Summary
While the upcomingKraven the Hunterfilm has received the same generally unoptimistic reception that the rest of the Sony Spider-Man spinoff franchise has earned up to this point, the project might have finally given fans a reason to pay attention.
Kraven the Hunteris one ofSpider-Man’smost fearsome foes in Marvel Comics, with a long history and a rich backlog of interesting arcs featuring him. Thanks in part to his more grounded superhuman abilities and motivations, the character was prime pickings for an adaptation inSony’ssuperhero franchise, which capitalized on characters like Venom and Madame Web, who are related to Spider-Man and thus fall under Sony’s license from Marvel. These tangential projects have not been met with as much success as the Sony-MCU collaboration effort that led to Tom Holland’sSpider-Man: Hometrilogy, andKraven the Hunterwould tease a new take on the character’s originsto little fan applause.
While this upcoming movie isKraven’s first and long-strived-for theatrical debut, a recent confirmation has set the debut up to be a significantly better one. While the idea of an R-rating for the film has been floated around the talk cycle for a while now,Comicbooknow reports that the mature rating is officially in place forKraven the Hunter. The confirmation has been a long time coming, and the film’s star has been quite adamant about it on previous occasions. “Anyone who’s familiar with comics and the character of Kraven the Hunter knows that he is a fierce hunter — a skilled, highly-trained killer,” star Aaron Taylor-Johnson previously remarked. “So I think now’s a good time to answer the Internet’s biggest question: Will it be rated R? F— yes, it’s going to be R.”
This commitment to the R-rating comes after a multitude of delays that many took as a sign of bad tidings, with the expectation thatKraven the Hunterwould be Sony’s worst outing yetwith the Marvel IP. However, this news changes that narrative, as it gives a higher baseline for fan interest going into the film. This will probably be a major point in the marketing going forward as the project, which also features Ariana DeBose as love interest Calypso and Fred Heichinger as fellow Spider-Man rogue the Chameleon, nears its December release date.
At this point in the Sony franchise,it’s debatable whether Kraven the Hunter was the right place for an R-rating. Sony’sVenomfilm series could have arguably done a lot more with an R-rating, even more so for the rest of the franchise. In fact, there’s a case to be made that every single project in this franchise should have been R-rated from the beginning to really distinguish itself from the MCU and give the creatives more to work with. Whether or not this would’ve made a major difference to the quality of a film likeMadame Webis debatable, but it would’ve probably drawn more fan interest in the meantime. WithKraven the Hunterbeing the last of the SonySpider-Manprojects with a confirmed release date, there might be hope for it to set the stage for future projects with an impactful theatrical showing. The timing of the confirmation announcement might also be to capitalize on the buzz surroundingDeadpool & Wolverine’srecord-breaking R-rated run.
It’s still very much up for debateifKraven The Huntercan save Sony’sSpider-Manuniverseat this point. While the R-rating is certainly a great boon for the project itself, it might be too late to fix the damage caused by Madame Web and the general apathy around even the most well-received projects outside of theSpider-Man Hometrilogy. With Tom Holland becoming more and more of an MCU asset, there’s very little one antihero can do to save the day here.
Kraven the Hunteris currently set for theatrical release on June 25, 2025.
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is one of the biggest names in entertainment today. The superhero first appeared in the Marvel comic Amazing Fantasy #15 before becoming a leading figure in the Marvel comic-book universe.Spider-Man has also featured in numerous films and a plethora of video games, most notably Insomniac Games' Spider-Man (2018) and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
