After the recent news that Alessandro Nivola is joining Sony’s Spider-Man spin-off Kraven the Hunter as a villain, another villain has been found in the form of The Foreigner, and it looks as though Christopher Abbott will be stepping into his leather boots.
The cast has been expanding rapidly in recent weeks, after Aaron Taylor-Johnson was cast in the lead role in May of last year. Much more recently, Russell Crowe joined the cast in an unspecified role and Nivola has also boarded as an unspecified villain. Ariana DeBose has also been cast, as Calypso Ezili and Fred Hechinger will be playing Kraven’s brother Chameleon.
The Foreigner was first seen in the Marvel comics in the 1980s, and was modeled on The Prisoner actor Patrick McGoohan. He is a mercenary and assassin, and is said to be in peak physical condition. He is stronger, faster, more agile, and has better reaction times than any Olympic athlete. He can put people in a short hypnotic trance and is a master of disguise, once impersonating President Ronald Reagan.
The Foreigner is one of Spider-Man’s adversaries, but then, so is Kraven the Hunter, so it’s unclear whether The Foreigner will be for or against Kraven. It sounds as though production on Kraven the Hunter must be starting soon, as Aaron Taylor-Johnson has recently been in training for the role.
This will be by far Christopher Abbott’s most high-profile role to date, having been part of the indie scene for the last decade. Like Adam Driver, his breakout role was in the TV show Girls. He’s also appeared in A Most Violent Year (with Oscar Isaac), Sweet Virginia (with Jon Bernthal), First Man (with Ryan Gosling), Vox Lux (with Natalie Portman), Black Bear (with Aubrey Plaza) and in Brandon Cronenberg’s horror movie Possessor.
While we wait for more news about Kraven the Hunter, check out our guide to Marvel Phase 4.