Kraven The Hunter Reveals First Look at Rhino

Sony's Spider-Man Universe continues to expand with Kraven the Hunter, and the first look at Spider-Man villain The Rhino has been revealed! 

The Kraven the Hunter trailer is now online, and it ends with a major tease of the kind of "animal" that Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Sergei Kravinoff (aka Kraven the Hunter) will have to face in a major battle. Check out the few shots of actor Alessandro Nivola (The Many Saints of Newark) about to Rhino-out! 

As you can see in the image above, Kraven the Hunter will NOT be going the Amazing Spider-Man 2 route, as this version of Rhino won't be a man in a mech suit; nor will it be a man in any kind of specialized costume, like in the comics. This new version of Rhino will be a man/animal hybrid, as we see the thick, scaly, skin of a rhinoceros beginning to replace human skin, with an on-the-nose voiceover about why they call him "The Rhino" removing any and all ambiguity of what is happening at this moment. Naturally, Marvel fans will be left to debate and argue about whether or not Sony is about to nail the design for Rhino, or if this second attempt at a live-action version of the villain will be just as silly. 

The Kraven the Hunter trailer makes it clear that some kind of biological serum or contagion is the big MacGuffin that helps a young Sergei Kravinoff survive a lion attack and grow into a lethal hunter with a super-powered "connection to animals." It's not hard to assume that this same serum could be what is used to create other animal-themed characters who appear in the film, like The Rhino, or Kraven's half-brother Dmitri (White Lotus actor Fred Hechinger), who might become the villain known as "The Chameleon" in a more literal sense than his comic counterpart. 

It's too early to measure how fans will respond to this first look at Kraven the Hunter. The red-band trailer suggests the film may have a brutality and edge that at least appeals to the R-rated action demographic. The real key to distinguishing the film may be how these other antagonist characters like Rhino, Chameleon, and Christopher Abbott's Foreigner fit into the story, and whether any and all of this feels like a compelling piece to a larger Spider-Man Universe puzzle. 

Kraven the Hunter has a theatrical release date of October 6th.