After Venom and Morbius, Sony is making another movie about a Spider-Man super villain; Kraven The Hunter. Although Kraven has been around since the ’60s, he’s not a well-known character. Those of you that have never read a Spider-Man comic might never even heard of him. Still, Kraven has enough of a history to make a decent movie. Unless of course, Sony decides to wipe his history and “Modernize” the character. Guess what Sony did?
Here are a few quotes from Taylor Johnson the actor playing the role of Kraven:
Taylor Johnson also spoke about his experience shooting “Kraven the Hunter,” who he described as “one of Marvel’s most iconic, notorious anti-heroes — Spider-Man’s number one rival.” He said he found exciting the fact that this character is “not an alien, or a wizard. He’s just a hunter, a human with conviction. An animal lover and a protector of the natural world. He’s a very, very cool character.” He added that unlike other Marvel movies, “this one is shot entirely on location.”
Variety
Taylor is wrong on so many levels. Kraven is not and never was an “iconic” anti-hero and he certainly isn’t Spider-Man’s number one rival, not by a long shot. If you look at any top 10 Spider-Man villains list, you will not find Kraven at the top of any of them.
Here is an example by Ranker of Best Spider-Man Villains:
- Venom
- Green Goblin
- Doctor Octopus
- Mysterio
- Carnage
- Electro
- Sandman
- Dr. Curt Connors
- Scorpion
- Kraven the Hunter
I mostly agree with Ranker’s list, I would have placed Hobgoblin instead of Kraven in the top 10 though. It’s obvious to anybody that knows anything about Spider-Man that Venom is the Web-Sliger’s number one rival. By the way, Kraven isn’t Marvel’s most “iconic” anti-heroes either, The Punisher is.
If anybody knows anything about Kraven it has to be Marvel Comics, I mean, they created him. Let’s see how Marvel describes Kraven on their website:
Professional game hunter and mercenary Kraven the Hunter has killed every animal known to man. But the one beast that eludes him is the web-slinging Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man.
Marvel Comics
By adulthood, his hunting skills are legendary, and he quickly becomes a wealthy big game hunter. He remains in Africa for 10 years, during which time in the Belgian Congo he steals a witch doctor’s herbal potion that enhances physical powers. The potion’s rare, naturally occurring mutagenic chemicals heighten his speed, strength, and agility while greatly decelerating the aging process. Kraven uses his heightened abilities to hunt game more efficiently and enters a partnership with Smerdyakov to export the animal skins and ivory that he acquires.
There is no point in comparing Taylor Johnson’s vision of Kraven to Marvel’s depiction of the comic book character. You can see that there’s a world of difference between the two.
I needed to take a break after writing that last paragraph. Later I realized why. I don’t give a fuck about this movie. If Morbius is a second-tier character in the Marvel Universe, Kraven is third-tier at best. Sony can trash him all they want, turn him into a vegan soy boy for all I care. Nothing of value will be lost.
Since the Kraven has been around since the ‘60s, and never became predominant in the Marvel Universe, one could think that revamping him could be an improvement. Ask yourself this question; of recent memory, when did Hollywood re-imagined anything for the better? Nuff said.