SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for the ending of “Kraven the Hunter,” now playing in theaters.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is suiting up as the famous Spider-Man villain Kraven the Hunter in Sony’s latest (and possibly final) Marvel movie.
After the “Venom” trilogy, “Morbius” and “Madame Web,” “Kraven the Hunter” is the last Spidey-less movie slated in Sony’s calendar. There are currently no further plans for other movies based on supporting characters from the “Spider-Man” world (for a time, Bad Bunny was set to star in “El Muerto,” about a super-powered wrestler, but the movie was pulled from release). In the immediate future, the Spidey-verse with continue with Tom Holland’s fourth “Spider-Man” MCU movie, the animated trilogy capper “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” and Amazon’s “Spider-Noir” series starring Nicolas Cage, who voiced the alternate-dimension hero in the “Spider-Verse” movies.
Luckily for Spider-Man fans, there are multiple villains introduced for the first time in “Kraven the Hunter.” Fred Hechinger plays the master of disguise Chameleon; Alessandro Nivola is the super-strong Rhino; Christopher Abbott is the mercenary the Foreigner; and Ariana DeBose is the mystical Calypso.
In the end of the movie, we get comic-book accurate portrayals of Rhino and Chameleon. After being experimented on by a scientist, Nivola’s mobster unleashes his full strength, gains some impenetrable skin and grows a sharp rhino horn as he battles Kraven amid a stampede. Hechinger’s Dmitri, who’s also Kraven’s half-brother, takes a villainous turn after Kraven kills their cruel father Nikolai (Russell Crowe). After teasing his ability to perfectly mimic voices throughout the movie, Dmitri reveals he’s undergone a procedure that allows him to take on the face of anyone he wants. He uses this to change his face to Kraven’s in the movie’s final moments, and it’s clear the relationship between the two has completely crumbled.
Unlike other superhero movies, there is no post-credits scene in “Kraven” to tease what might be coming next. It’s also unclear whether any of the characters will carry over into other “Spider-Man” movies.
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The Chameleon
Fred Hechinger’s Dmitri gets a comic-book accurate Chameleon mask by the end of the movie. Like the comics, the all-white, feature-less mask allows him to don a realistic imitation of anyone’s face.
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Rhino
The Rhino is one of Spider-Man’s many animal-themed villains, like the Chameleon, Doctor Octopus, Vulture and others. In the comics, he’s a Russian mobster who undergoes an experiment to give him super strength and impenetrable, rhino-like skin. In other versions, he simply wears a thick, polymer suit that can be removed. Paul Giamatti played the villain in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” where he wore a giant, cybernetic mech suit, but Alessandro Nivola’s character more closely resembles the comic-book version.
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Miles Warren
The Rhino mentions Dr. Miles Warren was the scientist who gave him his super-tough skin, and it’s hinted that Dmitri also visited Warren to gain his shape-shifting Chameleon powers. In the comics, Warren is the alter-ego of the Jackal, a mad scientist who was infamously involved in cloning Spider-Man during the “Clone Saga” comic-book run.
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Spiders
Image Credit: ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
What’s Kraven’s biggest fear? Spiders, naturally. When the Foreigner poisons Kraven and causes him to hallucinate, he sees armies of spiders descend upon him and crawl all over his body. Though he may never actually meet Spider-Man, the nod to the wall-crawler is obvious.
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Kraven’s Lion Mane
Kraven’s comic-book vest made from a lion mane was foreshadowed throughout the movie, but in the end he finally gets the new costume from his late father. He even strikes a pose in the mirror that references a famous hero shot of Kraven from the comics.
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The Foreigner
Christopher Abbott plays the lesser-known villain the Foreigner, who’s a mercenary with no super powers. He’s able to hypnotize his victims into a trance and dash away as they’re disoriented before delivering the killing blow.
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Kraven’s Comic Debut
Image Credit: ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Kraven first appeared in “Amazing Spider-Man” issue No. 15, which was released in August 1964. At the beginning of the movie when Kraven is in prison, his ID number is 0864, which references the date of his comic-book debut.
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Daily Bugle
The Daily Bugle, the famous New York newspaper where Peter Parker works, makes a brief appearance in “Kraven” and references his killer past.
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