Kraven the Hunter star Aaron Taylor-Johnson has explained why he views the titular Marvel antagonist as Spider-Man's number one rival.
Taylor-Johnson commented on the upcoming film during Sony's presentation at the CineEurope conference in Barcelona, as reported by Variety. The actor told the audience in attendance that he believed Kraven to be "one of Marvel’s most iconic, notorious anti-heroes" because the character is "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." Taylor-Johnson will be the first character to portray Kraven the Hunter in live-action in film or television.
Kraven the Hunter began development in August 2018, with Sony hiring Richard Wenk to write a screenplay for the film. The studio officially announced the film to the public in March 2019. Art Marcum and Matt Holloway joined the project in August 2020 to rewrite the script, after doing uncredited rewrites for 2022's Morbius. J. C. Chandor and Taylor-Johnson signed on to the film in as director and lead actor respectively in May 2021. Kraven the Hunter will mark the third time Taylor-Johnson has played a comic book character after playing the titular superhero in the Kick-Ass films and Marvel speedster Quicksilver in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In addition to Taylor-Johnson, the rest of the film's cast reportedly includes Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger and Christopher Abbott. Sources close to the production indicate that the actors will be playing Calypso, Dmitri Smerdyakov/Chameleon and The Foreigner respectively in Kraven the Hunter. Alessandro Nivola has also been cast as a villain opposite Abbott in the film while Russell Crowe and Levi Miller are also set to appear in the film in undisclosed roles. Tom Holland, who plays Spider-Man in the MCU, revealed in October 2021 that he had expressed interest to Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal about potentially appearing in Kraven the Hunter.
Kraven the Hunter is set to be the fourth film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) after Venom (2018), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) and Morbius. The franchise has been a successful box office player for Sony, with the three released films grossing a combined $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office. Future SSU projects include Madame Web and El Muerto, which are set to hit theaters on July 7, 2023 and Jan. 12, 2024, respectively. A third Venom film is also in early development.
Kraven the Hunter will open in theaters on Jan. 13, 2023.
Source: Variety