May 26, 2021 | 7:11pm ET
The hunt is on. Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been cast as the iconic Spider-Man villain Kraven the Hunter to headline a new solo film from Sony (via Variety).
Both Sony and Marvel have attempted to develop the character aka Sergei Kravinoff for years. Finally, it seems as if Sony is set to expand its Universe of Marvel Characters with a Kraven the Hunter movie. J.C. Chandor (Triple Frontier, A Most Violent Year) is on board to direct from a script by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Iron Man, Men in Black: International), as well as Richard Wenk (the Equalizer series). Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach will produce the picture set for a January 13th, 2023 release.
Created in 1964 by comic legends Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Kraven worked to become the world’s greatest hunter, taking down big game with his bare hands. Using a serum to increase his strength, stamina, and speed — and slow his aging — he eventually set his sights on the greatest game of all: Spider-Man. Notable for his lion’s head jacket, he’s also known as a member of the villainous supergroup the Sinister Six.
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That means it’s likely Sony — and potentially Marvel — have eyes on having Taylor-Johnson’s join the cinematic Sinister Six. We’ve previously seen the Vulture and Scorpion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, and the former’s cameo in Sony’s forthcoming Morbius has already been teased. Add in the fact that Alfred Molina and Jamie Foxx are reprising their respective roles as Doctor Octopus and Electro in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and it all adds up to potentially one hell of a bad guy brouhaha.
That said, it’s not entirely understood how Kraven or any of the SUMC might tie into the MCU Spider-Man. Clearly there’s some crossover (see: Morbius), but we’ve yet to see exactly how it will all play out. Of course, Taylor-Johnson himself was already part of the MCU, having previously played Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Oh, what a tangled web these comic book movies weave.
The next SUMC entry set for release is Venom: Let There Be Carnage, due out September 24th. Morbius was meant to arrive before the Venom sequel, but got delayed because of the pandemic. It’s now arriving January 28th, 2022.