War" storyline, Hobie has him operate as Prowler again by giving him one of his Prowler costumes to find out what Hobgoblin has planned for Brooklyn. Hobie warns Aaron that if he slips up, he will retake the Prowler identity. [35]
At one point, Bella Donna (Narda Ravanna) stole Hobie Brown's costume and equipment and hired a cat burglar that Spider-Man fought a long time ago to become the new Prowler. During one of his crimes, Prowler accidentally kills a guard. Furthermore, the witnesses see his silhouetted profile and believe Spider-Man to be implicated in the murder. Eventually, Spider-Man captures both Bella Donna and the Prowler, clears both his and the original Prowler's name, and returns Hobie's stolen equipment. [12] [36] This Prowler is later seen at the "Bar With No Name" attending Stilt-Man's wake, and calls himself the "Second Prowler". He has a brief fight with the original Prowler at Stilt-Man's funeral. Sometime after the original Prowler leaves, the Punisher poisons the guests' drinks and blows the place up. [26] It is later mentioned that "they all had to get their stomachs pumped and be treated for third-degree burns". [37]
Rick Lawson is the third incarnation of Prowler. A medical intern, he was present when Hobie Brown was brought into the hospital where he worked due to a back injury. The costume was partly cut away to conceal Hobie's superhero identity, but his friends were unwilling to risk moving him due to the back injury, leading to Lawson finding a portion of the costume that was left unattended and deducing Hobie's identity. After finding Hobie's address from his medical files, Lawson steals a replica of the Prowler costume, using new tech to both rob patients in the ICU and get revenge on those who had "wronged" him in the past, such as a construction foreman who fired him when needing the job to complete medical school. He has an encounter with the Vulture, who seeks revenge against the original Prowler and nearly kills him, but Spider-Man interferes and defeats Vulture. Afterwards, Lawson is taken to the hospital and the Prowler costume is returned to Hobie (who is still recovering from paralysis). [38]
The Ultimate Marvel incarnation of Prowler is Aaron Davis, the uncle of Miles Morales and the brother of Jefferson Davis.
Whereas Jefferson reformed by marrying Rio Morales, Aaron never came around and became the cat burglar "Prowler." In his first appearance, he breaks into Oscorp's abandoned lab to steal a small red box and other rare items from a safe but Oscorp's genetically altered spider crawls into his duffel bag without his knowledge. Miles later visits his uncle's apartment and is bitten by Oscorp's spider. After Miles passes out and regains consciousness, Jefferson forbids Aaron to spend time with Miles on account of his criminal life. [39] During a visit to Mexico City, Aaron fights off the Mexican crime boss Scorpion. When his deal with Scorpion goes bad, he is detained by Mexican authorities. Returning to New York, Prowler interrogates the Tinkerer who he kills while realizing his nephew is Spider-Man. He then claims various tech for himself: an electric suit, a winged suit and electric gauntlets. Davis uses his winged suit in a vain attempt to kill Scorpion. The next day, Aaron confronts his nephew about being Spider-Man. [40] Davis initially convinces Spider-Man to assist in defeating Scorpion, however, Spider-Man comes to the realization of his uncle's exploitation. [41] When Miles decides to sever their relationship, Aaron threatens to tell Jefferson and Rio of his nephew's secret identity. Spider-Man ultimately gets into a fight with Aaron that results in Aaron's gauntlets exploding, killing him but not before accusing his nephew of being just like him. [42] Spider-Man later discovers that Aaron was hired to break into Oscorp by Donald Roxxon. [43]
Sometime after the "Secret Wars" storyline, Aaron is seen on Earth-616 alive and well. Equipped with a recolored variant of " Iron Spider " armor, he forms a version of the Sinister Six (consisting of Bombshell, Electro, Hobgoblin, Sandman, and Spot) [44] and manages to have a reunion with Spider-Man trying to stop him. [45] [46] Despite Spider-Man's attempts, the Sinister Six carry out Aaron's heist and take off aboard a decommissioned Helicarrier. [47] When the Champions interrupt a meeting with Lucia von Bardas as a buyer, Spider-Man attempts to persuade his uncle to give up his criminal ways. [48] Although the chaos results in his apparent death, Aaron is later revealed to be alive, seemingly having followed his nephew's advice. [49]
After escaping from Ultimatum, Miles' burner clones, and Ultimatum's henchmen, Spider-Man and Prowler run into the Green Goblin and the Goblinoids. [50] As Spider-Man and Prowler fight the Goblinoids, the Goblin states that a pulse will go off, causing anyone who took the Goblinoid drug to transform into a Goblinoid. As Jefferson shows up to aid Captain America in fighting the Goblinoids, Bombshell and Starling catch up to Spider-Man and Prowler just as the Goblin catches up to them at Prospect Park. [51] Ultimatum, his henchmen, and the Goblinoids attack Spider-Man, Captain America, Jefferson, Prowler, Bombshell, and Starling. The Goblin recovers and attacks Prowler as Ultimatum plans to send Spider-Man back to Earth-1610. Prowler sacrifices himself to give off a reverse ionic pulse explosion by overloading his suit. This returns Ultimatum and the Goblin to Earth-1610 and returns the Goblinoids to their human forms, while the remaining henchmen of Ultimatum flee. [52]
After Miles and his clone Shift free Quantum from Assessor's control, they learn that Aaron is alive somewhere in a different universe and discover Assessor's connection to the Beyond Corporation. [53] Aaron is trapped in a dystopian alternate future and captured by an alternate version of Miles' clone Selim who killed his reality's Miles. After Miles and Shift from the prime universe acquires aid from the resistance force, led by alternate grown up versions of Billie Morales, Ganke Lee, Aaron, and the alternate elderly Peter Parker are freed from Selim's imprisonment. [54] After Ganke sacrifices himself to preevnt Selim from destroying New York, Aaron, Miles and Shift remain for a while to assist in rebuilding efforts before returning to their home universe. [55]
The fourth iteration of Prowler native to Earth-616 is a clone of Hobie Brown. The Jackal cloned Hobie, with all of his memories apparently intact. After learning about the Jackal's mission, Prowler became loyal to him and started acting as a spy to find out what Parker Industries was up to. [28] It is revealed that this Prowler is a clone that Jackal had gathered to grow clones with false memories that span all the way to their deaths. [56]
Prowler's body starts failing due to not taking specialized pills for an extended period of time, as he questions what he's doing with his life. He is then confronted by Electro. [57] Prowler tries to escape Electro's wrath in Alcatraz, which proves difficult with Electro's powers and his dying body. Using his weapons, the gift shop and his strategic thinking, Prowler manages to defeat the simple-minded Electro. When he makes it outside, he is found by Julia Carpenter, who takes him on a boat and heads towards New U Technologies to retrieve his pills. [58]
When the Jackal orders the villains in the "Haven" part of New U Technologies to kill Spider-Man, Prowler works with Spider-Man to fight the villains off. [59] When the alarm goes off and all the clones start breaking down from clone degeneration, Prowler leaves Haven and tries to find the individual who set off the system that has been killing the clones. Prowler accuses Julia of being the culprit. He tries to fight Julia, who is left with no choice but to fight back. She then knocks him down as Prowler's body continues deteriorating. [60]
The Prowler clone assists Jean DeWolff's clone in helping Spider-Man get away from the villains. [29] During the final battle, Prowler and DeWolff battle the villains outside. Hobie's body is rapidly decaying, but the two receive assistance from Gwen Stacy of Earth-65 and Kaine Parker. Gwen leaves Hobie in an alley when he proves too weak to continue and he is found by Electro. Julia arrives and fends Electro off as Hobie is told that Spider-Man stabilized the human and clone cells. When Electro gets the upper hand on Julia, Prowler sacrifices himself to stop Electro and dies in Julia's arms. [30]
The Prowler's various iterations have no superhuman powers, although Hobie Brown is naturally inventive, especially in the field of pneumatics despite no formal education in that science. Each one relies on a suite of technical gimmicks. Prowler wears modified coveralls interwoven with denim and stretch fabric, equipped with gas cartridge bracelets and anklets capable of propelling projectiles at high velocity. Their arsenal of projectiles include steel darts ("flechettes"), gas pellets, small explosives, magnesium flares and cleaning fluid. Prowler has been known to use hypnotic aids and conventional hand-held weapons. Each wears steel-tipped gauntlets for scaling walls and shock absorbent foam rubber insulated boots. He also wears a cape which contains a network of pneumatic filaments which expand with air to give it a rigid structure, allowing him to glide for short distances.
A technological genius, Hobie Brown has also designed the cybernetically-controlled wing harness used by Hornet (Peter Parker during Identity Crisis ), although he himself was unable to use it due to the weight. He is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, possessing a green belt in taekwondo.
In 2022, Screen Rant included Prowler in their "10 Best Marvel Characters Who Made Their Debut In Spider-Man Comics" list. [61]
An alternate universe version of Hobie Brown / Prowler from Earth-18119 appears in Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows . This version is a member of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resistance against Regent. [62]
An alternate universe version of Hobie Brown from Earth-58163 appears in House of M . This version is a member of Luke Cage's resistance. [63]
A zombified alternate universe version of Hobie Brown / Prowler from Earth-2149 appears in Marvel Zombies . [64]
An alternate universe variant of Hobie Brown from Earth-65 appears in Spider-Gwen . This version is a member of the Yancy Street Gang. [65]
An alternate universe version of Hobie Brown from Earth-14029 appears in Secret Wars . This version is a member of Ho Yinsen's Defenders who assumed the Spider-Man mantle following the death of his universe's Peter Parker and resides in the Battleworld domain of Yinsen City. [66]
The Earth-138 version of Hobie Brown operates as Spider-Man, though he is referred to as Spider-Punk due to his punk rock-inspired design. [67] Initially referred to as Hobart Brown to distinguish him from his primary continuity counterpart, he was renamed "Hobie" following the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse .
The Hobie Brown incarnation of the Prowler appears in a self-titled comic strip in The Amazing Spider-Man . This version's gauntlets are restricted to using compressed air blasts. [85]
| Title | Material collected | Published date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prowler: The Clone Conspiracy | Prowler (vol. 2) #1–6 | July 2017 | 978-1302906559 |
Future Marvel artist John Romita, Jr. – who was thirteen years old at the time- came up with a character called the Prowler and sent a drawing to Stan Lee.
In this tale written by [Stan] Lee and drawn by the team of John Buscema and Jim Mooney, window washer Hobie Brown became fed up with his dead-end job and used his inventive mind to craft the identity and weapons of the Prowler.
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