Kraven the Hunter is coming out this year. Did you forget? Well, Sony is here to jog your memory by dropping a new trailer at 3:00 in the morning. The Russian supervillain is out for bloody, R-rated revenge as the movie teases a final showdown with the Rhino.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who you may remember as Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron, plays the big-game hunter Sergei Nikolaevich Kravinoff, who is ready to chew scenery across the countryside after escaping an arctic prison. Out December 13, Kraven the Hunter’s latest trailer also introduces us to the titular anti-hero’s gangster dad played by Russell Crowe.
Take a look:
As Johnny Cash sings in the background, we see Kraven doing all of his hunter things, from dodging bear traps and knifing guys in the leg to running on all fours like he just finished watching James McAvoy in Glass. The trailer also sets up Rhino as the big bad, described as an animal “stronger than you can imagine.” It ends with the two fighting out in a valley amid a stampede of water buffalo.
Kraven’s Last Hunt is considered to be one of the top comic book arcs in Marvel’s repertoire, but with no Spider-Man to pull on, Sony’s origin story for Kraven, who was also featured in last year’s PlayStation 5 hit Spider-Man 2, appears to be going more for an action movie revenge flick vibe in the vein of John Wick or The Equalizer. Whether it can actually succeed on its own merits is the big question. The first Venom aside, Sony’s recent Spider-Man B-sides track record has been full of major misses like Morbius and Madame Web.
One thing Sony clearly does want audiences to know is that Kraven the Hunter won’t be shying away from brutal violence. Given Deadpool & Wolverine’s recent $1 billion box office blowout, shattering records for R-rated movies, it’s a strategy that makes sense. At the same time, it’s going to take a lot more than a few decapitations to purge Sony’s current comic book movie malaise.