Sony’s Kraven the Hunter Casts Its Marvel Movie Villain

The upcoming Kraven the Hunter movie finds its villain as Alessandro Nivola joins the Sony-Marvel project. Following the huge success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Sony Pictures is wasting no time in fleshing out its own Marvel-based cinematic universe separate from the MCU. While Peter Parker has yet to appear in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, villains from the web-head’s rogues gallery – like Venom and Morbius – have been jumping from panel to screen in their own solo films. Despite many of them being known as antagonists to Spider-Man, Sony is taking several of these characters in the anti-hero direction.

While Morbius is set to hit theaters next month, the next big Spider-Man character to come to the big-screen after him will be Kraven the Hunter, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Directed b J.C. Chandor, the film will follow Sergei Kravinoff in a story that is reported to be loosely based on Kraven’s Last Hunt. With production set to begin later this year, the project has been expanding its cast as of late. Russell Crowe is attached as an undisclosed character while Fred Hechinger is portraying Chameleon, Kraven’s brother, who also happens to be a Spider-Man foe. Ariana DeBose was also recently tapped to portray the Marvel character Calypso, who has ties to Kraven.

However, Sony Pictures isn’t completely done with casting for Kraven the Hunter as another talent is boarding the project. Alessandro Nivola, recently seen in The Many Saints of Newark, is joining Kraven the Hunter in a mystery role. While the identity of his character is being kept under wraps, Deadline reports that he is set to play the main villain in the movie. It’s unclear at this point if Nivola is rounding out the cast or if the studio is still filling out other main roles.

Considering how many Marvel players have already been added to Kraven the Hunter’s cast, it’s a challenge to figure out who Nivola is possibly portraying. However, given that they are keeping the character’s name a secret, it means he is most likely playing someone that fans know from the comics. With Calypso and Chameleon involved in the film, it wouldn’t be shocking if Nivola’s villain is another Spider-Man antagonist.

With Kraven the Hunter being the first time the character ever appears in live-action, it’ll be interesting to see how he fits into Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Having Taylor-Johnson’s anti-hero exist in the same world as Venom and Morbius opens up the door for some exciting possibilities in terms of crossovers. What continues to be a mystery with Sony’s own Marvel franchise is the long-term goal. One would think that there has to be an endgame in mind for all these characters in the future. Whatever that may be, fans will see how Kraven the Hunter factors into that in 2023.