Russell Crowe's Character Reportedly Reveled in Sony's KRAVEN THE HUNTER Marvel Movie

When it was announced that Russell Crowe joined the cast of Sony's next Marvel movie, Kraven the Hunter, there was no information on who he might be playing. Well, The Illuminerdi is reporting that Crowe will be playing Nikolai Kravinoff.

For those of you who don’t know who that is, Kravinoff is the father of both Kraven and Chameleon, who are being played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Fred Hechinger (White Lotus). It’s also said that Crowe will play a sizable role in the film.

There’s no information on how the character will be utilized in the story. But, in the comics, “Nikolai and his wife Anna Kravinoff were Russian aristocrats who raised their son Sergei in Volgograd Russia during the Russian Revolution. Nikolai fathered an illegitimate son, Dmitri, with Sonya Smerdyakova, one of the family’s servants. After the revolution came to an end the Kravinoffs were forced to flee eventually ending up in the United States. Nikolai died and Anna was remanded to an asylum where she committed suicide orphaning their son Sergei. Nikolai was not a kind father to either of his sons.”

It’s also explained, “After the death of his parents Sergei Kravinoff learned to stay alive by his own cunning and begins traveling eventually ending up in Africa. While in Africa Kraven discovers his natural talent for hunting, eventually becoming a renowned big game hunter and gains enhanced abilities from an herbal elixir.”

It makes complete sense for Crowe to play Kravinoff, but that has yet to be officially confirmed by the studio. J.C. Chandor (Triple Frontier) is set to direct from a script written by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Iron Man). The initial draft of the script was written by Richard Wenk. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are producing the film.

The film will be released theatrically on January 13, 2023.