Spider-Man: No Way Home will see Tom Holland’s Peter Parker battle the villains of the multiverse, but at one point, it was a very different film. Speaking to Collider, Holland admitted that initial ideas for the film included the Wallcrawler going toe to toe with the infamous villain Kraven the Hunter.
“For a long time, there was going to be a Kraven movie that was going to be the third movie because things weren’t working out and all sorts of different stuff,” Holland said. “Jon pitched me this Kraven movie, which actually was really cool. I don’t want to talk about it in case that movie ends up happening down the line, but it was fun.”
For whatever reason, that idea never quite coalesced, and Sony eventually announced that Kraven was getting his own adventure movie spin-off. Still, it’s easy to see how Kraven could fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s after the events of Far From Home. Spidey might have been on the run after Mysterio outed him, and Kraven could have been hunting him for sport or a reward.
We don’t have much info about Sony’s recently announced Kraven movie, but we do know J. C. Chandor (Margin Call and A Most Violent Year) is set to direct using a script by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Richard Wenk.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson recently joined the project as well and will play the titular hunter. Deadline reports that executives made the decision to cast Taylor-Johnson after they saw his impressive performance in the dailies for the upcoming action movie Bullet Train.
Kraven the Hunter is one of Spider-Man’s most fearsome foes. A former big-game hunter he seeks the ultimate hunt and believes that only the Web-Slinger can give him the thrill he’s after. There were plans to have the character appear in a Sinister Six movie, but the film fell apart after The Amazing Spider-Man 2 failed to perform.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is part of Marvel’s Phase 4 and hits theatres on December 15, while Kraven will be stalking the cinemas from January 13, 2023. If you love science fiction movies and heroes, check out our guide on Black Panther 2.