In May of 2021, Sony confirmed that Aaron Taylor-Johnson would be playing the role of Kraven The Hunter in a film, aptly titled Kraven the Hunter, ready to be released on August 30, 2024. One of the lesser-known Marvel villains, Kraven is a long-time adversary of Spider-Man, having fought the web-slinging superhero countless times in the comic books. Unlike villains like Green Goblin and Venom, Kraven hasn’t made as many appearances in other Spider-Man media. Still, the character is prominent enough to have been featured in several incarnations of Marvel-related television and video games.

After the release of the film's first trailer, many audience members were likely wondering about this mysterious new character. It’s reasonable to expect that Kraven will receive an updated origin story and new characterization for his big-screen debut. Now is the perfect time to revisit the character’s past and speculate about how the fearsome hunter will be adapted into live-action. Here's our answer to the question: who is Kraven the Hunter?

Update November 12, 2023: Kraven the Hunter has gotten a big boost in popularity thanks to his appearance in Insomniacs Spider-Man 2, so with the new movie coming out this article has been updated with more information.

Comic Book Origins

Like most comic book characters, Kraven’s history is long and tumultuous, including deaths, rebirths, and changes in allegiances. The character’s first publication was in 1964;s The Amazing Spider-Man #15. Stan Lee penned his origins and his first illustrations by Steve Ditko, the now-infamous pair for their prolific comic book creations.

Kraven, whose real name is Sergei Kravinoff, is a Soviet immigrant who moved to the United States following the onset of the Russian Revolution that overthrew the Czar government. Growing up with a sense of lost nobility, Kravinoff turned to hunting and a strict personal code of honor that guided his actions. Kraven is also notably the half-brother of another Spider-Man villain, the Chameleon. He is also one of the founding members of The Sinister Six alongside Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Sandman, Vulture, and Electro.

Is Kraven the Hunter a Villain?

Upon meeting Spider-Man, Kravinoff saw the potential for his greatest hunt and subsequently dedicated his energy towards a methodical pursuit and takedown of the wall-crawler. Beyond these motivations, Kraven found himself allied with the Avengers and later the Sinister Six, taking part in different endeavors across history. Though almost always a villain, Kraven is rarely characterized as evil for the sake of evil, a fate rarely allowed to comic book villains.

The character’s fractured psychology is built on his desire to prove himself to be the greatest hunter in the world, and his targeting of Spider-Man has nothing to do with hatred for the man himself but rather a deep respect. That respect, combined with his personal code of honor, has allowed some writers to portray him as a complex, multidimensional character.

Why is He Obsessed With Spider-Man?

After being defeated at the hands of the wall-crawling superhero, Kraven realized that Spider-Man posed a unique challenge to him as a hunter. Kraven had long become bored with hunting animal predators and began considering Spider-Man to be worthy prey. Undoubtedly, being defeated by Spider-Man was a blow to his ego, and the obsession evolved beyond just wanting to defeat him.

Suddenly, the renowned hunter needed to prove that he was more skilled and effective in performing Spider-Man's role than the man himself, which became the foundation for one of the best comic book storylines featuring Kraven the Hunter.

The Best Stories Featuring Kraven the Hunter

The 1987 story “Kraven’s Last Hunt” is considered to be the most well-rounded and intriguing depiction of the character. Writer J.M. DeMatteis was inspired by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky and his novel Crime and Punishment, using that story’s dark, thorough exploration of human duality to characterize the complex relationship between Kraven and Spider-Man. In this storyline, Kraven subdues Spider-Man and assumes his identity, defeating another one of Spider-Man’s longtime foes with ease in order to prove his own superiority. After freeing Spider-Man in a show of respect, Kraven takes his own life to wrest control away from the slow physical decay he had been experiencing at his age. As readers of superhero comics will know, death has little permanence in these stories, and Kraven would rise to hunt again.

Much was added to the lore of Kraven in between his death and eventual revival. First, It was revealed he had many children who went on to face Spider-Man in their own quarrels: Ana, Sasha, Vladimir, and Alyosha. Then, in the mid-90s, it was revealed Sergei Kravinoff, the villain known as The Chameleon, was his half-brother. In a completely different direction, a recent comic book storyline titled The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl’s Friend Kraven took a lighthearted direction to the character. After being hunted himself in a strange twist of events, Kraven finds comfort in the friendship of Squirrel Girl, a dynamic that would be much beloved by readers of this storyline. Having learned humility, he vows only to hunt other hunters in the future, marking a notable turn in morality for the character.

What Powers Does Kraven the Hunter Have?

Through the use of magical potions, Kraven’s senses and prowess as a hunter were significantly elevated. He possesses superhuman strength on par and even exceeds other Marvel characters that are still classified as human, like Captain America. In addition, his speed and stamina are described to be similar to the most fearsome animal predators, giving him an easy edge in most of his animal hunts. Also, his senses and reflexes were greatly heightened by the use of these potions, which allowed him to clash with and meet Spider-Man as an equal in battle.

Those potions also increased his lifespan and slowed his aging process, and as a result of being brought back to life after death, he exists in a cursed state of immortality. Otherwise, he possesses the greatest skill of any human hunter, with tracking abilities and a mind for strategy and tactics.

Appearances in Other Media

Kraven has appeared in many television shows, including 1966’s The Marvel Superheroes, 1981 and 1994’s Spider-Man, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, the more recent Spectacular Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, and 2017's Spider-Man. On film, many of the different Spider-Man franchise stories have attempted to include the character but failed. Sam Raimi wanted him for Spider-Man 4, and Kraven was rumored to appear in the planned The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and even in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, but neither of those ideas were ever realized. There was talk about Kraven being the villain for Spider-Man: No Way Home before the studio opted to focus on multiverse villains.

Kraven is perhaps most prolific in Spider-Man video games, having made an appearance in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Lego Marvel Superheroes, Lego Marvel Superheroes 2, Marvel Heroes, Marvel: Future Fight, and many of the games that acted as tie-ins to the films. Currently, Kraven is making waves as one of the lead antagonists in Imsomniac's Spider-Man 2, as the leader of a hunting pack who seeks to fulfill his wish of fighting a worthy opponent before his death as the character's terminally ill with cancer. Notably the game would have been released two weeks after the original release date for Kraven the Hunter, and Sony likely would have wanted some cross-promotional tie-in between the two.

The Future of Kraven the Hunter

Currently, Kraven the Hunter is set to premiere on August 30, 2024. It will be the fifth installment in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe being laid out by Sony (which doesn’t have an official Spider-Man cast yet). The trailer revealed Taylor-Johnson is indeed playing Sergei Kravinoff, albeit a younger, more idealistic version of him.

By taking the few bits we get from the trailer, it seems Sergei is expected to become like his father as he reaches adulthood: a hunter and animal trafficker of sorts. He goes on a journey with his dad (played by Russell Crowe) and gets mauled by a lion. The near-death experience, however, creates a bond between the hunter and nature, as he becomes a super-powered being with animalistic agility and senses. This is the biggest change in the character. Taylor-Johnson indicated to Forbes back in 2022 that his version of Kraven would be “an animal lover and a protector of the natural world.”

His brother Dmitri Smerdyakov, played by Fred Hechinger, is set to appear in the movie. The credits seem to indicate the actor will take on the role of The Chameleon in the film, but it’s unclear if he’ll fight his brother or assist him. What is noticeable is Alessandro Nivola’s Aleksei Sytsevich commenting on why he’s called “The Rhino” as his arm morphs with a grey hide similar to the one shown by the classic Spider-Man villain of the same name.

Kraven the Hunter will be rated R, and now, following the major delays to the MCU and the DCU slate not starting until 2025, it makes it one of the few comic book movies set for 2024. Currently, the only superhero projects dated for 2024 are Madame Web, Deadpool 3, Kraven the Hunter, Joker: Folie à Deux, and Venom 3. This might give Kraven the Hunter some room to stand out, or it might be an indication that the superhero genre might be scrapping the bottom of the barrel.