Prowler (Marvel Comics)

Prowler
Hobie Brown as the Prowler as he appeared on a splash page of The Amazing Spider-Man #78 (November 1969).
Art by Jim Mooney.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearance
Created by
In-story information
SpeciesHuman
Team affiliations
Notable aliases
Abilities
  • Technological genius
  • Skilled hand-to-hand combatant
  • Use of hypnotic aids and conventional hand-held weapons
  • Battle suit grants:
  • Wall crawling
  • Gliding via cape
  • Titanium-laced claws
  • Gauntlets capable of shooting compressed air blasts, sleeping pellets and other projectiles

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.


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  1. ^ a b DeFalco, Tom (2008). "1960s". In Gilbert, Laura (ed.). Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. Dorling Kindersley. p. 139. ISBN 978-0756641238. 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.
  2. ^ Wells, John (2014). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-1969. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 269. ISBN 978-1605490557.

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