No Way Home’s Cancelled Villain Is The Perfect Threat For Spider-Man 4

Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s missing villain can finally make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Spider-Man 4, with the perfect story waiting. Tom Holland has concluded his first trilogy as Peter Parker, but that doesn’t mean the actor is done with the iconic character. Holland will be back for at least another solo movie, and while not much is known about the MCU Spider-Man 4‘s story, the movie could bring back Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s original idea. In the MCU, Spider-Man has gone up against many exciting foes, both in his three solo movies and in appearances in Avengers films, even fighting other heroes in Captain America: Civil War.

In his first two solo movies, Holland’s Spider-Man went up against some truly exciting villains, with Michael Keaton’s Vulture giving Spider-Man a menacing foe, while Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio tricked the hero into believing he was on his side and ended up revealing to the world that Peter Parker was Spider-Man. Then came Holland’s explosive third movie, with Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s cast including an exciting host of multiverse villains from Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man movies — Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Electro, Sandman, and the Lizard. While the multiverse villains were exciting, Spider-Man: No Way Home originally planned to focus on another villain who could be the perfect foe for Spider-Man 4.

Related: Every Upcoming Marvel Movie: Full MCU Phase 5 & 6 List (& Beyond)

Sony Did Not Allow Spider-Man: No Way Home To Use Kraven The Hunter

The new MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios book has revealed that Sony blocked Spider-Man: No Way Home from using Kraven the Hunter. According to the book, Spider-Man: No Way Home writing duo Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers tried to pitch Kraven as the main villain of the movie. However, Sony denied it, as Kraven “was unavailable until Sony established him in a solo movie.” That solo project for the villain ended up being Sony’s recently delayed Kraven the Hunter, a movie starring MCU Quicksilver actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the Spider-Man villain.

How Spider-Man: No Way Home Set Up A Famous Kraven Storyline

While Sony did not allow Marvel Studios to use Kraven the Hunter for Holland’s trilogy finale, Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s ending set up the next movie in the franchise, Spider-Man 4, to adapt Kraven’s most famous storyline from the comics, “Kraven’s Last Hunt.” Spider-Man: No Way Home ended with Doctor Strange conjuring a spell that made everyone forget who Peter Parker was. Because of that — and Green Goblin having killed Aunt May earlier in the movie — Holland’s Peter Parker was left alone, with no family or loved ones remembering who he was and no access to the Stark tech he used as Spider-Man.

That setup is perfect for Marvel Studios to circle back to its original villain choice for Spider-Man: No Way Home, bringing Kraven to the MCU with a version of “Kraven’s Last Hunt” in Spider-Man 4. That comic book story saw Kraven give it his all to beat Spider-Man, and the villain succeeded in a major way. Kraven seemingly kills Spider-Man and takes over his costume to prove he is superior to the hero. However, Spider-Man was not actually dead, only having been buried alive by Kraven. With no one remembering who Spider-Man is, everything is aligned for Kraven to try to kill Spider-Man and don his identity in Spider-Man 4.

It is hard to believe that if Kraven were to appear in Spider-Man 4, it would be with a new actor in the role and not Taylor-Johnson reprising his Kraven from the SSU. While that might bring some confusion to audiences, as Taylor-Johnson previously played Quicksilver in the MCU, the actor appearing as a multiverse version of Kraven would come at the perfect time for the MCU and the SSU to have a major crossover. While Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock was in the MCU in Venom: Let There Be Carnage‘s post-credits scene and Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s post-credits scene, he never interacted with Spider-Man or other MCU heroes.

Two upcoming MCU Phase 6 movies, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars,will be bringing the MCU’s Multiverse Saga to an end, and that could mean that Marvel will stop using the multiverse after the films. In order to guarantee that the MCU and the SSU will have a proper crossover before the window possibly closes forever, having Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter in Spider-Man 4 could be the ace that Marvel and Sony have up their sleeves. This way, fans could get a full-on MCU and SSU crossover that builds upon Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s original villain plan, leading to a dark and thrilling story in Spider-Man 4.

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