Donald Glover returning to Sony's Spider-Verse to produce and star in... a Hypno-Hustler movie?!

Five years ago, Donald Glover entered the Marvel Universe as Aaron Davis (the uncle of Miles Morales) in Spider-Man: Homecoming. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Glover has a return ticket back to the world of Marvel...just not as Davis.

The talented actor/comedian/rapper is reportedly set to star in and produce a Sony Pictures project centered around the obscure, '70s-era villain, Hypno-Hustler, as the studio continues to bank on building its own cinematic mythos using only the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler and his extensive collection of rogues. Myles Murphy, son of the legendary comedian/actor Eddie Murphy, will pen the script.

Created by the duo of Bill Mantlo and Frank Springer in the late 1970s, Hypno-Hustler's real name is Antoine Delsoin, lead singer of a band called the "Mercy Killers." Upon realizing that they can use hypnosis to their benefit, Antoine and his fellow musicians turn to a life of crime, lulling their audiences into deep trances before stealing the patrons' valuables. 

THR purports that Glover was drawn to the musical element of the character and is excited about all the narrative possibilities one can explore with him, given how Hypno-Hustler comes with much less expectation than the more iconic names in Marvel canon.

While this is the second Spider-Verse curveball Sony has thrown this year after it announced an El Muerto standalone movie starring Bad Bunny, it also represents the company's novel approach of transforming classic Spider-Man baddies into antiheroes. Venom proved it could work back in 2018 when it made close to $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales.

The Jared Leto-headlined Morbius was the the latest film to test this concept, although the overall execution left much to be desired (it currently holds a 15 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and barely scraped up $167 million at the worldwide box office). Next up on the docket is Kraven the Hunter, which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the titular role and is slated for release on Oct. 6 of next year. A Venom trilogy capper and a solo Madame Web movie are also in the pipeline.

Sony currently enjoys more storytelling success on the animation side with its Spider-Verse adventures focused on Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore). Across the Spider-Verse, the hotly-anticipated sequel to the Oscar-winning Into the Spider-Verse, opens in theaters this summer. The studio has also struck up a major deal with Amazon Studios to develop a number of TV shows based on the lucrative wall-crawling property. First up is Silk: Spider Society from The Walking Dead showrunner, Angela Kang. In addition to overseeing the series, Kang will executive produce alongside Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

Of course, the Spider-Verse isn't the only fictional world we're excited to see Glover returning to; last month Dan Harmon confirmed that the star is "down to clown" in Peacock's upcoming Community movie, as well.

Looking for more blockbuster cinema? Jurassic World Dominion, Nope, and Halloween Kills are now streaming on Peacock. We're also holding out hope Glover will return to his acclaimed Community role in Peacock's upcoming film follow-up to the beloved sitcom.