In 2017, Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe appeared in “The Mummy.” The hope was for Universal to create a Dark Universe series of films with Crowe appearing throughout some of them as Dr. Jekyll (and, of course, Mr. Hyde). After the film made a lackluster impression on movie-goers and film critics, those plans were dashed. However Crowe now has an opportunity to dive into another expanded universe of films as Sony has roped him in their Spider-Man spin-off, “Kraven the Hunter.”
We’ve been covering developments on Kraven, including Aaron-Taylor Johnson being cast in the titular role, and J.C. Chandor directing the film. Crowe is also appearing as Zeus in Taika Waititi’s upcoming Marvel Studios film “Thor: Love & Thunder.” [Editor’s note: Also, let’s never forget Crowe’s turn in “Man of Steel” as Superman’s father, Zor-El. He’s pretty much covered all the comic book bases at this point.]
All those reports get to coalesce into something potentially awesome as Crowe will be playing a yet to be announced role in “Kraven the Hunter.”
Depending on the direction and interpretation the screenwriters go with this, we could see an unexpected turn where Crowe could be playing the original Kraven, Sergei Kravinoff, with Johnson playing his son, Vladimir. Even though Vladimir wasn’t necessarily a big factor in Spidey’s life when compared to his father, it might make for a more interesting rivalry with a younger Kravinoff taking up the hunt against Spidey.
Sure it’s just speculation, but it wouldn’t be the first time a comic book movie mixed up the formula a little bit; it’s not like we saw Hank Pym duking it out as Ant-Man in the MCU. Should we get more information, we’ll update accordingly. In the meantime, we have another Spider-Man villain spin-off, “Morbius,” hitting theaters on April 1st, 2022.
Until then, you can watch animated Morbius hungering for some plasma.
