Venom and Morbius as quasi-heroes makes sense. As Sony builds out Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (official title as of 2021), Kraven the Hunter might not be as easy a fit. From the trailer, it looks like screenwriters Art Marcum and Richard Wenk know they’re treading carefully. Pitting Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) directly against his father (Russell Crowe) makes for a decent start. At least they’re both violent men with a twisted code of ethics. Whether good or evil, neither has a problem with bloodshed.
Kraven the Hunter looks to at least have nods to the comics while creating an original story, though I’m catching a whiff of Gail Simone’s work with Catman in Secret Six. Sergei has a brother (Fred Hechinger), who may or may not turn out to be the Chameleon, one of Spider-Man’s earliest foes. Ariana DeBose appears as a relatively sedate version of Calypso. Again, sedate if you don’t remember her appearance when drawn by creator Todd McFarlane. (It’s likely that’s being held back from this first trailer.) And another Spider-foe appears, definitely set as an antagonist for Kraven and played by Alessandro Nivola.
With all the violence inherent in this set-up, it’s also worth noting that this entry in the SSU will be unabashedly R-rated. Word from CinemaCon is that it’s also actually good, at least from the chunk the theater owners saw. Kudos then to director J.C. Chandor for making it all work. If it does work, are we really looking forward to a Sinister Six, so clearly where Sony wants to go?
Let me know. A far cry from Steve Ditko and Stan Lee’s original creation, Kraven the Hunter opens theatrically in October 2023.
If you want to pick up the best of the stories involving Kraven, start with J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck’s Kraven’s Last Hunt.
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