Kraven the Hunter is a 2024 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by J. C. Chandor from a screenplay by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, the film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven the Hunter, alongside Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, and Russell Crowe. Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel Entertainment, it is the sixth film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU). The film explores Kraven's relationship with his father and his path to becoming the greatest hunter.
Plot[]
Following the death of his mother, Sergei Kravinoff, along with his half-brother Dmitri, are taken by their father Nikolai to be prepared to take over his drug trafficking operations. During a hunting trip in Africa, Sergei is mortally wounded after protecting his brother from a lion. Near death, he is found by a girl named Calypso, who, having been forewarned by her grandmother that she would intervene in an accident and give its victim great power, gives him with a serum and calls for rescue, leaving a tarot card behind. When Nikolai reveals he killed the lion to teach his sons a lesson, Sergei, having discovered his physical attributes have become animalistic, becomes sickened by his father's actions and flees to a hidden sanctuary his mother owned in Russia.
Sixteen years later, Sergei, now going by Kraven, works as a vigilante eliminating criminals. After killing an arms trafficker in a Russian prison, Kraven travels to London for Dmitri's birthday. Unable to sleep that night, he goes for a walk, leading Dmitri to be captured by a group of mercenaries. When Nikolai refuses to pay the ransom, Kraven tracks down Calypso, now working as a lawyer, and convinces her to help track his brother's kidnappers.
Meanwhile, Dmitri is approached by his kidnappers' boss Aleksei Sytsevich, a mercenary who took part in an experiment granting him the strength and visage of a rhinoceros, proposing an alliance to overthrow Nikolai. Discovering Kraven's connection to Dmitri, Aleksei lures him to an abandoned monastery in Turkey, but Kraven survives the ambush. He is then approached by the Foreigner, an assassin who uses ocular hypnosis to disorient his targets, with an offer to kill Kraven, having studied his attack patterns for years.
Tracking Kraven and Calypso to his sanctuary and using Dmitri as bait, Aleksei and the Foreigner ambush Kraven when he attempts to kill them. Drugging him with neurotoxin, the Foreigner attacks him, but Calypso kills him with a crossbow and revives Kraven. He then uses a buffalo stampede to trap Aleksei, who, despite turning into the Rhino and briefly overpowering Kraven, is killed with a spear.
Discerning that Nikolai was the one who revealed his existence to Aleksei, Kraven tracks his father to a Siberian forest for answers; Nikolai reveals that he knew Aleksei was targeting him and manipulated his sons to remove him. Kraven refuses to kill his father but steals his ammunition so that he will be killed by a bear. Having gained shapeshifting abilities from the doctor who experimented on Aleksei, Dmitri discovers this[5] and disowns Kraven, stating that despite his claims of being morally superior, he and Nikolai were the same: big game hunters searching for their next great trophy. At home, Kraven discovers a note from Nikolai along with a vest made from the skin of the killed lion from long ago, which he puts on, accepting his brother's claims.
Cast[]
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven the Hunter
- Fred Hechinger as Dmitri Smerdyakov/Chameleon
- Ariana DeBose as Calypso
- Christopher Abbott as Foreigner
- Russell Crowe as a to-be-confirmed character
- Alessandro Nivola as a to-be-confirmed character
- Levi Miller as a to-be-confirmed character
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
| Sony's Spider-Man Universe |
|---|
| Venom (2018), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), Morbius (2022), Madame Web (2024), Kraven the Hunter (2024), El Muerto, Venom 3 |