Despite the critical and commercial dud that was Morbius, Sony still seems committed to plowing ahead with its Spider-Man Universe films. After unveiling the first footage at CinemaCon a few months ago, Sony has debuted the first official Kraven the Hunter trailer.
The loudest debut was for October’s Kraven the Hunter, which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular vest wearing hero/villain, depending on your POV. Taylor-Johnson has certainly come a long way from the first superhero role in Kick-Ass and Quicksilver in Age of Ultron. Also in the film are and Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Ariana DeBose respectively playing Kraven’s father and Calypso, Kraven’s love interest. The film also features Fred Hechinger as master of disguise Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon as well as Alessandro Nivola portraying an actual comic accurate version of the Rhino.
Directed by J.C. Chandor and written by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Richard Wenk, Kraven is Sony’s follow up to the aforementioned meme-tastic Morbius from last year. In contrast to its previous Spidey Universe films, Kraven is R-rated and the filmmakers are taking full advantage. Discussing Film’s Andrew J. Salazar described more of the footage including a scene of Kraven taking a cue from The Penguin’s playbook in Batman Returns and biting someone’s nose:
Sony revealed the first-ever footage for Kraven the Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The trailer starts with Kraven stopping some poachers in the wild. This is confirmed to be Rated R and the footage really shows it, with Kraven killing everyone like an animal. He uses weapons, his hands, and even his own teeth and he bites a poacher and spits out the blood. He also crawls around walls and pounces on foes like an animal. The main conflict is between his father, played by Russell Crowe, who was the one who actually raised him in the ways of hunter vs prey. The action features over-the-top gore, as Kraven uses all kinds of weapons from spears to bear traps to decapitate and chop up of goons. The footage teased a mysterious new character played by Ariana DeBose as well.
Beyond this Kraven the Hunter film, other Sony Spider-Man Universe films in the works include El Muerto and a Madame Web film supposedly scheduled for release in 2024.
Kraven the Hunter arrives in theaters October 6, 2023.
