Hobie Brown 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. 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. 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. Hobie eventually marries his love Mindy McPherson and settles down into a career as a construction worker. 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. 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. 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. Prowler later appears in California during Peter's
Webs book deal. 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. 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). His safety designs are stolen by
Justin Hammer. Hobie proves the design's flaws during an encounter with Hammer's hirelings. Hobie assists the Outlaws on several occasions before formally joining them to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a Canadian official. Later, Hobie is paralyzed during the Great Game. In follow-up appearances, 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. While recovering, Hobie provides Spidey with a jetpack used when assuming the
Hornet identity during the
Identity Crisis storyline. Prowler is captured by
S.H.I.E.L.D. in
Ms. Marvel's
Civil War tie-in. 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. 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. 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. 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.
Julia Carpenter later talks to the real Prowler, who has just emerged from cryo-sleep, and tells him about his clone's actions. 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. 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. 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. During the "
King in Black" storyline, Hobie is shown to have taken up the alias of
Hornet during the
Symbiote invasion. 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.
"Second Prowler" 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. 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.
Rick Lawson 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).
Aaron Davis 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. 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. Davis initially convinces Spider-Man to assist in defeating Scorpion, however, Spider-Man comes to the realization of his uncle's exploitation. 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. Spider-Man later discovers that Aaron was hired to break into Oscorp by
Donald Roxxon. 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) and manages to have a reunion with Spider-Man trying to stop him. Despite Spider-Man's attempts, the Sinister Six carry out Aaron's heist and take off aboard a decommissioned
Helicarrier. 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. Although the chaos results in his apparent death, Aaron is later revealed to be alive, seemingly having followed his nephew's advice. After escaping from Ultimatum, Miles' burner clones, and Ultimatum's henchmen, Spider-Man and Prowler run into the
Green Goblin and the Goblinoids. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
Hobie Brown (Clone) 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The Prowler clone assists
Jean DeWolff's clone in helping Spider-Man get away from the villains. 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. ==Powers and abilities==