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We recently got the new Kraven the Hunter trailer, and it finally gave us the first look at Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. With no Spider-Man involved, Sony is turning the character into yet another antihero for its Sinister Six crossover plans.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven has been specifically altered to fit into Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. However, his character's origins differ drastically from the source material, as Sony has given it a new origin story. The following comparison between Kraven’s comics origin and SSU's origin reveals how Sony has changed the character.
Kraven the Hunter’s Origin in the comics
In the Marvel source material, Kraven the Hunter became popular as one of Spider-Man's most formidable villains. His real name is Sergei Kravinoff, and he made his comic book debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 in 1964. He comes from a long line of aristocratic hunters, and his origin story portrays him as a skilled big-game hunter from Russia.
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He developed a deep fascination with hunting and wanted to prove himself as the greatest hunter in the world. After hunting for years, he believed that he had mastered every form of prey in the animal kingdom. So he grew bored of hunting animals and started to look for a bigger challenge.
In his quest, his focus shifted to Spider-Man, and he started to view the infamous Wall Crawler as his ultimate prey. He believed he would finally become the greatest hunter of all time after capturing and defeating Spider-Man. So Kraven developed a very elaborate and complex plan to prove his dominance over Spider-Man.
Kraven’s first major storyline, "Kraven's Last Hunt," was published in 1987. To this date, this storyline remains the most significant part of his character's history, as he became obsessed with Spider-Man in it. He got so determined to prove himself superior that he not only defeated the Web-Slinger but also took on his identity for a while.
He used a combination of his hunting skills, traps, and a powerful serum to incapacitate Spider-Man and bury him alive. After that, he took over the mantle of Spider-Man and fought crime by wearing the Spidey suit. He proved to be a great Spidey for a while, but his victory did not bring him the kind of satisfaction he thought it would.
So he released the real Spider-Man and took his own life, thinking that he had achieved everything he wanted. In some iterations, like this one, Kraven doesn’t have any powers. He just had enhanced abilities that he had gained with years of practice.
However, there are other iterations where he was gifted superhuman powers after drinking some mystical potions from his love interest, Calypso. These abilities include tracking and survival Skills, enhanced strength, speed, agility, and senses. Then there was his unique power to control and communicate with animals.
Kraven the Hunter’s origin in SSU
In Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, Kraven is not a Spider-Man villain. Like Venom and Morbius, he becomes an antihero who has actual superhuman abilities. His father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), constantly pushed him to be a great hunter, an apex predator. So, on one hunt, he came across a lion and failed to take it down.
Then the lion mauled his entire body, but he also made the gigantic lion bleed, and some of its blood entered his wounds. As a result, his blood got mixed up with the lion’s blood, and his DNA was altered, giving him animalistic superhuman abilities.
After that, Kraven stopped hunting animals and developed a bond with them. Instead, he started to hunt down his human enemies in the most brutal ways. Since Sony is doing a Kraven story without Spider-Man, the studio had to make the character more cinematic. Hence, Kraven has been turned into a Superpowered antihero.
His powers in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe are similar to the ones he got after drinking the potion given by Kalypso. However, the glowing eyes show that his ability to control animals has been upgraded, as he can now see what they see and use them to add a surprise element.
Kraven the Hunter will hit theaters on October 6, 2023.
