Sony Pictures unveils the first Kraven the Hunter movie footage, teasing the upcoming Spider-Man Universe movie. Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as Sergei Kravinoff, a big-game hunter who, in the Marvel Comics, attempts to hunt down Spider-Man. Though Kraven hasn’t made it into Sony’s previous Spider-Man franchises, the character will make his big screen debut later this year in his own solo movie.
During Sony Pictures’ presentation at CinemaCon 2023, the studio screened the first official Kraven the Hunter footage for those in attendance, as well as confirming it will be rated R. Included in the footage is a scene where Johnson picks up Kraven’s comics-accurate costume – complete with a fur-lined vest. True to its R rating, the Kraven footage includes plenty of brutal, bloody action, including one shot of Johnson’s character biting off an enemy’s face. In another action sequence, he takes on a group of six enemies, defeating them all.
Other snippets of action show Kraven swearing, outsmarting men who laid traps for him, and running like an animal on all fours. The footage sets up a conflict within Kraven’s family, with his brother – Chameleon (Fred Hechinger) – telling him he’s just like their father, played by Russel Crowe, though Kraven denies it. Further, the footage confirms Spider-Man villain Rhino will also appear in the Kraven the Hunter movie, with a shot showing a man’s arm transforming into the villain. Finally, Sony confirmed the Kraven the Hunter trailer will release this summer.
The biggest reveal of the Kraven the Hunter movie footage is the revelation that Rhino will appear in Sony’s movie – and that he’s positioned as the villain. Rhino was previously adapted in live-action for The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s ending scene, where Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker launches into battle against Paul Giamatti’s villain just before the movie cut to the credits. That, of course, wasn’t a proper adaptation, but it appears Kraven will give the character more screen time, and a more comics-accurate depiction. It’s not yet confirmed who will play Rhino, but he won’t wear a mech-suit like Giamatti’s version.
Beyond Rhino, the Kraven footage tees up the film to be very different from Sony’s other Spider-Man villain movies by going full hard R with its bloody violence and swearing. Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Morbius were all rated PG-13, but while the Venom movies were able to find success, Morbius floundered at the box office. Now it seems Sony is looking to branch out into rated R superhero fare, perhaps in an attempt to delve into a market that’s seen some success with the Deadpool movies and Joker. Whether that helps or hurts Kraven remains to be seen.
Finally, Johnson’s embodiment of Kraven the Hunter appears to honor the comic book character, with the movie set to adapt the villain’s iconic costume. They’ll also be staying true to the character’s origin as a big-game hunter, though it appears Kraven will be hunted himself. Exactly what the story of the movie is and how Rhino fits in remains to be seen. More about what can be expected from Kraven the Hunter will be revealed when the trailer releases this summer.
