Sony’s Spider-Man Universebeing a franchise that doesn’t actually feature Spider-Man was already confusing enough, butKraven the Huntercontinued the other trend that has plagued the franchise since the start. When Sony released Venom back in 2018, there was some degree of excitement about the Marvel spin-off franchise that could build up toward a Sinister Six movie, but even then, there were cracks in the facade.
Now, as the SSU has delivered the final movie before itcloses the doors on the Spider-Man spin-off franchise, it hammers home the point that made these movies feel too misguided, weak, and disappointing. Beyond the egregious edits, the subpar scripts, the disastrous directing, and the abysmal acting, there is one thing that made these movies unwatchable. And it comes down to a foundationalmisunderstanding of these villains.
Sony’s Spider-Man Universe Movies Turn Villains Into Heroes
No SSU Villain Has Actually Been A Villain
While most villains don’t believe they are the bad guy, Sony took the people who were supposed to eventually join forces under the banner, Sinister Six, and made them heroes. While they did shady things, killed freely, and had some misguided motives,every one of these characters was portrayed as a hero, not a villain. Venom fought bad guys, and helped to save the world. Morbius was a victim of trying to find a cure to his condition, and he used the curse that he was inflicted with to, again, save the world from an evil threat. And now, Kraven follows suit.
Why Young Kraven Doesn’t Kill The Lion In Kraven The Hunter
Kraven the Hunter features a unique origin story for a well-known comic book villain from the Marvel universe, with some interesting early scenes.
These characters are supposed to be the worst villains that Spider-Man has ever faced, but instead, If Spidey arrived on the scene, it would make more sense for them to work together.Even if Spider-Man arrived and began attackingthese characters, it would make no sense. TheSSU ignored core parts of the characters, in favor of trying to make a typical superhero universe, and it suffered the consequences as every movie struggled to generate profit, and received terrible reviews en masse.
Kraven The Hunter Again Makes A Spider-Man Villain Too Heroic
Kraven Was Never Meant To Be A Hero
For Kraven, his position as a hero is pretty cut and dry. He had a terrible and abusive father, who he ran away from as a boy. He then lived in nature, and deepened his connection with animals. This led to Kraven deciding to protect animals, and turn his hunting toward humans, specifically people he deemed as being worthy of his code, who brought more evil into the world than good. With this code,Kraven set out to make the world a better and safer place, as he enacted his own brand of vigilante justice.
While this may not match up with superheros who avoid killing people at any cost, it’s still a clear heroic motive, with anti-hero behavior to back it up. This shows a profound misunderstanding of the character, the source material, and ultimately, whatever kind of universe they were trying to make. Simply put, Sony had no idea what it was doing when it came to making movies about these characters, and it continued to double down on these terrible choices again and again, untilKraven the Hunterstands alone as thefinal entry in the now defunctSony Spider-Man Universe, and thank goodness for that.
Kraven the Hunter
Cast
Kraven the Hunter explores the origin story of Sergei Kravinoff, known as Kraven, as he navigates his tumultuous relationship with his father, Nikolai. This path of vengeance sets Kraven on a journey to become a formidable hunter with a reputation for fearsome brutality.
