Ariana DeBose is enjoying quite the career boost right now. The breakout star of Steven Spielberg‘s West Side Story musical movie has not only been nominated for the Oscars recently, but she is also now set to join the world of Marvel (or Sony, to be specific), in the upcoming Spider-Man villain movie, Kraven the Hunter.
The actor is going from strength to strength, after earning widespread critical acclaim for her supporting role in Spielberg’s remake of the classic romance movie, winning big at the SAG awards, and she now has a great shot at picking up the golden statue at the Oscars ceremony. And now, DeBose has landed a role in Sony’s developing Kraven the Hunter movie.
Although nothing has been confirmed yet, the rumours according to Deadline are that DeBose will be playing Calypso, a close ally of the titular Spider-Man villain. The action movie is set to be released in January 2023, and will add to Sony’s growing universe of Marvel movies, within which Spider-Man forges a link between the two studios.
DeBose joins Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who is playing the leading anti-hero character, a long-time adversary of Spidey and a renowned, formidable hunter. Calypso is a voodoo priestess, known to dabble in magical potions, and a character who is often a love interest for Kraven throughout comic book history.
The project is certainly picking up speed of late, with Russell Crowe joining the production in an unknown role, and The White Lotus star Fred Hechinger being cast as Kraven’s half-brother, Chameleon.
The Sony universe is growing quickly too, as the studio attempts to replicate what Marvel has achieved with the MCU, by creating their own comic book franchise. We have what looks like a comic book horror movie in the shape of Morbius, just around the corner, plus plans for a Madame Web movie starring Dakota Johnson.
It remains to be seen whether Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man, or perhaps a different iteration of the classic wall-crawler, will be a part of the Kraven the Hunter movie, or any other Sony project for that matter.
The contentious ownership battle over the iconic character certainly makes things a little confusing, but with Venom crossing over into the MCU briefly in the post-credit scene of No Way Home, and the long-standing rumours of a Sinister Six appearance, surely Spider-Man will be involved in all of this at some point.