Kraven the Hunter was nearly the main antagonist of Spider-Man: No Way Home; however, the film’s writers were told they couldn’t use the character until he was established in a solo movie.
The recently published MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios novel by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards, via The Direct, reveals Kraven the Hunter couldn’t be used in Spider-Man: No Way Home because the character “was unavailable until Sony established him in a solo movie.”
In 2021, Tom Holland told Collider that Spider-Man: No Way Home was almost going to be a Kraven the Hunter movie, though he didn’t reveal why it couldn’t happen at the time.
“For a long time, there was going to be a Kraven movie that was going to be the third movie because things weren’t working out and all sorts of different stuff,” Holland said. “[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.”
Writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers also commented about a Kraven movie when speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2021.
“I feel like there’s always a Kraven the Hunter pitch,” McKenna said. “Even on movies that aren’t Marvel movies, we’re like, ‘What if Kraven the Hunter showed up?’”
Sommers added, “We were pitching a romantic comedy and were like, ‘What if Kraven the Hunter shows up?’”
Kraven the Hunter is getting his solo movie
While Spider-Man: No Way Home didn’t feature Sergei Kravinoff and instead focused on villains such as Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, Jamie Foxx’s Max Dillon/Elector, and more, a Kraven the Hunter solo film is now coming in 2024 from director J.C. Chandor.
Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the titular role, Kraven the Hunter is currently scheduled to release on August 30, 2024. The movie also stars Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe, Fred Hechinger, Christopher Abbott, and Alessandro Nivola.
