Sony traps Russell Crowe in one of its other Spidey villain movies, Kraven The Hunter
Emboldened by Venom’s success, Sony is tripling down on Spider-Man spin-offs
Aux News Sony
Sony is ransacking one Dark Universe for another.
For the next installment in Sony’s dark Marvel Cinematic Universe of Spider-Man villains, the studio has trapped Russell Crowe in another anti-superhero movie, Kraven The Hunter. Crowe is no stranger to Dark Universes, having starred as Dr. Jekyll in the failed franchise-starter The Mummy.
Scheduled for a January 2023 release, Kraven The Hunter will star Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the classic Spider-Man villain Kraven, who debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man#15. Kraven is a Russian big-game hunter who comes to New York to pursue the most dangerous of prizes: Spider-Man. This proto-Predator character’s most famous run, though, came in the 1980 Spider-Man arc “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” in which Kraven seemingly kills Spidey, buries him, and assumes the role of Friendly Neighborhood web slinger.
Sony may have given up Spider-Man to Kevin Feige, but that will not stop them from putting together an adjacent MCU made entirely of Spidey’s villains. Following the success of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and, we assume, Morbius, Sony is filling out its universe with Kraven and the recently announced Madame Web starring Dakota Johnson.
It’s still unclear, though, whether audiences will bite for Morbius. Like Joker, Venom had the benefit of centering on one of the most famous and beloved comic book characters ever. Whereas Kraven, Morbius, and Madame Web are, well, significantly less popular. Venom: Let There Be Carnage also had the added benefit of featuring a scene where Venom cooks Eddie Brock’s breakfast, but we digress.
Morbius’ release date jumped from the January dumping ground to April, a move set in motion by the outrageous success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which connected both universes. The latest Spider-Man movie has made more than $1.3 billion thus far—a staggering figure considering the dismal pandemic box office.
40 Comments
If I’m reading this right, Crowe won’t play Kraven, which is good. I would love to hear his Russian accent, but he’s a bit old and… I don’t know. Portly.
“Superman’s father. He ballooned up nicely.” – Thornton Melon
Apparently Aaron Taylor-Johnson is gonna be playing Kraven.I’m betting Crowe reprises his role as Dr. Jekyll. Why not combine CUs?
The kid from Home Improvement? Good for him
No the guy who already played Quicksilver in Age of Ultron.You may be thinking of Jonathan Taylor Thomas or Zachery Ty Bryan?
It was an attempt at a joke. I probably should have just gone to bed.
Ya know I was wondering if was a joke, it’s the internet so I was 50/50 on it. Damn lack of nuance in text!
He’s actually playing Squirrel Girl.
He does kinda look like a Mick Molloy character now.
Both Venom’s were awful and Tom Hardy was awful in them.
I normally dunk on Sony Spider-Man movies, so I want to say this with all sincerity: it is a bold choice making a cinematic universe where the heroes are all villains from Spider-Man stories (though at times they become sort of anti-heroes). Not necessarily a good choice, but a bold one.
I dunno, is a desperate cash-in attempt really bold? It seems more like the way Universal tried to clumsily slap together a monsterverse after the MCU caught on, and at least there was a track record of people watching monster movies.
That’s like saying bringing back the McRib is a bold choice.
Can you really “dunk on” a multibillion dollar franchise though? Seems as though they swatted your dunk attempt all the way to the bank.
“Not necessarily a good choice”
Excuse me, sir, but the $1.34 billion Venom franchise would like a word.
Uh, just who is Crowe playing? Too bad he’s going to be wasted in the “Sony-Verse” of Marvel characters. I’d rather he was in the MCU proper. Of course, from a “metaverse” standpoint he can still legally play someone in the MCU too, but of course.. is that even likely?Sigh… If I’m forced to speculate: the Foreigner is an obscure spy villain with ambiguously defined powers. Evil James Bond, something like that. (I halfway remember a sequence where apparently he had some kind of “instant hypnosis” where he was actually holding his own in a fight against Spidey, which normally would be ridiculously imbalanced. A future writer also had him impregnate Silver Sable, which I personally consider detestable enough to simply ignore at this point.)
He is in the MCU proper. He’s in Thor 4. I think he’s playing Zeus, which leads me to believe we’re going to get Hercules at some point.
Foreigner and Silver Sable were married at one point, so them actually having sex wouldn’t really be detestable.
Yeah, I hate Sony has access to some much Spider-Man IP. I wonder if Marvel shares the character. Because I remember talk of Kraven being a big game hunter in Wakanda.
They don’t, really. They’re trying to Jedi mind trick us into believing that Spider-Man characters who are supporting players by their very nature are capable of carrying their own movies. No one would ever make a Kraven movie if they had access to even, say, another five percent of the Marvel stable.
Exactly. I hate that. I remember Sony wanted to make Silver and Black, starring Silver Sable and Black Cat. Corny. Without Spider-Man, it’s just dumb. Unfortunately Sony just released a movie that made the most money ever so they’re going to be putting out shit movies for a while now.
Morbius in particular, I’d say — he was a character who was created so Spider-Man could fight a vampire, rather than being a compelling character in his own right. Some of the other options have more going for them in the source material, but, yes, they’re still supporting players.
The process is just so obviously calculated and devoid of any trace of creative impetus. They’re picking Kraven, for example, because he’s the classic villain who hasn’t been used yet, not because there’s anything there to support a feature.
So there were eight major and several minor villains deemed more exciting for Spider-Man to fight first, but now this one is getting his own film because he’s what’s leftover.
Russell Crowe is going to be in the MCU proper. He is in Thor Love and Thunder.
Some smart people made some compelling arguments last time we had this thread, but I see no way forward with Kraven. He was outdated when he debuted practically, which probably coincided with some Tarzan resurgence or something, and he might as well be an alien now. Unless they lose the entire lion tamer / big game hunter thing entirely, which is possible I suppose. Evil Steve Irwin was mentioned.
There was talk of making him a big game hunter in Wakanda. I thought that was a good in. Of course that was MCU, not Sony.
Aw, that would have been a fun intro.
Kate Beaton to the rescue!
http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=324
Better have the Kra-Van.
Can’t wait to hear Kraven make a Morbius joke.
If they don’t have cameos from Tyler the Creator and Cedric the Entertainer, they’re doing it wrong.
don’t forget Larry the Cable Guy!
Playing Bob the Builder, Winnie the Pooh, and Robert the Bruce, in any permutation.
I… would watch a Tyler voice Pooh movie you know…
I’d rather see him play The Crowe.
Dude, unless it’s an unmitigated doodoo bomb like Trank’s Fantastic Four, fools will pay to see it. Venom is fucking straight to DVD turdation, and it made more money than Venezuela. Make a movie about Gleek the monkey, $600M guaranteed.
“Sony may have given up Spider-Man to Kevin Feige”
Did Sony cancel the two Spider-Verse sequels that are already in production and that one already has a teaser?Is that what’s happened? Because Sony no longer has Spider-Man?
Kraven’s Last Hunt was in ‘87, not ‘80. I know this because I bought the individual issues when they came out (as I did literally anything with Mike Zeck covers) and I was 3 years old in 198o.
I’ve been saying this for years – this character should’ve been introduced ages ago to the Spidey films. And it is taylor-made for Jeffrey Dean Morgan, not Kick Ass.Or Karl Urban. Take your pick of the two.
Not only are Morbius, Madame Webb, and Kraven less popular characters, but Jared Leto, Dakota Johnson, and Russell Crowe are unlikable people!
“I will prove myself by hunting the most dangerous game of all: Russell Crowe!”