How Kraven the Hunter Can Redeem Sony’s Spider-Man Universe

Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has had a tough time getting off the ground; even the DCEU did better than having one franchise perform consistently well, while other attempts were deemed some of the worst superhero movies of all time. The latest SSU release, Kraven the Hunter, is hitting theaters, but will it be better than Morbius or Madame Web? It pretty much has to be, if only for the sake of the larger Spider-Man universe moving forward, as the previous movies have set the bar so low.

Admittedly, the three Venom movies are pretty far from high art, but at least they’re entertaining and, for Sony, they were worth making, financially speaking. Now that the Venom Trilogy has concluded on a financial down note (even if Venom: The Last Dance did end up turning a healthy profit) it’s up to Kraven to determine if SSU can work outside of one character’s adventures. The thing is, after five movies, the heart of this Spider-Man Universe still isn’t even Spider-Man; the franchise would be better named “Venom and Friends.”

So how can Kraven the Hunter redeem Sony’s Spider-Man Universe? Here are a few ideas…

Bring in Spider-Man

Kraven the Hunter would automatically be more of an event film should it feature some sort of direct connection to Spider-Man – preferably even an actual appearance by the Web-Slinger. Were one to watch Morbius knowing absolutely nothing about the character, they’d be hard-pressed to find a connection to Spidey until the nonsensical post-credits sequence with Michael Keaton’s Vulture. Madame Web, meanwhile, just makes the viewer miss the Web-Slinger even more by having a villain who kind of looks like him but is nothing like Spidey or connected to him in any way.

The closest the Venom Trilogy ever got to including Spider-Man was to show some stock footage in Venom: Let There Be Carnage‘s post-credits scene, leading to Spider-Man: No Way Home’s post-credit reveal that Tom Hardy’s Venom jumped over to the MCU. Thus far, those button scenes haven’t gone anywhere major – but they could. However, a Spider-Man and Venom team-up would likely be a part of the MCU, not Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

[RELATED: Kraven the Hunter Director on How You Even Adapt the Character for a Movie (Exclusive)]

The good news for Kraven the Hunter is that its marketing materials have been stronger than the trailers for Morbius and Madame Web. The question is: will audiences be too wary of non-Venom SSU movies to turn out, even if it is a winner? That’s where word-of-mouth can help, and the way to get positive word-of-mouth is for a movie to function well as an individual work, with its own personality.

Lean Into the R-Rating

The Venom movies had the opportunity to go for an R-rating and, while it’s more than a little understandable why Sony would play it safe with what they rightly assumed would be the best character to kick off their SSU, it still was to the detriment of the films’ quality. Kraven the Hunter is fertile ground for an R-rated comic book adaptation – and, fortunately, that’s exactly what it is.

The question is, will the film play things safe, even with the rating? It likely won’t be as hard an R as Deadpool 2, but being in line with the slightly less graphic Deadpool & Wolverine (emphasis on slightly, because it still gets away with a lot) is not out of the question. And, as we’ve seen with those three films, a restrictive rating is hardly the final word on a superhero movie’s potential profitability.

There’s certainly reason for Sony to be more hopeful for Kraven the Hunter than they were for Morbius and Madame Web. For one, Kraven is a somewhat more recognized character than those two and there’s a pretty solid team both in front of and behind the camera. Aaron Taylor-Johnson has a few recent wins under his belt via Bullet Train and The Fall Guy – both of which he stole scenes in. He also has Nosferatu on the cusp of release, and if early word of mouth is any indication, it’s both one of the best horror films in recent memory and a possible Oscar contender. The screenplay comes from The Equalizer Trilogy’s Richard Wenk, and the team of Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, who contributed to both Iron Man and Punisher: War Zone. Not to mention, Kraven the Hunter is helmed by J. C. Chandor, director of the acclaimed films All Is Lost and A Most Violent Year. He also directed Netflix’s Triple Frontier, which was a nice indicator that he can balance a focus on character with intense action sequences.

We’ll all see how Kraven the Hunter does with audiences when it hits theaters, but the safe money is on it falling somewhere between Morbius (and Madame Web) and Venom. Bear in mind that even if it opens lower than Morbius, it will have the benefit of playing throughout the holiday season.

Kraven the Hunter has a release date of December 13th.