The Prowler is one of the most well-known Miles Morales Spider-Man enemies because he is his uncle, Aaron Davis. However, did you know there are other versions of the character?
Our villain debuted in Amazing Spider-Man issue #78 in 1969 under the civilian name Hobie Brown. He was the first Prowler before there was an unidentified second Prowler. Rick Lawson was the third Prowler, followed by a clone of Hobie Brown only after the Hobie clone was Aaron Davis the Prowler, making him the fifth iteration. In the Across the Spiderverse film, Miles Morales becomes a version of the Prowler.
As we mentioned, Aaron is the most famous version of the character as he is a foil to Miles Morales and his uncle. Though it is argued that Hobie is the most well-known Prowler as he was the original.
A Brief Rundown Of The Aaron Davis Prowler
Anyway, the origin of Aaron is as follows. He is the brother of Jefferson Davis, Miles’ father. Both were small-time criminals upon his marriage to Rios Morales, Miles’ mother, Jefferson reforms. Aaron, however, doesn’t and remains a cat burglar.
During his first comic appearance, Aaron breaks into Oscorp and steals a red vital. However, he is left unaware that an altered spider has made its way into his bag. When Miles visits his uncle, he is bitten by the spider, hence receiving his powers. He passes out and regains consciousness a couple of times.
When Jefferson finds out that his brother is spending time with his son, he forbids Aaron from doing so due to his history.
Aaron learns Miles is Spider-Man after he interrogates and kills the Tinkerer. When Miles decides to cut ties with his uncle, Aaron blackmails him by threatening to tell his parents about his secret identity.
Portrayals Of The Prowler In Spider-Man Media
The Prowler was originally supposed to appear in Sam Rami’s Spider-Man 4 but the film was scrapped in favour of The Amazing Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield.
In the MCU, Donald Glover plays Aaron Davis, mostly because he helped indirectly create the Miles Morales character. He has, so far, only appeared in Spider-Man Homecoming. Unlike the comics version, in the MCU, Aaron has a sense of heroism as, despite being a small-time criminal he wants to make New York safer for Miles, who is directly named dropped in a deleted scene. the MCU Prowler also appears in Across the Spiderverse film.
Mahershala Ali voices the most famous version of Aaron in Into the Spiderverse. He and Miles share a close bond, but Aaron is still a criminal, something Jefferson is unaware of. Jeff sees his brother as a bad influence on his son, even though Aaron encourages his nephew to after his dreams.
As the Prowler, Aaron serves as Kingpin’s lieutenant, but when he discovers Miles is Spider-Man, he refuses to kill him, which leads him to be killed by his boss.
Hobie Brown also appears in the Spiderverse films, played by Daniel Kaluuya, but is known as Spider-Punk.
