Released in our theaters on December 15th, “Spider-Man No Way Home” confronts Spider-Man with a few villains seen in previous films. But that wasn’t always the plan, and an unheard of foe initially had to face Tom Holland.
WARNING – The article below contains a slight spoiler on “Spider-Man No Way Home”, as it touches on one of the elements of its finale. So please go your way if you haven’t seen the Jon Watts movie yet and don’t want to know anything at all.
At the end of Spider-Man Far From Home (which we review at the very beginning of No Way Home), Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) brought down his last card by making Spider-Man responsible for his death before revealing its true identity. Not helped by the cabal launched by J. Jonah Jameson (JK Simmons), Peter Parker therefore became a potential fugitive and, for many, the main opponent of his next solo film was found.
Because who else but Kraven the Hunter could stand in his way and hunt him down with his superhuman powers acquired after having ingested the magic potion that an African wizard had given him? He who, in the comic books, made the capture of Spider-Man an obsession that culminates in the story “Kraven’s Last Hunt”, in 1987.
If the production finally opted for the card “multiverse” by bringing back the opponents of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield (the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Electro and others), it was indeed a question, at one point, of launching this new character on the big screen.
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“For a long time, a story with Kraven had to serve as a third movie because things weren’t working out for various reasons. [peut-être les négociations entre Sony et Disney, un temps interrompues, ndlr]”, explains Tom Holland to Collider. “Jon pitched the movie to me about Kraven, which I thought was really cool. I don’t want to talk about it in case it does happen, but it was fun.”
The clash between Spider-Man and Kraven may only be a postponement, indeed. Because a feature film devoted to the hunter appeared in comic books in 1964 is in preparation under the leadership of JC Chandor (All is Lost, Triple Frontier). The character, real name Sergei Kravinov, will be played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, ex-Quicksilver of the MCU, and the film is due in our theaters on January 18, 2023.
Officially, it will be linked to the saga initiated with Venom and which Morbius must come to enrich on January 26th. Tom Holland will not be in the game, a priori, but who knows? You should never say never, especially now that the doors to the multiverse have been opened. And that we can see the silhouette of Kraven (and that of Rhino) in the climax of No Way Home, when Strange tries to prevent other enemies from entering their universe. The opening of the hunt is perhaps only postponed.