MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, written by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards, recently arrived in bookstores and is packed full of information about the Marvel Cinematic Universe's creation and continued success (and the trials and tribulations the studio has faced along the way).
One of their greatest successes has been teaming with Sony Pictures to share Spider-Man. As a result, the wall-crawler's franchise has gone from being one running on fumes to among the most popular series in the entire genre, with 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home grossing just shy of $2 billion worldwide.
That movie saw Tom Holland's Peter Parker team up with the Variants played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, with the web-slingers squaring off against Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Electro, Lizard, and Sandman.
In the book, Spider-Man: No Way Home writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers confirm they wanted to use Kraven the Hunter in the threequel, only to be told the villain "was unavailable until Sony established him in a solo movie."
This lines up with comments from Tom Holland who reveals director Jon Watts pitched him a movie that, rather than revolving around the Multiverse, featured Peter Parker being hunted down by Kraven (which makes perfect sense with his identity revealed to the world and the fact he was wanted for the murder of Quentin Beck).
Instead, we're getting Sony's Kraven the Hunter movie which, after being pushed from this October, will now be released in theaters next August.
It seems unlikely that Marvel Studios would want to use Aaron Taylor-Johnson's version of the character, particularly if the movie ends up being as bad as the likes of Venom and Morbius. However, should it prove to be a smash hit, then there's always a chance we'll see Kraven hunting down Spider-Man.
Kraven the Hunter first appeared in 1964's Amazing Spider-Man #15. He has since become one of the web-slinger's most formidable foes, becoming a founding member of the Sinister Six and occasionally even coming into conflict with other heroes, such as Black Panther and Tigra. He is the half-brother of the Chameleon.
The character has been featured in a number of Spider-Man adaptations over the years including animated series and video games. Later this week, for example, we'll see him target Peter and Miles Morales in Spider-Man 2.
Do you think Spider-Man: No Way Home would have benefited from pitting the web-slinger against Kraven?