Kraven the Hunter director J.C. Chandor says the upcoming installment of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe will be a tragic tale.
Why will Kraven be tragic?
In an Esquire profile of Kraven star Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chandor spoke about the grim approach that the Spider-Man spinoff will take as its dark tone has been inspired by the supervillain’s dreary fate in the comic books. “Sony probably doesn’t want me to lead with this, but the story is a tragedy,” Chandor said. “When the final credits roll on this film, if you’ve been paying attention, you won’t have the feeling that this is all going to end great.”
Kraven the Hunter will loosely take influence from the storyline “Kraven’s Last Hunt” published in the pages of Marvel Comics from October to November 1987. The storyline follows Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven wanting to eliminate the Wall Crawler before his impending death. He kills Spider-Man and impersonates him in the costume to prove his superiority until Spidey gets revived from the effects of a tranquilizer dart. Once Kraven proves his point, he reflects on his life before shooting himself to death.
Directed by Chandor and written by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Richard Wenk, Kraven the Hunter stars Johnson as the titular warrior antihero raised into a killer by his estranged father (Russell Crowe). Kraven will feature some familiar Spider-Man villains including Calypso (Ariana DeBose), Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon (Fred Hechinger), and Aleksei Sytsevich / Rhino (Alessandro Nivola). Kraven is one of three Spider-Man Universe movies set for release in 2024 alongside Sydney Sweeney’s Madame Web and Tom Hardy’s Venom 3.
Originally slated for an October release, Kraven the Hunter was delayed due to the ongoing strike in Hollywood. It is now scheduled for release on August 20, 2024.
