When is the Kraven the Hunter release date? Forget Morbin’ time; it’s Krav’n time now, as Sony gears up to release the latest film in its Spider-Man (ish) slate. The character has a long history in the Marvel universe, first debuting back in 1964 in issue 15 of The Amazing Spider-Man comic series.
Typically, Kraven is portrayed as a highly-skilled big-game hunter whose goal is to beat Spider-Man in order to prove himself as the world’s greatest hunter. In the MCU comics, he is one of Spidey’s most formidable adversaries, and a founding member of the Sinister Six, a group of Spider-Man villains made up of Doctor Octopus, Electro, Mysterio, Sandman, and Vulture.
Although he often clashes with Spider-Man and occasionally other heroes like Black Panther, he is also known to be an anti-hero: teaming up with Spidey on occasion in the comics. As one of the best MCU characters of all time with over fifty years of history in the comics, the villain’s been due his place on the big screen for a while. So, here’s everything we know about the Kraven the Hunter release date, plot, and cast list.
Kraven the Hunter release date
Kraven the Hunter has been pushed all the way to August 30, 2024 – Labor Day Weekend.
The project has been pushed back more than once – after initially having a January 2023 release date, then an October 2023 release date.
Despite the superhero movie first being announced in 2018, filming didn’t commence on the project until March 2022. Shooting then wrapped in June 2022. It will be over two years between the filming being wrapped and the upcoming Marvel movie being released.
Kraven the Hunter cast
Aaron Taylor-Johnson will play the titular anti-hero and will be joined by Ariana DeBose and Russell Crowe. DeBose will play Kraven’s partner in crime and lover, Calypso, while Christopher Abbott will be bringing another Spider-Man villain to the screen as The Foreigner.
Russell Crowe might have recently made his MCU movie debut as Zeus, but it looks like he’s covering all bases Marvel-wise, as he’s also reportedly playing a member of Kraven’s family in the new movie.
Other major castings for the movie include Fred Hechinger as Kraven’s half-brother, The Chameleon, and Alessandro Nivola is lined up to be Kraven’s nemesis, though we don’t know exactly who that movie villain will be yet. We also learned at CinemaCon 2023 that The Rhino will appear in the film.
Here is the Kraven the Hunter cast list:
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven
- Ariana DeBose as Calypso Ezili
- Christopher Abbott as The Foreigner
- Fred Hechinher as The Chameleon
- Murat Seven as Ömer Aksoy
- Alessandro Nivola as The Rhino
- Russell Crowe as Kraven’s father
- Levi Miller in an undisclosed role
Behind the camera JC Chandor, the man behind All Is Los, A Most Violent Year, and Triple Frontier, will be directing using a script from Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Richard Wenk.
If you’re wondering where you know those names from, Marcum and Holloway wrote Iron Man and Punisher: War Zone while Wenk’s responsible for The Equalizer franchise. So basically, we’re in good hands.
Kraven the Hunter trailer speculation
The Kraven The Hunter trailer was released officially online on June 19, 2023. After it leaked online earlier in the day.
The three-minute teaser gives us a brief glimpse at Kraven’s origin, explains why he hates his dear old dad, and we see the start of The Rhino’s transformation.
What is Kraven the Hunter about?
The first trailer gave us our first taste of Kraven the Hunter’s plot, and it looks as though the film’s going to be a revenge thriller with Sergei trying to track down (and presumably murder) his cold and callous father (Crowe), who left him to die in the African savanna.
Unlike the comic book version of Kraven, the big-screen version seems to have superpowers. While it’s not entirely clear from the footage we’ve seen, it appears as though the lion that attacked Kraven somehow gave him the ability to channel the abilities of different animals (None of which were radioactive).
It’s also very likely Kraven will tie into Sony’s potential plans for a Sinister Six movie, although that’s pure speculation on our part, to be honest.
Will Spider-Man be in Kraven the Hunter?
If Spider-Man were to appear in Kraven the Hunter, it would likely be with either Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield donning the blue and red suit.
The ownership of Spider-Man has been a tense topic for Disney and Sony, but now the multiverse has opened in the MCU, it wouldn’t be out of the question for Tom Holland to appear as Spidey.
But equally, both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield haven’t ruled out reprising their roles in the Spider-Man cast as their respective web-slingers in future projects. And as campaigns mount for Andrew Garfield to get a third Spider-Man movie with Sony, a crossover with Kraven feels like the perfect opportunity to kick things off, hype fans up, and try and give the Sinister Six saga some credibility after Venom 2 and Morbius both underperformed.
Is Kraven the Hunter R-rated?
Yes, Kraven the Hunter is R-rated.
Taylor-Johnson announced the news at CinemaCon before showing the lucky audience violent footage of Kraven wiping out a group of poachers. Apparently, there’s even a scene where Kraven takes a bite out of someone (gross).
Where can I watch Kraven the Hunter?
Kraven the Hunter will be a theatrical exclusive when it’s first released.
We imagine it will eventually end up on Disney Plus, though, as it’s a Spider-Man adjacent property, and that’s ultimately where the Tom Hardy Venom films have ended up.
If you want to know more about the Spider-Verse, check out our guide detailing the best Spider-Man movies ranked; we’ve also got a comprehensive article explaining how to watch all the Marvel movies in order and Marvel Phase 5.
Or, for more things to look forward to, here’s our list of the 2023 movies we can’t wait for. We also have a guide breaking down all there is to know about the Venom 3 release date and the Spider-Man Freshman Year release date.