The beginning of ‘Kraven the Hunter’ rules!

New York Comic Con gives plenty of exclusives and this year, the Sony panel brought us a first look at Kraven the Hunter. Showing audiences the open scene as well as a fight sequence for Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), I have never been happier as a Kraven fan.

Sergei Kravinoff is a hunter, known for taking on Spider-Man. In his own film, we learn in the first few moments a bit more about how Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven will function in his morality. He is a hunter, not a poacher, Taylor-Johnson said at the panel and that is very much the truth of Kraven as a character.

In J. C. Chandor’s film, Kraven is brutal. Within the first few moments, Kraven is vicious to those trying to stop him. Watching him then in his element really shows the strength that Kraven has and boy oh boy is it nothing like you’d expect. Chandor’s fight sequences are so incredibly vicious when you see him taking out those trying to hunt him.

Obviously, a movie just about Kraven the Hunter feels odd. I understand why people would wonder whether or not it would be any good. Luckily, what we ended up getting in the footage shown at NYCC was a movie that honors what we know about Kraven from the comics while making this its own special thing.

As to not spoil the opening of the film, what I will say is that it features Kraven in prison but the reason behind his imprisonment is not instantly known. Eventually, we find out why he is there and seeing his aggressive prison break really sets the scene for just how powerful Kraven is.

My boy is here and I love him!

I have loved Kraven the Hunter as a Spider-Man villain for a long time. He’s such an interesting villain because he isn’t someone who has some outlandish ability or someone Peter Parker knew who turned into a villain. He’s just a man who loves animals and takes on hunting Spider-Man. I love it.

But like many of the Sony verse movies, it was initally hard to see how a movie like this would work. With Venom and Morbius and even Madame Web, we’re throwing these Spider-Man characters into a universe without Spider-Man and it has been either hit or miss on how it works. So the expectations with Kraven were skeptical at best. But I do have much higher hopes after seeing the footage shown because if that was just the beginning? My GOD.

With Kraven, his origin is obviously going to be different because there isn’t (as far as we know) a Spider-Man to deal with. But the footage I saw at New York Comic Con really made me excited. It is a brutal movie, violent, and so very Kraven from the moment it starts. Letting a director like Chandor take on this story was a brilliant choice and if the entire movie is as violent and character driven as what was shown at the convention, we’re in for a treat.