Aaron Taylor-Johnson is returning to the superhero spotlight withKraven The Hunter. The Golden Globe Award winner is no stranger to bringing a character from the comic page to live-action life, having portrayed Dave Lizewski inKick-AssandQuicksilver inAvengers: Age of Ultron, butKraven The Hunterrepresents his first time fully embracing the dark side of the genre.
Taylor-Johnson stars as Sergei Kravinoff, a big-game hunter bent on slaying the biggest prey in the jungle.Kraven The Hunter’s taleis the titular character’s origin story, as director JC Chandor explores Kraven’s relationship with his father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), and how that dynamic shapes him into the full-blown antagonist that he is destined to become.
Kraven The Hunter Releases First 8 Minutes Of The Marvel Movie To Prove Itself A Week Before Its Debut
MCU star Aaron Taylor-Johnson shines in the first 8 minutes of Kraven the Hunter, teasing what to expect from the R-rated Spider-Man villain movie.
Ahead ofKraven The Hunter’s December 13 theatrical release,ScreenRantspoke with Taylor-Johnson about who his Kraven is, the performative connections to Quicksilver, and his potential future opposite Marvel’s resident wall-crawler.
Kraven’s Spirit Animal is a Lion
Aaron Taylor-Johnson Teases Hunter’s Strength And Courageousness Ties to King of the Jungle
ScreenRant: I got to see some ofKraven The Hunteryesterday and I’m blown away by everything I’ve seen. Kraven has a very interesting relationship with animals in this film. We see stuff with leopards, we see stuff with tigers, we see stuff with wolves. I was doing a little bit of research, and all of these animals represent different things in spirituality. If I were to ask the man himself, what do you think is Kraven’s spirit animal?
Aaron Taylor-Johnson: Well, I think he’s iconically known for being more connected to the lion. I feel like that being is his strength and his courageousness and his sort of defiance, right? He definitely carries that symbolism with him. Now, in our story, we’ll give you the journey of how they become very closely intertwined, but it’s more than that. I think it is more of a spiritual, intrinsic connection with all walks of life. He’s a wild man.
I think when he hunts, he becomes the animal he’s hunting in order to best take on their skillset and use it against them. That’s why he’s the greatest hunter. I loved all that from the comics. I love taking that element and making this vigilante that goes after everybody who’s associated in this world that he does not want to be a part of, and ultimately becomes far worse than any of them.
Kraven’s Unique Parallels to Quicksilver
Taylor-Johnson Brought Similar Levels of Humanity to Both Marvel Roles
I remember reading an interview way back when you played Quicksilver in theAvengersmovies that you pushed for that character inAge of Ultronto show some sweat, show some humanity behind the supernatural abilities that he’s got going on. Did you make any similar creative choices with Kraven to kind of show the humanity behind this larger-than-life hunter?
Aaron Taylor-Johnson: Absolutely. I mean there’s a lot in there that’s relatable with humanity and humanity’s flaws and the seed of darkness and where it kind of spawns from. He’s holding back fury and anger when really all he was looking for was love, right? That’s at its core. There’s this family saga in this movie. There’s a beautiful story of, with his younger brother, he’s super protective and loving with his younger brother. It’s the only thing he cares about. There’s so much emotion in his heart.
You feel empathetic towards this character, yet he is on the path of destruction. You can sort of see it go from one to the next, and it is great to take an audience on that journey. It’s great to take this sort of villainous comic book character that we know is very iconic and give him depth, give him a soul, right? That’s what we want to do. It is a comic character that we’re giving a soul to.
Will Kraven Fight Spider-Man?
“I think he should go toe-to-toe with some superheroes that we know…”
I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about the future. This feels like just the first chapter of Kraven’s story. Obviously, there’s a web-slinger down the line in the comics. Do you believe your Kraven needs to fight Spider-Man to tie his story all together?
Aaron Taylor-Johnson: I mean, it’s very much the question to everyone else really, right? Because I think what we’ve done, what we’ve set up in this story is a really rich character that definitely has the legs to go on and do more damage.I think he should go toe-to-toe with some superheroes that we know.
One of my favorite stories is Kraven’s Last Hunt. It was one of the source materials I used to go back from. He’s got some dark demons there and we are basically showing the birth of that and how he becomes a villain that we then come to know. So really come see this movie, man. Come see this movie. I promise you it won’t disappoint. It’s got all the beats that you want and more. I think it could be an audience’s sort of villain favorite, [and he should] definitely go toe to toe with some other people down the line, man.
More About Kraven The Hunter (2024)
Led by titular star Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kraven The Hunter is a gritty and visceral R-rated take on the comic character of the same name. First introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 in 1964, this ruthless big-game hunter established himself as one of Peter Parker’s greatest adversaries on the page, reaching peak popularity in fan-favorite comic arc Kraven’s Last Hunt in 1987. Kraven The Hunter represents the character’s debut in live-action, as Sony Pictures continues its saga of spinning off famed Spider-Man antagonists in their own solo films.
Kraven the Hunter
Cast
Kraven the Hunter explores the origin story of Sergei Kravinoff, known as Kraven, as he navigates his tumultuous relationship with his father, Nikolai. This path of vengeance sets Kraven on a journey to become a formidable hunter with a reputation for fearsome brutality.
