Karan Soni to Voice Spider-Man India in Across the Spider-Verse: Report

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has cast Karan Soni to voice Spider-Man India. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the Deadpool star — known for playing cab driver Dopinder — will breathe life into the animated Pavitr Prabhakar, an alternate Earth-50101 version of the web crawler, who resides in Mumbattan, a visual blend of the bustling Mumbai and Manhattan cities. The art style for both the character and the dimension is based on 1970s comic books from India, presumably featuring a water-coloured palette. The film serves as the sequel to the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and is slated to release in June.

For the uninitiated, Pavitr Prabhakar made his debut in the Spider-Man: India series of comic books in late 2004, following similar plot beats as that of Peter Parker’s arc, in the sense that he’s got no parents and lives with his uncle and aunt. As the story goes, he gained Spidey powers from an ancient yogi, whom he encounters while being chased by a group of bullies. Just like Parker, Prabhakar’s uncle’s death invokes in him the idea of using his powers for good, and soon gets tangled in a fight against a local crime lord. As for his physical appearance, co-producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller revealed some concept art for the character in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, earlier this year. In it, Prabhakar can be seen sporting a blue dhoti of sorts as his long, wavy hair hangs outside the mask.

The duo previously confirmed that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will feature six major art styles, with the goal to “wow” audiences each time they enter a new dimension. For instance, Gwen Stacy’s (Hailee Steinfeld) Earth-65 bears a watercolour-wash style that’s reminiscent of her comic book covers. A trailer from last year revealed Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) being dragged into an interdimensional adventure by Stacy, hinting at encounters with numerous other versions of Spider-Man, including the ones from Insomniac’s video games. Oscar Isaac, who previously voiced Miguel O’Hara/ Spider-Man 2099 in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse returns in this sequel, and can be seen fighting Morales across dimensions.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also stars Jason Schwartzman (The French Dispatch) as the enigmatic time-hopping villain Spot, Daniel Kaluuya (Nope) as Spider-Punk, and Issa Rae (The Lovebirds), who reportedly voices Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman.

Earlier this month, reports emerged claiming that a Spider-Man Noir live-action series was in the works at Amazon Studios, focused on an “older, grizzled superhero in 1930s New York City,” albeit under the mask, we won’t be seeing Peter Parker. Oren Uziel (Mortal Kombat) is attached to write and executive produce the show. Silk: Spider Society, a series based on Silk aka Cindy Moon is also reportedly in development.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse swings into theatres worldwide on June 2. In India, the animated movie will be out in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.