There's not exactly a huge amount of excitement for Kraven the Hunter, no great surprise after movies like Morbius and Madame Web proved such a disappointment.
Sony Pictures is reportedly heading down the R-Rated route with Sergei Kravinoff's big screen debut, meaning we can at least look forward to Kraven being unleashed in a way that does the comics justice. Unfortunately, the first trailer lost a lot of goodwill by teasing a mutant version of classic Spider-Man villain, The Rhino.
Talking of the web-spinner, Sony's Marvel Universe still doesn't have a Spider-Man. That's come as a relief to many fans, but when the hero is such a huge part of what makes characters like Venom and Kraven tick, it's starting to become a problem.
Well, according to scooper Cryptic HD QUALITY, "I heard Spider-Man has a name drop in it. An appearance though? Not too certain...from either [him or Morbius]."
We'd hazard a guess that Spidey is mentioned in passing as someone Kraven could head to New York City to hunt down in a future sequel (which, given the negative buzz and December release date, it's hard to imagine ever becoming a reality).
As for Morbius, rumours The Vulture will return in Spider-Man 4 suggest Sony has scrapped plans to have him and the Living Vampire assemble a supervillain team that can "do some good." Once upon a time, Kraven the Hunter was likely part of that.
Madame Web introduced Peter Parker as a baby in the early 2000s and, had it not been a standalone project, it would mean the "SSU" ("Sony's Spider-Man Universe) would have had a wall-crawler in the present day. It's all a little confusing and messy, truth be told, so we'll see whether Kraven the Hunter clears things up.
"I think there was something unique about this character, and something grounded," Aaron Taylor-Johnson recently said of what drew him to the role. "We’ve all had enough of seeing certain studio films, a certain kind of pop culture...where they’re churning out stuff that dilutes wanting to go to the cinema. I wouldn’t have signed onto it if I felt there wasn’t something to really bring to life with this character."
"Taking on a Sony/Marvel movie is a different challenge altogether," he added. "There’s the story, the character, the role; that’s one thing. But then you also step into a world where you’re dealing with a studio and a franchise - or possible franchises, though let’s not get ahead of ourselves."
Directed by J. C. Chandor from a screenplay by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Richard Wenk, Kraven the Hunter stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, and Russell Crowe.
After several delays, the movie is scheduled to arrive in theaters on December 13.