For several years now, Sony has been teasing the possibility of a solo Marvel film for Kraven the Hunter. If you’re a fan of the web-slinging superhero known as Spider-Man, you’ll know exactly who this master hunter is. For starters, he’s a villain, and he spent a lot of years trying to prove that he’s the ultimate hunter by killing Spider-Man. Like many other of Spidey’s foes, Kraven never succeeded in killing the wall crawler, but he did come close. The best example of this is from his most famous story known as “Kraven’s Last Hunt.” In this brilliant comic, Kraven defeats Spider-Man and buries him alive. He then decides to impersonate the hero and embarks on a violent vigilante crusade in order to prove that he is superior. He (kind of) succeeds at this and after one final confrontation with Spider-Man, he subsequently commits suicide.
Kraven is a villain who clearly isn’t all there, but he is a unique one. What makes him so interesting is that he is fairly grounded compared to the other Spider-Man villains. He can’t shoot lighting from his hands, nor does he even use guns. In fact, he doesn’t even use a bow and arrows when he hunts, as he believes those weapons are “unfair.” Kraven is the type of big game hunter who prefers to take his prey down with his bare hands, and yes, I’m talking about huge animals. That does include the most dangerous ones, such as rhinos, lions, you name it. How does he manage this? He consumes some kind of mystical potion that enhances his strength and durability, and also decelerates his aging. Although Kraven appears to be a man in his thirties, he is in fact a man in his seventies.
I guess Captain America isn’t the only spry old fellow from Marvel. Kraven even met Nick Fury before Cap did when Fury formed an early version of The Avengers. This went all the way back to the fifties. Yup, it was really that long ago and that technically makes Kraven an Avenger. Like I said, he’s a unique kind of villain. Another thing that separates him from other Spider-Man villains is his code of honor. It may be a bit twisted, but it’s the one he’s got and he vehemently follows it. It’s why he doesn’t hunt with weapons and it’s why he has a degree of respect for Spider-Man. How many villains have those kind of qualities?
Now that I’ve established what kind of character Kraven is, it’s time to discuss what his potential movie might be like. The most important thing to remember about him is that at his deepest core, he is a hunter. His name, “Kraven the Hunter” sounds cheesy, but it’s accurate. That’s because he literally views Spider-Man as prey for his big game and aspires to finish the hunt. What does he get out of it? Unlike other hunters, he’s not so much interested in money or big trophies, but the very thrill of the hunt. He is a hunter because he likes it and he hunts Spider-Man so he can prove that he is the greatest hunter in the world. This is exactly what we need to see in his movie: a relentless hunter who exists only to hunt his prey. The only question is who is he supposed to hunt?
A Kraven the Hunter movie needs a proper villain. Since Kraven is a villain himself, having him hunt Spider-Man wouldn’t exactly be the right conflict. Does Spider-Man even have to be in the movie? Well, the Venom movie didn’t include him and oddly enough, it actually worked. Speaking of Venom, how cool would it be to see him take on Kraven the Hunter? The two Spidey foes have duked it out before in the comics and Kraven successfully hunted him down and defeated him. If you’ve seen the Venom movie, you’ll known what he’s capable of, and he’d be a formidable challenge for Kraven. That’s a fight fans would be beg to see in a movie and possibly even set up a future for the Sinister Six. Yeah, I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but it’s a thought.
The Sony movie version of Venom is an antihero, so he wouldn’t serve as the villain of Kraven’s movie. Can he still be in the film? Absolutely, but who would be secretly pulling the strings? Kraven’s most notorious enemy is Spider-Man, but he has a personal enmity towards other Marvel characters. One of them is another Spider-Man villain who has a deep connection with Kraven. This villain is known as Dimitri Smerdyakov, better known as The Chameleon. He is the first Spider-Man villain that the web-slinger ever faced and just so happens to be Kraven’s half-brother. As two Russian children, Dimitri and Sergei Kravinoff (Kraven’s real name) had a complicated relationship. They were close, but Sergei was often abusive towards Dimitri. This caused Dimitri to develop a strange combination of respect and bitterness towards Sergei. Dimitri eventually emigrated to America and became The Chameleon.
As The Chameleon, Dimitri was a master impersonator, using his talents to commit crimes. His superpower is basically being a master of disguise, making him a cunning, sneaky villain. This greatly separates him from Kraven, who prefers to take on his foes head on. In a physical confrontation, Kraven would emerge the victor. That’s why The Chameleon would have to hire some muscle to do his fighting for him. He can pose as an employer to manipulate Kraven into hunting Venom with the hopes of having Kraven fail. His skills as an impressionist are so uncanny that he can pose as Kraven’s wife and really hit him where it hurts. The Chameleon’s disguising abilities allow him to pose as a great deceiving villain that can play Kraven like a chess game.
Their love/hate relationship would have to be explored in the film and would make him look like a sympathetic villain with relatable traits. Let’s not forget that The Chameleon isn’t the only hostile relative to Kraven. Kraven also has three children, which includes two psychotic sons and a violent daughter. They aren’t popular characters, but the important thing to know about them is that Kraven wasn’t exactly a great father to them. He was neglectful and preferred the hunt over his family, something that his children secretly hated him for. Both of his sons became their own versions of Kraven the Hunter, but they paled in comparison to their father. His daughter was basically a female version of Kraven the Hunter, but like her brothers, she didn’t exactly live up to her father.
Can this be explored in the movie? It certainly can, but Kraven is supposed to be the antihero of his own film, so making him out to be a bad father wouldn’t paint the best picture of him.
Sony did recently confirm that another one of their Marvel movies will be releasing next year. If it’s Kraven the Hunter, Marvel fans will be very excited, but also very curious. There are a lot of directions the film can go and if it goes well, his first on-screen encounter with Spider-Man will be inevitable.
Follow Us
