We’ve known for ages that director Ryan Coogler (“Sinners”) was hot on the idea of using “Spider-Man” villain Kraven the Hunter in his original “Black Panther” movie, and the director reveals he wanted to beef up the film by potentially adding Kraven alongside Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger and Andy Serkis’ Klaue. However, when Marvel Studios attempted to reach out to Sony Pictures on the director’s behalf, they were denied access.
During a chat with Josh Horowitz on his popular podcast “Happy Sad Confused” (via ComicBookMovie), Coogler recalled his failed attempt to get Kraven the Hunter into the movie after being a fan of a comic book run that saw a fun fight between T’Challa and Kraven that could have been worked into the first installment.
“The outline of villains was Klaue and Killmonger, but they weren’t sure. They weren’t sure. Klaue felt slightly modular to them, and obviously, it was the great Andy Serkis, so I’m hyped to work with him,” Coogler said. “[I] wanted to base it on the Christopher Priest run of Panther, and his run starts with Panther and Kraven in the kitchen. That’s the first thing. It’s Ross, Panther, and Kraven fighting in the kitchen.”
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“I’m a big Spider-Man fan, especially ‘Spider-Man: The Animated Series.’ Kraven is in that. He’s also great in the books,” Coogler recalled of his attempt to get use of Kraven for “Black Panther.” “I was like, ‘Yo, can I have Kraven in the movie?’ They were like, ‘We don’t think so, but let us check.’ So, they hit Sony, and Sony was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ They came back to me like, ‘Yo, we can’t do it.’ So, I was like, ‘Okay.’”
Sony would ultimately end up casting Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the part for an R-rated solo “Kraven” movie directed by J.C. Chandor (“Triple Frontier”), as part of their greater Sonyverse grouping of films that featured a bunch of “Spider-Man” villains and supporting characters, such as Venom, Morbius, and Madame Web, making up that roster of Sony-owned characters adapted for feature films. For many fans, it was extremely frustrating that these villains wouldn’t ultimately end up interacting with Tom Holland’s Spidey, as Kraven is a legacy character from the deep bench of rogues.
With the Sonyverse seemingly done (or completely dead?), it remains to be seen what happens with those characters and if Marvel Studios will get their hands on certain characters in the future, as “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” from director Destin Daniel Cretton seems to be kicking off a new batch of MCU films with Holland back in the saddle.
You can watch that full exchange with Coogler below, where the filmmaker also telegraphs his excitement about potentially working with Denzel Washington (leaked his involvement on the “Gladiator 2” press tour) on his gestating “Black Panther 3,” which is expected to be his next feature film once he’s done work on his “X-Files” revival series.
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