Kraven the Hunter: Spider-Man spinoff at Sony casts Avengers' actor Aaron Taylor Johnson as lead

Aaron Taylor Johnson will play the lead role in Sony and Marvel’s Kraven the Hunter. The movie will hit the theatres on 13 January, 2023. This is a multi-picture deal which means Johnson will play the character in more than one film. The film will be directed by J C Chandor. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are joining the crew as producers. The screenplay has been penned by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and Richard Wenk.

Kraven is one of Marvel’s most popular anti-heroes who is known as Spider-Man’s most daunting enemy. The villain has fought iconic and notorious Venom and Black Panther, among many others. The character first debuted in 1964’s The Amazing Spider-Man. It was created by Spider-Man co-creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. It gained popularity in the 1980s storyline of Kraven’s Last Hunt in which he defeated Spider-Man, buried him alive, and assumed his identity.

Johnson was selected due to his superb performance in Bullet Train. The Sony-Marvel team was also impressed by his skills in the upcoming Brad Pitt film directed by David Leitch. This is not the first time when he will be seen playing a superhero. He has appeared in cult hit Kick-Ass (2010) and its 2013 sequel and was also seen in the role of Quicksilver in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). With many iconic films to his credit, he was last seen in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. Johnson is represented by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Sloane Offer.

Sony is focusing on building its hero-antihero universe. Coming up in the pipeline are Tom Hardy’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which will be out on 24 September this year, and Jared Leto’s Morbius scheduled for next year.