Russell Crowe is joining the Spiderverse! The Oscar-award-winning actor is set to star in Sony’s Kraven the Hunter.
Crowe’s role is yet to be disclosed, but he will appear alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays the titular Marvel villain. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Crowe is likely playing one of Kraven’s family members, though confirmations remain to be seen.
Kraven the Hunter is one of Spider-Man’s best-known nemeses. He made his comic debut in The Amazing Spider-Man No. 15 and was created by Spider-Man co-creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. The Russian big-game hunter hasd a long tenure in the comics and famously succeeded in defeating Spider-Man, burying him alive and assuming his identity in the 1980s storyline ‘Kraven’s Last Hunt’.
Kraven is one of the many projects in development at Sony to expand the Spiderverse. The studio has already released Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and will be releasing Morbius in April 2022. A Madame Web movie starring Dakota Johnson is also in development.
This is Crowe’s second Marvel movie, with the first being Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder. However, despite Kraven the Hunter being based on characters from the Marvel Comics, the movie is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Kraven the Hunter will be directed by J.C. Chandor, with a script by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Richard Wenk. It is scheduled to release in theaters on 13 January 2023.