Spider-Man: No Way Home will take Peter Parker on the most ambitious journey of his cinematic life, pitting him against villains from past Spider-Man films, including Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, the Lizard and Electro. That's quite a powerhouse roster of baddies, but as it turns out, No Way Home almost centered around a very different and much more grounded villain: Kraven the Hunter.
To provide some context, back in 2019, it was announced that Marvel Studios and Sony had decided to end their partnership to produce MCU-set Spider-Man movies. Breaking away from the MCU meant that the Wall-Crawler's franchise needed to undergo a drastic shift, and as Tom Holland recently revealed, one of those new directions involved the Web-Head dealing with Sergei Kravinoff.
Speaking with Collider, the actor stated that, following Sony and Marvel Studios' aforementioned split, No Way Home director Jon Watts planned to make Kraven the threequel's main villain:
"For a long time, there was a 'Kraven' movie that was gonna be the third movie because things weren't working out and all sorts of different stuff. ['No Way Home' director Jon Watts] pitched me this 'Kraven' movie, which actually was really cool. I don't want to talk about it in case that movie ends up happening down the line, but it was fun."
Aside from the presence of Doctor Strange, it looks like No Way Home is exploring the multiverse strictly through Sony's past Spider-Man ventures, as opposed to including elements from Marvel's recently acquired properties (like the X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc.). As such, some fans may find it surprising to learn that Sony was prepared to change gears with the film's story when its deal with Marvel Studios fell through. After all, could Marvel being out of the picture have drastically altered Sony's plans to unite the Spider-Man multiverse?
In a way, yes, seeing as how No Way Home appears to tie directly into the multiversal tapestry that Marvel Studios has set up with projects like WandaVision and Loki, and will continue to build with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
It's worth noting that this isn't the first time Holland has discussed Spider-Man meeting up with Kraven. During a 2021 interview with Empire Magazine (via Screen Rant), the actor talked about how he discussed Peter Parker's future with producer Amy Pascal when it looked like the Wall-Crawler was out of the MCU:
"On the day that the announcement happened that I would no longer be in the MCU [...] I just drove over to Amy Pascal's house and sat with her by her pool, and we sat there for hours [...] pitching movies. How would we do a film without Marvel? Does Peter Parker fall through a portal, and then he's in the 'Venom' world? Or do we do a 'Kraven the Hunter' film?"
Kraven is actually getting his own film soon, led by Avengers: Age of Ultron star Aaron Taylor-Johnson and directed by Triple Frontier helmer J.C. Chandor. The movie is scheduled to be released on January 13, 2023 and is expected to be part of Sony's Spider-Man Universe. Peter Parker's big-screen future is unclear at the moment, but as Holland pointed out, the Wall-Crawler meeting Kraven the Hunter could happen down the line.
Spider-Man: No Way Home will hit theaters on December 17, 2021.