Along with Madame Web, starring Dakota Johnson, fans of the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters will be gifted with Kraven The Hunter, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Tenet, Avengers: Age of Ultron).
However, as with previous films in the SUMC, this Kraven will differ from the one found in the comics.
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According to a report from Variety, Taylor-Johnson called Kraven “one of Marvel’s most iconic, notorious anti-heroes — Spider Man’s number one rival”.
Who Fears Kraven The Hunter?
Taylor-Johnson also stated he was attracted to Kraven the Hunter because he was “not an alien, or a wizard. He’s just a hunter, a human with conviction. An animal lover and a protector of the natural world. He’s a very, very cool character.” Lastly, Johnson said that “this one is shot entirely on location.”
Kraven the Animal-Loving Hunter sounds about as far away from the comics as you can get, but it does fit with Sony’s MO of taking hard-edged villain characters and updating them with more heroic qualities. In the TV shows and video games I’ve seen Kraven appear in, he’s a skilled hunter who goes after the most challenging game in town simply for the thrill of it, with New York’s favorite web-head sometimes coming into his crosshairs.
While Taylor-Johnson clarifies that the character is still a hunter here, what he’ll be hunting is somewhat in question. If animals aren’t his main prey and presuming Spider-Man won’t make an appearance, that would imply that he’s hunting human beings. This could mean that the film will be a revenge story, a tale of Kraven hunting someone who wronged him in the past wherein he eventually becomes a savior.
Each character Sony has plucked for their Universe of Marvel Characters so far had me similarly questioning how their movies would turn them from villains to anti-heroes, but they pulled it off then, so I won’t be surprised if they work that same magic for Kraven.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is an interesting choice for Kraven The Hunter. The actor initially entered the public eye via his lead role in Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman’s 2010 film adaptation of Kick-Ass and later portrayed Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but his work in films like 2014’s Godzilla, 2020’s Tenet, and 2015’s Nocturnal Animals have allowed him to showcase considerable dramatic range. He’s set to appear next in the Brad Pitt-led Bullet Train this August.
Kraven The Hunter also has a superlative supporting cast lined up, including Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Ariana DuBose among others. The director is J.C. Chandor, who has previously handled dark and gritty dramas Triple Frontier and A Most Violent Year among other similar films and the screenplay is credited to Matt Holloway, whose previous credits include the Uncharted movie, Men in Black: International, Transformers: The Last Knight, Punisher: War Zone, Iron Man, and Shadow of Fear.
Based on his previous work, Kraven should be sufficiently Krazy. While we don’t have any official footage to go on yet, we do know the film has an expected release date of January 13, 2023 as of this writing, so we should expect a trailer in the coming months. Who knows if we’ll get a cameo from Tom Hardy’s Venom or Jared Leto’s Morbius in there, but if they did appear, it would certainly help in making this Universe start to feel more cohesive.
The Illuminerdi will keep their scope out on more Kraven the Hunter news as it enters our own crosshairs.
What do you think of Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s description for Kraven the Hunter? Do you think an animal-loving Kraven could work, or would you prefer it was more comic-accurate? What’s your favorite entry in the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters so far? What’s your favorite performance from Aaron Taylor-Johnson? Let us know in the comments below and on our Twitter.
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Source: Variety
