“Kraven the Hunter” is the latest entry in Sony’s Spider-Man universe to spotlight a foe from the web-slinger’s rogues gallery. The catch? Just like the “Venom,” “Morbius” and “Madame Web” movies, there’s still no sign of the wall-crawler himself.
At the film’s world premiere in New York, Ariana DeBose, who stars as Calypso alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven, had a clear message for Marvel: Bring Kraven into the mix to fight Spider-Man.
“This is meant to be a standalone film and an origin story, but I do think Kraven deserves that epic showdown with Spider-Man,” DeBose told Variety on Tuesday night at AMC Lincoln Square 13. “There’s literally a whole comic about it. Give the people what they want. I think they should do that. And if there’s space for Calypso and Kraven’s journey, then great!”
As Sony reportedly shifts focus from solo supervillain movies to projects placing Spider-Man front and center, Johnson seems game for the team-up as well. The “Kraven the Hunter” star even caught Tom Holland’s stage performance in “Romeo and Juliet” earlier this year, fueling speculation about a possible team-up.
“The last time I spoke to Tom was backstage of his theater production, ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ and I gotta tell you, he was fantastic,” Johnson told Variety of Holland’s turn as Romeo. “That guy is a phenomenal actor, and I’d be happy to work with him any day.”
This isn’t the first time discussions about pinning Kraven the Hunter against Spider-Man have circulated around Marvel. According to Holland himself, Kraven was supposed to be the villain of his third solo outing before the film evolved into the multiversal crossover event “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
“[Director] Jon [Watts] pitched me this Kraven movie, which actually was really cool,” Holland said at the time. “I don’t want to talk about it in case that movie ends up happening down the line, but it was fun.”
Watts and Holland aren’t the only ones batting for this concept to be revived. “Kraven the Hunter” director J.C. Chandor said he’d like to conclude his story by exploring “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” a Marvel Comics storyline that sees the villainous big-game hunter become maniacally obsessed with proving himself superior to Spider-Man.
“It would be the conclusion to the character that we’ve created,” Chandor told Variety. “So obviously, we gotta see what happens here and I’m super proud of the film that we’ve made. In the final scenes of this film, I think we’ve created a character that you can see going a lot of interesting places, so it would be a joy to get to do that.”
The film’s ending teases a brewing conflict between Johnson’s Sergei Kravinoff and his brother, Dimitri (Fred Hechinger), who gains the shape-shifting abilities of the Chameleon after visiting a mysterious doctor in New York.
“For all of these characters, their powers are also kind of sicknesses,” Hechinger said. “You’re seeing where it comes from — not in their power, but in their insecurity and the development of why they need it.”
In a universe where anything seems possible, Marvel has no shortage of talent to draw from. So, why not June Squibb?
“She’s a human superhero!” Hechinger said of his “Thelma” co-star. “You name it — I’d see June play any Marvel character. The Squibb-ster!”
Marvel, take note.
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