Spider-Man: No Way Home writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers reveal the reason as to why Kraven the Hunter wasn’t among the Marvel Cinematic Universe film’s villains.
Per the MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios book, McKenna and Sommers avowed that while they wanted to use Kraven, their plans were halted upon being told that Kraven “was unavailable until Sony established him in a solo movie,” which, of course, will happen next year when Kraven arrives on the silver screen. Before this, the duo had said in 2022 that Kraven had been considered for all three Homecoming films.
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Interestingly, Kraven did make a cameo in No Way Home in the multiversal rift, alongside fellow villain The Scorpion, as confirmed by a featurette from the movie’s digital release, with a voiceover in said featurette stating, “We see a silhouette carrying a spear, which appears to be Spider-Man rogue, Kraven the Hunter. This [second silhouette] looks like the rogue with the deadly, swinging tail, Scorpion.”
Additionally, Black Panther director and co-writer Ryan Coogler stated in 2018 that he wanted Kraven to appear in the film, remarking at the time, “Being a Marvel fan, you want to grab all the characters. You realize there’s contractual things. You don’t have that character. There was a Christopher Priest run that was pretty heavy, there’s a big scene where Panther’s fighting Kraven, Kraven the Hunter.”
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“I’ve always loved Kraven the Hunter in almost every iteration,” Coogler continued. “So there was a moment – ‘Can I grab Kraven?’ – and they were ‘Nah, you don’t have Kraven.’ He was one where I thought ‘Oh, man.’ But I don’t even know if he would have worked in the movie we ended up with. This was the early days.”
On the topic of the character himself and his movie, Kraven’s actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson touched upon why he thinks the Hunter is Spider-Man’s greatest villain in 2022, saying Kraven isn’t “an alien, or a wizard,” just a hunter and “a human with conviction.” More recently, Taylor-Johnson’s co-star Russell Crowe spoke about the film, explaining to CBR that director J.C. Chandor told him Kraven the Hunter is “just an unexpectedly dark world.”
Chandor himself later made a similar statement, commenting, “Sony probably doesn’t want me to lead with this, but the story is a tragedy. When the final credits roll on this film, if you’ve been paying attention, you won’t have the feeling that this is all going to end great.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home is available on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital and 4K Ultra HD.
Source: MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, via ComicBookMovie.com
Spider-Man: No Home writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers share the reason for Kraven the Hunter not being among the MCU film’s villains. Read More