Kraven the Hunter has found its lead in Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Johnson, for those who don't know, also played Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron only to have met an unfortunate end. Fans really liked Johnson's portrayal, and now they have something else to look forward to, and the actor has finally spoken about the casting.
Kraven the Hunter will be another origin story similar to how Sony has handled their previous Spider-Man villain or anti-hero stories. Venom got two releases, Morbius is gearing up for his first outing, and now Kraven will be joining the squad in order to cement his place amongst Spider-Man's gallery of villains. Taylor-Johnson will no doubt have a great time with the amount of source material present for this character.
During an interview with Hero Magazine, Johnson went a little in depth to discuss his approach to the character. He said, "It’s like you’re coming at it from the physical aspect, because that’s what you can see from a comic book...You go, 'Oh, he looks like that, so I have to look like that.' You see that and then you start to backtrack and dig deeper, and go, 'This is where he originates from, then he has this relationship and that relationship…' You just hope that you’re going to portray something that you can bring to life." Kraven the Hunter is often depicted as a burly and larger than life character. He's drawn with a physique that would be difficult to maintain in real life, so hearing the actor really look at it as something possible is a testament to the will required to play the role.
Taylor-Johnson went on further to speak about this aspect of intimidating pressure when taking on a role such as this. "It’s another new challenge, we talk about putting yourself under pressure all the time... I don’t step away from controversial shit, I don’t know what it is, but I’m always drawn to the thing that might actually give me a f****** stroke!" he said. With the amount of weight training and combat rehearsal he had to do, this definitely may be something that some people look at as a larger than life task.
Kraven the Hunter will begin shooting relatively soon in order to meet the slated release date, and Taylor-Johnson admitted to currently be going through stunt rehearsals for the film's action scenes. This film will ideally require much less special effects than a film like Venom or even Morbius. Kraven is a grounded character, so it's likely that the special effects or post-production edits to make him look faster or stronger will be less intensive than trying to make Eddie Brock look like he's talking to an alien parasite.
As far as where Kraven sits in the world of Marvel, that remains to be seen. Fans want to see these characters fight Spider-Man, but right now it's not clear as to how this will happen. Spider-Man has a great list of villains, but without spoiling, Spider-Man: No Way Home left a lot of doors closed with how it ended. However, it also opened one very big door that leaves room for any and everything to happen.
Kraven the Hunter is set for a January 13, 2023, theatrical release.
Source: Hero Magazine