'Kraven The Hunter': Aaron Taylor-Johnson Cast As The Spider-Man Villain In Sony's Upcoming Movie

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is jumping back into the world of comic book movies.

The actor, who previously starred in 2010's Kick-Ass and played Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron, has been hired to play the lead role in Sony's Kraven the Hunter, which is about a maniacal hunter who is obsessed with tracking down Spider-Man.

According to a Sony press release, Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been cast as the lead role in Sony's Marvel film Kraven the Hunter. The studio describes the character like this: "One of Sony Pictures' universe of Marvel characters, Kraven is one of Marvel's most iconic and notorious antiheroes, who has encountered Venom and Black Panther, among many others, as well as being one of Spider-Man's best known and most formidable enemies." The Wrap reports that Taylor-Johnson has signed a deal for multiple movies, but it's unclear exactly how many he's locked in for.

In the pages of Marvel Comics, Kraven is also known by his full name, Sergei Kravinoff. He first showed up in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 back in 1964, making him one of Spidey's earliest nemeses. Kraven is an over-enthusiastic big game hunter who somehow gets it in his mind that capturing Spider-Man would prove to everyone that he is the greatest hunter in the world. He frequently uses a serum that gives him super strength that's comparable to Spider-Man's, and that serum also slows down his aging process. Kraven prefers not to use guns, instead relying on his brute strength, stealth, and other tactics for hunting his prey. He's also one of those villains who lives by their own twisted code of ethics, which indicates that perhaps he's redeemable – and could maybe even end up switching sides in future movies, like what happened with Jason Statham's character in the Fast and Furious franchise.

J.C. Chandor, the director of Triple Frontier, All is Lost, Margin Call, and A Most Violent Year, has been officially confirmed as the director of this upcoming movie. Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, who helped write 2008's Iron Man, and Richard Wenk, whose credits include films like The Equalizer 2, wrote the screenplay, and Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are on board as producers.Kraven the Hunter is set to hit theaters on January 13, 2023.