Sony Pictures has released the first trailer for Kraven the Hunter, the latest in a growing series of live-action films that capitalize on the Spider-Man brand by tracing the origin stories of some the web slinger’s most popular foes, following 2018’s Venom and 2022’s Morbius.
Aaron Johnson, who’s partially known for having a wife who’s 23 years his senior, is playing the titular character, Sergei Kravinoff, the “world’s great hunter,” while Russell Crowe can be found in the film as Kraven’s dad, showing little remorse after his son is mauled by a lion during a hunt.
Kraven originally got his powers from drinking a potion, according to Marvel’s write-up for the character, but the movie, which is directed by J.C. Chandor and set for release in October, seems to be delving more toward the supernatural.
A glimpse at Rhino, another popular Spider-Man villain, is teased at the very end of the trailer, played by Alessandro Nivola.
From a Marvel post:
[…] Sergei learns to survive by his wits and cunning. He starts to travel extensively, usually as a stowaway aboard cargo ships or trains, and lives one time or another in every major city in Europe and Asia by his late adolescence. In passage through equatorial Africa as a young man, Kravinoff (who anglicized his name to Kraven) discovers his natural talent for hunting. He soon departs the safari to live on his own in the African veldt.
By adulthood, his hunting skills are legendary, and he quickly becomes a wealthy big game hunter. He remains in Africa for 10 years, during which time in the Belgian Congo he steals a witch doctor’s herbal potion that enhances physical prowess. The potion’s rare, naturally occurring mutagenic chemicals heighten his speed, strength, and agility while greatly decelerating the aging process. Kraven uses his heightened abilities to hunt game more efficiently and enters a partnership with Smerdyakov to export the animal skins and ivory that he acquires.