Kraven the Hunter was initially set to be the next Spider-Man villain in Sony’s Marvel universe to receive a standalone movie, following in the footsteps of Venom and the more poorly-received Morbius. Delaying its release until August 2024, however, has pushed back Kraven the Hunter within that lineup, meaning it will now follow Madame Web and Venom 3, which are slated for release in February and July 2024, respectively. Given that the Sony Spider-Man Universe is in the early stages of establishing these characters, this shouldn’t impact the narrative too heavily, and it is easy to see why Sony has made the decision to delay Kraven the Hunter.
2023’s Kraven the Hunter solo film set in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) has been in development for several years, even before the debut of Tom Holland as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After years of delays, filming for the Sony movie finally commenced in 2022 in Europe.
Kraven the Hunter will be the next in Sony’s live-action slate of upcoming Marvel movies centered on the origin stories of villains and antiheroes from Spider-Man’s comics history, starting with 2018’s Venom, starring Tom Hardy in the titular role, the 2021 sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and 2022’s reviled Morbius, starring Jared Leto as the Living Vampire.
After the release of Morbius brought the second of Spider-Man’s villains to the big screen, Sony was eager to get the ball rolling on Kraven the Hunter. While Sergei Kravinoff, a.k.a. Kraven the Hunter, is one of Spider-Man’s deadliest foes, he’s also one of the most unique – something already reflected in Kraven the Hunter’s announced cast of characters.
As such, the impressive hunter is the perfect choice to receive a live-action adaptation in theaters, and though many details of Kraven’s jump to the big screen are being kept tightly under wraps, new footage and story details reveal more about Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s upcoming SSU project.