Kraven the Hunter continues the trend of Sony’s Marvel universe: it’s another movie about a Spider-Man villain… without Spider-Man. But that doesn’t mean they’ll never meet, according to Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Sony may have enjoyed success with the Venom movies (The Last Dance is the worst-reviewed film in the trilogy, and it’s still one of the highest-grossing movies of 2024), but its efforts to tap into the Marvel big-screen machine have otherwise floundered. Madame Web was one of the biggest flops of the year, and Morbius was a running joke until it faded into the void of pop culture.
Above all else, they’re rights-retainers; it’s better to produce a movie and make some money than lose another character to Kevin Feige and co. Little is known about Sony’s revised arrangement with Marvel Studios; it fell apart, but they came together again under undisclosed terms.
One thing is clear: Sony keeps making movies about Spider-Man villains, but for some reason, he doesn’t appear in them (Venom: Let There Be Carnage’s post-credits scene, aside). If Aaron Taylor-Johnson gets his way, Kraven the Hunter will “go there” down the line.
Will Kraven the Hunter meet Spider-Man? The audience has to decide
Spider-Man isn’t in Kraven the Hunter, but if the audience responds well to the film and wants to see the titular villain face off against another superhero, Aaron Taylor-Johnson would be happy to make that happen.
Speaking to Dexerto before the movie’s release, we asked him if he could pick one live-action Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, or Tom Holland) to fight in the future, who would he choose?
We asked #KravenTheHunter star Aaron Taylor-Johnson if he wants to fight Spider-Man pic.twitter.com/TGJUAdlmPF
— ScreenTime (@screentime) December 6, 2024
“I feel like that’s something that we really want to leave to the audience to kind of feel, right?” he said.
“I feel like we’ve done everything we can to put this character together from the ground up in a way that we’re incredibly proud of and excited to share with the world.
“He comes with some demons, but we’ve also shown that there’s a sort of physicality in the way that he fights… [and that] would be so interesting to go toe to toe with some other superheroes that we know of. Come see this movie, I promise you it won’t disappoint – and if we get a chance to go again, we’ll go there.”
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Credit where it’s due, Kraven the Hunter already stands apart from the studio’s predecessors. It boasts practical, brutal action (it has a well-deserved R-rating, going off the first eight minutes), on-location sets, and an earnest desire to be a good action film in its own right, even without the Marvel movie label.
Kraven the Hunter 2 is possible
Whether or not Kraven the Hunter returns for another movie and a brawl with Spider-Man (imagine an adaptation of The Last Hunt) remains to be seen, but director JC Chandor was careful to set up a future for the character without comprising the audience’s introduction to him.
Lest we forget Sony’s most infamous example: the end of Morbius, with Vulture transported to the SSU through No Way Home’s multiversal rift and asking the titular vampire if he wants to team up and “do some good.”
Kraven the Hunter reportedly doesn’t have a post-credits scene, but Chandor knows where a sequel could go.
“I don’t want to give too much away… what I would say is when our film ends, we certainly would love there to be the opportunity to take this story forward,” he told Dexerto.
“I wanted the film to be our film. It is, of course, a Marvel film. It is part of that whole world. But… you can come into this knowing nothing about any of it, and the film should work absolutely on its own and operate within that space.
“I’m creating our world here and trying to tell that story and we have these amazing characters, and I think when the film ends people will certainly see potential for where this could go. But it wasn’t something I wanted to get too wrapped up in, like trying to fit into all other narratives… I want our film to be able to stand on its own.”
Before Kraven the Hunter hits cinemas on December 13, check out our list of the best superhero movies of all time, and find out how to watch every Marvel movie in order. You can also read our list of the best movies of 2024.
