'Spider-Man' Director Jon Watts Reveals Who He Wants As The Webslinger's Next Villain
Spider-Man: Far From Home just hit theaters last week, but franchise director Jon Watts has already been thinking about the next film in the webslinger's story. There's quite the long list of villains that Spider-Man has contended with in Marvel Comics, but if the filmmaker has his choice, there's one baddie that could be a lot of fun.
However, in order to dive into his answer, we must head into spoiler territory for those who haven't seen Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Director Jon Watts sat down with Uproxx to discuss Spider-Man: Far From Home, and discussion eventually turned to what's next for Spidey. After all, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) saw his secret identity revealed by a video that a dying Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) had leaked to TheDailyBugle.net, a website run by none other than J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons, reprising his role from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy). So now the table is set for anyone to seek out Peter Parker and make his life hell.
While there have been rumblings of Norman Osborn and Oscorp entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the near future, Watts didn't seem to keen on heading into territory that has been covered by the two previous Spider-Man franchises. Watts said, "There are a lot of Spider-Man stories to tell and it's just finding out the right time to tell them." It doesn't sound like the time is right for Watts to retread that story arc again. So who does Watts want to see take on the wallcrawler next? The director said:
"I always just try to start with what haven't we seen before? And there's so many Spider-Man villains. I mean, the fact that I got to, in a way, bring Hydro-Man and Molten Man to a movie, really, I get a kick out of that, even if they are fake. But, no, I don't know who's next. I always like to think about it in terms of what's going to be the most difficult thing for Peter. So that's going to be the next trick."
All right, but is there anyone specific in mind? Venom was a pretty big deal, so is the potential crossover finally going to come to fruition? It's a possibility, but if Jon Watts had his way, he would bring in a villain we haven't seen on the big screen before. Watts says:
"I would love Kraven. It's just the trick of how do you do Kraven in a movie?"
It's funny that you say that, because Sony Pictures has been developing a Kraven the Hunter movie for nearly a year now, and it might even include Spider-Man.
Kraven the Hunter, aka Sergei Kravinoff, first appeared in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man in 1964. Wikipedia describes him as a "maniacal big game hunter who seeks to defeat Spider-Man to prove that he is the greatest hunter in the world. Unlike other hunters, he typically disdains the use of guns or bow and arrows, preferring to take down large dangerous animals with his bare hands. He also lives by a code of honor of sorts, choosing to hunt his game fairly. He consumes a mystical serum to give himself enhanced strength and dramatically slow the aging process."
That sounds like the perfect character to start hunting the outed Peter Parker. But Kraven the Hunter is also a bit goofy by the standards of reality set by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so there would need to be some modern touches and modifications for the character to make sense. Kraven almost feels like he should be a side character like Shocker was in Spider-Man: Homecoming, something like a bounty hunter that another villain uses to help him track Spidey. But maybe Watts has already figured out how to make him work in the MCU.
As of now, we have no idea when we'll see the Spider-Man story continue, but Far From Home leaves plenty of possibilities on the table for the future. We'll just have to wait to find out what Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures have in store.