Director J.C. Chandor will finally bring “Kraven The Hunter” to the Spider-Man universe and the big screen in 2023. However, during the “Spider-Man: No Way Home” press tour, Tom Holland revealed that the Marvel Comics villain was nearly the main antagonist in an early version of this upcoming Spider-Man movie from filmmaker Jon Watts.
While chatting with Collider, Holland said that Watts originally pitched the third installment as a “Kraven movie,” aka the Hunter character as the main villain. However, the creative team eventually pivoted away from that idea and decided to go with the angle of using the Multiverse to bring back classic villains from previous Sony-made Spider-Man movies.
“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 told Collider about the what-if version of the third installment. “Jon 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.”
It’s unclear why Sony and Watts scrapped those plans, favoring The Multiverse/Doctor Strange angle instead, but Watts could still answer those questions on the ‘No Way Home’ press tour. “Kraven The Hunter” screenwriter Richard Wenk once teased that the spin-off would feature Spider-Man, and that likely could explain where things were headed.
In the comics, the Russian big-game hunter has been one of Spider-Man’s most notable villains over the years, and he almost appeared in several movies. The character was expected to appear in Drew Goddard’s never-made “Sinister Six” movie during the Andrew Garfield era. And “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler reportedly had an interest in the character too at one point in his early development of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
Given that Aaron Taylor-Johnson is now officially in the Kraven role, we likely won’t have to wait too long for the iconic villain and Peter Parker to cross paths. It’s clear ‘Spider-Man’ producer Amy Pascal wants characters like Venom to face off against Spider-Man, and she’s already teased a new trilogy after ‘No Way Home.’ After his solo movie, Kraven showing up in something like “Spider-Man 4” wouldn’t be surprising. However, with Watts attached to Marvel’s “Fantastic Four,” another director will likely have to take his place. Currently, “Kraven The Hunter” is set for a January 13, 2023 release date, but there’s been little news since the initial announcement about the rest of the cast.