Ever since Sony Pictures' deal with Disney to allow Spider-Man in the MCU, the studio has been eager to find ways to make movies that profit off of other characters and facets from the Spider-Man universe. Now, Sony is moving forward with a film about the classic Spidey villain Kraven the Hunter, and Avengers: Age of Ultron star Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been cast to play the conniving sportsman.
Sony started its own Universe of Marvel characters with the Tom Hardy-starring Venom, which was a global success in 2018 since it grossed $856 million worldwide. The studio now has its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, due in theaters this September, with a Morbius film starring Jared Leto set for release in 2022.
Signing on as the lead star of Sony's Kraven the Hunter, a project confirmed by the studio last year, marks Taylor-Johnson's return to cinematic representations of Marvel properties. Brad Pitt and Keanu Reeves were reportedly offered the role before the studio settled on Johnson. This casting news comes after the previous announcement that Margin Call director J.C. Chandor has signed on to direct the comic book adaptation, working off a script written by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Richard Wenk. Of course, Taylor-Johnson is no stranger to Hollywood franchises. He starred as the title role of Kick-Ass, played the lead in the 2014 Godzilla film, and portrayed the MCU's version of Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron. After recently starring in Christopher Nolan's Tenet, Taylor-Johnson will soon be appearing in The King's Man (which arrives in theaters later this year on December 22nd) as well as the Brad Pitt action film Bullet Train.
Kraven is unique among supervillains in that he doesn't have any superpowers, mutations, or impressive technologies at his disposal. In fact, Kraven is driven by an obsession and determination for being known as the best hunter in the world, a goal that leads him to seek out Spider-Man in the hopes of getting glory from hunting him down. Audiences, especially fans of the character, will be eager to see how Spider-Man not being a part of the story will affect how the film's plot plays out, especially since the character will not have his sights set on his usual trophy. Whether Sony might want to bring together the protagonists of Venom, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter is also a question mark that is sure to cause excitement and speculation among fans.
It should also be noted that Sony Pictures has had a disappointing track record of announcing the development of Spider-Man spin-off films only for nothing to come of those projects. The most notable announcement of this kind would easily be Silver & Black from The Old Guard director Gina Prince-Bythewood, which was about the heroines Silver Sable and Black Cat but was canceled by Sony and reworked into a proposed limited series.
Similar projects centered around characters like Nightwatch and Silk have come and gone in a similar manner--the former of which is especially disappointing since Spike Lee was attached to direct at one point in time. But with a charismatic lead actor like Taylor-Johnson attached to Kraven the Hunter, it seems like Sony's project about the exploits of Sergei Kravinoff just might stick.
Kraven the Hunter is penciled in for a release on January 13th, 2023.
Source: Sony Pictures