The Kraven The Hunter Trailer Has A Weird Connection To Logan

After being delayed several times, Sony's latest "Spider-Man" spin-off film "Kraven the Hunter" is hitting theaters later this year. The studio only barely released a brand-new red-band trailer for the Marvel Comics adaptation, which highlights the R-rated action to come. It very much seems like a violent, no-holds-barred take on the character, who is being played by "Bullet Train" and "The Fall Guy" star Aaron Taylor-Johnson. But while the films seemingly couldn't be more different, broadly speaking, "Kraven" does share at least one thing in common with 2017's "Logan" beyond the R rating.

The latest trailer for "Kraven" makes use of Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around." It's become pretty common for big movies to take once-popular songs and give them a bit of a remix to add a certain vibe to their trailers. Jordan Peele's "Us" famously used a version of Luniz's "I Got 5 On it," just as one example from recent history. Cash is a wildly beloved and popular musician, so a studio wanting to employ one of his songs as a marketing tool doesn't come as a major surprise.

However, "The Man Comes Around" was previously used by director James Mangold as the song that plays at the end of "Logan." This is important because not only was that movie credited with paving the way for R-rated superhero movies of the modern era, right alongside "Deadpool," but it is also widely considered to be one of the best comic book movies ever made. Not for nothing, "Logan" was also hugely successful at the box office, meaning there are quite a few people who are going to make the connection between Cash's song and Hugh Jackman's finest hour as Wolverine.

In that way, Sony's decision to use the song in the new trailer for "Kraven" is going to, in some small way, connect the two films. Whether that was intentional or not is unclear, but there are potential implications that follow regardless.

"Kraven" is being billed as a "visceral, action-packed origin story" that will reveal how and why one of Marvel's most iconic villains came to be. Taylor-Johnson had previously indicated that this version of Kraven will be a departure from the version from the comics. The cast also includes Oscar-winner Russell Crowe as Kraven's father, as well as Spider-Man villains Rhino and Chameleon, played by Alessandro Nivola and Fred Hechinger, respectively. "West Side Story" Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose also stars.

Sony has suffered some misfires recently with its Marvel adaptations. The studio found major success with Tom Hardy's first two "Venom" films and it still has "Venom: The Last Dance" on the way later this year. Unfortunately, outside of that franchise, these "Spider-Man" spin-offs have had a tough go. 2022's "Morbius" was a major critical and commercial failure, with this year's "Madame Web" ranking as one of the biggest flops of 2024 so far.

Because of this, there is a lot riding on director J.C. Chandor's "Kraven the Hunter." Sony needs this to work or it may have to head back to the drawing board to figure out what to do with the "Spider-Man" characters outside of the main films. By using "The Man Comes Around," it might be some small, subtle nod to a masterpiece of the comic book genre. It's got that cool factor that might just help push some on-the-fence fans over the edge.

In the case of "Logan," it did seem to make a bit more sense in context. Not just tonally, but because Mangold had previously directed the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line." Here? It feels like a pure marketing ploy. If it works, that's all Sony cares about.

"Kraven the Hunter" hits theaters on December 13, 2024.