Kraven The Hunter Footage Reaction: The Latest Spider-Man Spin-Off Goes For The R-Rating [CinemaCon 2023]

Another year, another CinemaCon! /Film's own Ben Pearson is attending the yearly film showcase in Las Vegas, and has the first word on some really cool exclusive trailers and footage presentations—including the upcoming Spider-Man villain spin-off "Kraven The Hunter." CinemaCon debuted some clips from the film which comes out in the fall, and needless to say, there is a lot to discuss. 

The movie is set to be the fourth installment in Sony's Spider-Man cinematic universe — yes, here's another one to remember — after their other villain films "Venom," "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," and 2022's favorite meme "Morbius." It's definitely interesting to see them branching out so hard into the villain canon, and it'll be fun to see where this one goes. The new "Kraven" film is directed by J.C. Chandor and written by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Richard Wenk. 

As for casting, Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the titular villain and his alter-ego Sergei Kravinoff, Ariana DeBose plays opposite as his love interest Calypso, and "The White Lotus" breakout star Fred Hechinger rounds out the leading roles as Kravinoff's half-brother Dmitri, also known as Chameleon. Additionally, Christopher Abbott and Alessandro Nivola are playing villain roles, though exactly which were unconfirmed until this footage. Russell Crowe and Levi Miller are also part of the cast in undisclosed roles. Judging by this cast alone, this film looks exciting ... and the footage speaks for itself. 

The first and most important thing to know is that Sony has decided that "Kraven The Hunter" will be their first R-rated Marvel movie. It's a surprising move because Kraven is involved in the wider "Spider-Man" universe and so far, Sony has made sure their other Spidey spinoffs have been firmly PG-13. Both "Venom" movies and "Morbius" were more family-friendly in their ratings despite both characters having more R-rated potential. One's an alien that loves to eat brains and the other is a literal vampire.

But "Kraven" is going brutal. Star Aaron Taylor-Johnson made the announcement via pre-recorded video to the CinemaCon audience before introducing the very first footage. Our own friendly neighborhood wordslinger Ben Pearson is on the ground and filled us in on what the first look footage looked like.

First off, Taylor-Johnson described Kraven as a "skilled, highly trained killer," which is good because that's his character in the comics. The action-heavy footage opened with Kraven rocking a leather vest, attacking a group of hunters in a truck. He bites the nose off of one and spits it directly at the camera. Another fight scene takes place in an apartment building in which he very inventively takes the long fang of a sabertooth tiger and impales a dude with it. 

In the medley of violence, Kraven snaps a bear trap closed on some guy's head, shoots another guy in the chest with a crossbow, leaps through the air at a flying helicopter, and throws a spear at another guy sitting in it. During some of this action, Taylor-Johnson is glimpsed running around on all fours.

Besides the title character, we also get glimpses of two other big players. One is Russell Crowe, who plays Kraven's father. Ben describes Crowe as trying on another big accent, and we also get a line from Taylor-Johnson where his character is adamant that he is nothing like his father, perhaps hinting at a bit of friction between those two.

The other big character is the film's villain. They didn't show his face, but did make us aware that yet another big player in the Spider-Man rogues' gallery will make an appearance. It's only fitting that Kraven the Hunter fights The Rhino. He gets a line of dialogue — and it's unclear who delivers this line — saying something to the effect of "Don't you want to know why they call me The Rhino?" and then we see part of his skin changing into a leathery, gray patch. So, they've established a brutal killer and a bad guy that might real tough to bring down by conventional means.

Despite The Rhino and Kraven being the main players, the footage didn't nod to any other Spider-Man involvement, and instead focused on Kraven as a ruthless and effective killer. If they do plan on folding these baddies into the "Spider-Man" movies it seems that ol' webhead might be in trouble.

"Kraven The Hunter" debuts October 6, 2023.