Sergei Kravinoff is making his way to the big screen. A standalone Kraven the Hunter film has been in development since Summer 2018 with Sony Pictures eyeing the character to be the next chapter in its shared Spider-Man universe (without Spider-Man). There have been three films released in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe thus far, with Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage holding the strongest connective tissue. 2022’s Morbius featured Jared Leto’s titular character making a brief reference to the symbiote, but the only clear crossovers happened in the film’s post-credits scene, which showcased Michael Keaton’s Vulture (a character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man franchise) suggesting a sinister alliance.
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While the connections between these films are scarce, they all tend to have Spider-Man allusions as their common crossover denominator. Venom: Let There Be Carnage even featured Tom Holland’s Peter Parker on a news broadcast during its post-credit scene. The official trailer for Kraven the Hunter did not have any clear ties to Venom or Morbius, but it did feature a frame that points to the titular character’s arachnid enemy.
Late in the trailer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven is seen rising to his feet in a forest as hundreds of massive spiders descend from the treetops. Kraven looks on concerned as the spiders make their way to the ground.
This frame is likely just a visual nod to Spider-Man, but there is reason to believe that this could lead to a specific web-slinging connection. Kraven receives his animalistic instincts when lion’s blood drip into one of his open wounds as a child. Running with the idea that there is something unique about that lion specifically, if this spider-infested forest is in the same location, one could argue that these are the radioactive spiders that OsCorp eventually gets its hands on, which consequently bites Peter Parker and transforms him into Spider-Man.
It’s a long shot, but crazier things have happened in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.
Kraven the Hunter hits theaters on October 6th. You can check out the official synopsis below…
“Kraven the Hunter is the visceral story about how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Set before his notorious vendetta with Spider-Man, Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the titular character in the R-rated film.”