The Columbia Pictures president responded to recent rumors of a Kraven movie in Sony's Spider-Man universe, praising the character. Since Spider-Man: Homecoming has become a huge box office success for Sony's new collaboration with Marvel, fans have been looking forward to a new, expanded Spider-Man universe (even if it's still not clear how this will fit into the MCU). The first entry in Sony's new Spider-Verse has been confirmed to be a Venom stand-alone film, starring Tom Hardy as the titular villain. Following this is a second villain-centric film, Silver and Black, featuring Silver Sable and Black Cat.

It certainly seems from these titles as though Sony is focusing on the villains of their universe, and after an interview dropped the names of Mysterio and Kraven last month, fans have been guessing that these two could be next on the agenda for the Spider-Verse. Of course, these are still only rumors, but now Sony has responded to the possibility with a little cryptic praise that is sure to keep fans guessing.

In an interview with Variety about the future of the Spider-Verse, Columbia Pictures president Sanford Panitch spoke about their plans for Venom, Silver & Black, and other potential films in this new universe. When asked about the possibility of a Kraven movie, Panitch refused to outright confirm or deny, but did say that he's a fan of the character.

He’s an awesome character. Let’s just leave it at that.

Kraven the Hunter is a long-time enemy of Spider-Man in the comics, a big game hunter who sees the wall-crawler as prey. As well as repeated attempts to hunt Spider-Man, Kraven is also obsessed with his own honor, and often behaves in a way that is completely unhinged; at one point, he even buried Spider-Man alive.

A Kraven solo movie would certainly fit with Sony's villain-centric universe, although it's worth noting that he doesn't have the same kind of complicated backstory and character history that Venom, Black Cat and Silver Sable do, nor has he really been portrayed as a sympathetic character (and even occasional hero) in the way that these other characters have. In addition, it would be particularly difficult to have a Kraven/Spider-Man movie without Tom Holland's Spider-Man, so if this is in Sony's plans, it would mean incorporating these films into MCU continuity.

Whether or not a Kraven film is in the works, it's clear that Sony isn't willing to give too much away about their plans beyond what has already been announced - and part of this may simply be that there are no concrete plans for that far in the future. Other Spider-Man franchises have floundered after the first one or two films, so Sony is most likely unwilling to commit to more than two films before seeing how Venom and Silver and Black are received. Looks like Kraven fans will have to wait, and hope, a little longer yet.

Next: How Sony’s Venom Movie Does & Does Not Connect to the MCU

Source: Variety

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