Following the critical and commercial failure of Morbius, Sony is turning to another Spider-Man villain to turn its fortunes around. On Monday, Sony Pictures released the first trailer for Kraven the Hunter, which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Bullet Train) in the title role. Although Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) has been darker and more violent than the MCU to date, this will be the first R-rated movie of the bunch.
And based on the first trailer, Sony is pushing that R rating to the limit:
Much like Venom and Morbius before it, Kraven the Hunter will tell the origin story of yet another notable Spider-Man villain from the pages of Marvel Comics. The lengthy trailer appears to spoil quite a lot of the story, as we see Sergei Kravinoff’s father (played by Russell Crowe) leave his son to die after he’s mauled by a lion while big game hunting.
Sergei survives, but a drop of the lion’s blood that enters his bloodstream gives him animal-like powers, making him stronger and allowing him to communicate with wildlife. The Kraven trailer then proceeds to prove that this is indeed an R-rated movie.
Aside from Kraven, the movie will also introduce villains Chameleon (Kraven’s half-brother and technically the first-ever Spider-Man adversary), Rhino, and Calypso.
Kraven the Hunter was directed by J.C. Chandor (Triple Frontier) and was written by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Iron Man), as well as Richard Wenk (The Equalizer). Along with Taylor-Johnson and Crowe, the cast includes Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, and Christopher Abbott. Barring any delays, Kraven will hit theaters on October 6, 2023.
