Catching Up With Kraven The Hunter

Kraven the Hunter is one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes. Until now, we have yet to see the character on the big screen. However, that will all change. In May of last year, Tenet and Kick-Ass star, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, was cast as Kraven the Hunter in a standalone spin-off film for the character. Today, we're catching up with Kraven the Hunter!

Kraven On the Big Screen

As previously established, Kraven is one of Spider-Man’s coolest and most versatile antagonists. First appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 back in August of 1964, Kraven immediately became a fan-favourite, even appearing in a lost fan-film from 1974 which was made with the approval and endorsement of Stan Lee!

According to Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts, Kraven was originally going to be the main villain for the third Tom Holland-starring film. Bear in mind, this was all before the Multiverse storyline was approved by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures; the rest is history.

Despite not appearing in No Way Home, Sony Pictures is rather determined to put Kraven on the big screen as a standalone movie is indeed on the way - the film is expected to release in January of 2023! With all of that said, I thought it was time to take a look at a few of Kraven’s key issues as there is still a lot of potential for this character to grow.

Catching Up With Kraven The Hunter

A few years back, I wrote a piece discussing Kraven’s first appearance (Amazing Spider-Man #15). At that time, Amazing Spider-Man #15 was selling for a ludicrously low price - as stated in the article, I picked up a 6.5 copy signed by Stan Lee for a mere $600 (USD). As of today, a 6.5 grade signed by Stan the Man is selling for $4,000 (USD) on eBay! That’s a growth of over 550% in a little under two years. Give me another Spidey villain who is pulling numbers like that!

The point and matter is, Kraven is going to become a rather huge character for Sony Pictures and the Spider-Man franchise going forward. Tom Holland has stated many times that Kraven is his favourite Spider-Man villain; someone he is desperate to go up against in a sequel. Personally speaking, this is just a matter of when and not if. 

On eBay at the moment, you can find countless copies of Kraven’s debut, in a wide range of grades and prices. If you listen to anything that I have said ever, please listen to this: Invest in this character. Kraven is clearly going to be an important character for Sony, and that’s why they cast an actor like Taylor-Johnson. Someone who can clearly lead a franchise, but is still young enough to do it for the foreseeable future. (Taylor-Johnson will be 32 when the Kraven film releases.)

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*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not represent investment advice on behalf of GoCollect