The Poppies of Terra #45 - Sony's Last Hunt?

I reviewed Venom back in 2018, and as I didn’t think the second or third installments in the series improved on the first, I opted not to talk about them here. While this pulpy, $1.7 billion trilogy was unfolding, Webheads all over the world were also presented with Morbius (2022), Madame Web (2024), and, most recently, Kraven the Hunter. I say “Webheads” because I’m not sure who else would really be interested in these Spider-man-less Spider-man adjacent comic book films focusing on niche characters. The movies have ranged from bad to terrible. It’s not for lack of talent behind or in front of the cameras. Kraven the Hunter, for example, which I caught on opening day last week, includes Oscar winner Ariana DeBose in the supporting role of Calypso and Oscar winner Russell Crowe as Nikolai Kravinoff, Kraven’s father. The director, J. C. Chandor, previously helmed Margin Call, All Is Lost, A Most Violent Year, and Triple Frontier, showcasing consistent competence with character-based dramas involving a spectrum of action requirements. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the lead, has delivered strong performances in previous projects such as Nocturnal Animals, for which he received critical attention.

One wouldn’t know any of this by inspecting the finished product. 

It’s mostly inert, sometimes unintentionally funny (this is not a speculative observation, by the way; my theater audience giggled during “serious” moments), weirdly convoluted, and above all poorly paced and criminally narratively inefficient. Kraven the Hunter is the kind of superhero film one would expect a studio to release back in the late 90s or early 00s, when mainstream audiences were still being educated on the narrative cape-and-cowls conventions, and would come away from something like this with their worst suspicions confirmed and snobbish biases affirmed. Thirty-four MCU and sixteen DCEU flicks later, not to mention countless other comic book adaptations, you’d think we’d be given some credit for understanding the shtick. Nope. Kraven the Hunter is a coloring activity book of a superhero movie where the first activity is watching the creators pencil in the contours of the shapes that require coloring and the second activity is seeing those shapes sloppily filled in with mismatched hues. Oh, and don’t forget some Daredevil (2003)-level special effects during key transformation moments.

It’s a shame, really. In 2018 headlines announced things like “‘Kraven the Hunter’ Movie to Include Spider-Man, Draw Inspiration From “Last Hunt”,” but the actual film doesn’t follow that story, nor does it include Spider-Man. It’s a waste of an exciting opportunity, because “The Last Hunt” is a deep and significant story in the Spider-man canon which could have been played with gravitas and even striven for poignance. It’s popular enough with fans to have been adapted into a prose novel by Neil Kleid. Various websites have reported that after repeatedly failing to deliver critically or (outside the Venom movies) financially Sony is putting the kibosh on these Spidey-proximal projects. We’ll see (“Even After ‘Kraven the Hunter’ and ‘Madame Web,’ Sony’s Marvel Movies Aren’t Dead”). 

But lamenting the dreck-fest of these misfires isn’t much fun, so I thought that we might instead celebrate the legacy of Kraven and the inventiveness of his various writers by touching on some Kraven-related tidbits pulled from decades of Spider-man comics. 

Without further ado, then, here’s my “Ten Kurious Facts About Kraven the Hunter”:

1. Kraven the Hunter was inspired by the character of General Zaroff in Richard Connell’s 1924 short story “The Most Dangerous Game.” In his inaugural appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #15, sixty years ago, Kraven actually uses the phrase “the most dangerous game.”

2. We could say the following story leaves one agog. Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, and J. Jonah Jameson travel to the Savage Land in search of a sensational scoop for The Daily Bugle. Once there they’re ambushed by Kraven the Hunter–and his alien pet, Gog, a creature Kraven saved as an infant from a crashed spaceship. (The Amazing Spider-Man #103)

3. Kraven has a son named Vladimir Kravinoff, who takes on the identity of the Grim Hunter. Vladimir is trained by Kraven to, what else, hunt Spider-Man, but eventually comes to a bad end at the hands of Kaine, none other than an insane clone of Spider-Man. (Spider-Man #54-55)

4. Perhaps not terribly surprisingly, at one point Kraven has a pet lion. We learn, in a story arc involving Calypso and Spider-Man along with Kraven, that the lion’s name is Gulyadkin. As far as I can tell, this name stems from combining the word “gulyat,” a verb meaning “to walk” or “to roam,” with the diminutive suffix “-kin,” therefore meaning something like “Little Wanderer.” Gulyadkin later appeared in the animated Spectacular Spider-Man (2008-2009) series. (Spectacular Spider-Man #253)

5. In Marvel’s Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610), Kraven the Hunter is a reality TV star who hunts wild animals for sport and, unlike his fully Russian (Earth-616) counterpart, is half-Australian. Kraven initially targets Spider-Man to boost his show's ratings, but things don’t go as planned… (First appearing in Ultimate Spider-Man #16)

6. Alyosha Kravinoff, another son of Kraven the Hunter, at one point ventures into Hollywood to make a movie. Taking up the mantle of Kraven, Alyosha finds his plans derailed by LA's criminal underworld. The series focuses mostly on Kraven teaming up with the Vulture. The unlikely duo takes on various villains and fights alongside Spider-Man–who appears essentially in a cameo–in the final issue. Not often do we see Vulture being heroic. (Spider-Man: Get Kraven #1-6)

7. Aleksandra Kravinoff falls in love with and marries Kraven the Hunter. Together, they have one daughter, Ana. After–spoiler alert, but how permanent is this ever in comic books?–Kraven’s demise, Aleksandra becomes obsessed with resurrecting him. She hatches a complicated plan with Ana that involves, among other players, Madame Web. Eventually she’s able to bring Kraven back, but not without consequences…. (various in The Amazing Spider-Man #567-637)

8. This one is pretty wild. Mr. Sinister hires Kraven the Hunter to collect DNA from the original X-Men, a task Kraven completes after framing Spider-Man as a mutant and battling both Spider-Man and the X-Men. Years later, Sinister turns his attention to the Carnage symbiote, and combining DNA from Kraven himself, the X-Men, and the symbiote (from whom Mr. Sinister has removed sentience), Sinister creates a hybrid clone named Xraven. (X-Men / Spider-Man #1-3)

9. Kraven was once able to track and momentarily subdue none other than the Hulk. How does he accomplish this seemingly impossible feat, you ask? He makes use of adamantium fishhooks tied to a hot air balloon. Hey, whatever works! (Incredible Hulk [Vol. 3] #10–11)

10. Speaking of Venom, Eddie Brock and Sergei Kravinoff faced off not too long ago. Venom, in his role as lethal protector, defends a group of underground dinosaur people (a phrase I’ve always longed to use) from Kraven while struggling to control his own darker instincts. Kraven, allied with the villain Shriek, initially gains the upper hand, but with the aid of his dinosaur allies, Venom fights back and defeats both of them. Rematch? (Venom #155-158)

Since Kraven is renowned for his supreme hunting prowess, one day I'd like to see a cosmic variant of the character take on perhaps the most challenging prey imaginable, namely Death herself.

There you have it. Just because Hollywood has fumbled this character’s live-action adaptation doesn’t mean we can’t satisfy our Kraven’s elsewhere.