The first trailer for Kraven the Hunter has been officially released by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures. Unfortunately, rather than just pitting its titular big game hunter against Spider-Man, the next film will tell Kraven’s dark and tragic origin story. You can check out the trailer below.
The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven/Sergei Kravinoff, and viewers will watch how his villainous father, played by Russell Crowe, leaves him for dead after a horrific event involving Sergei getting mauled by a lion during a hunting trip somewhere in Africa. The attack exposes Sergei to its blood and profoundly transforms him.
In the comics, Kraven is a villain who, in addition to killing Spider-Man, is obsessed with asserting his dominance as the world’s apex predator.
The trailer doesn’t reveal everything Kraven can do with his superhumanly enhanced senses and strength, but it shows his path of supposedly ridding the world of ‘evil’ in the most violent and primal of ways, in pursuit of his father, whose own line of business ‘puts evil in the world.’
As Sony’s first R-rated Marvel film, the trailer promises more horrific action scenes, including one that sees Kraven biting an enemy’s nose off.
Along with Taylor-Johnson and Crowe, the cast also includes Ariana DeBose as Calypso, Fred Hechinger as Kraven’s half-brother Dmitri Smerdyakov/Chameleon, and Alessandro Nivola as The Rhino.
Kraven the Hunter premieres on 6 October 2023.
