Ryan Coogler Confirms This Spider-Man Universe Character Was Blocked From Being in BLACK PANTHER by Sony

Ryan Coogler made a fantastic Black Panther universe with his first film in 2018. The world of Wakanda has beautifully integrated into the MCU, and we are gearing up for our third story set there with those characters. But if Coogler had his way, the first film’s villain would have looked a little different, but the director’s plans were thwarted by Sony.

The studio still has the rights to the characters in the Spider-Man comic universe, and they have worked with Marvel to loan the rights for the MCU films, but one character was not available to Coogler in making his first superhero film.

Speaking to Josh Horowitz in the Happy Sad Confused Podcast, Coogler was asked about the rumor that he wanted Kraven the Hunter to be in the first Black Panther movie.

The filmmaker acknowledged that it was true, and that the original idea for Black Panther referenced writer Christopher Priest’s run on the Black Panther comics, which included a fight between the superhero and Kraven. But unfortunately, Sony was not keen on this concept. Coogler explained:

“I’m a big Spider-Man fan, especially Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Kraven’s great in that. He’s also great in the books, so I was like ‘Can I have Kraven in this movie?’ and they were like ‘We don’t think so, but let us check right quick,’ so they hit Sony, and Sony was like ‘Absolutely not.'”

Now we know that Sony had plans to make a solo Kraven the Hunter movie, and it unfortunately didn’t turn out as well as they hoped. But Coogler went on to say that in retrospect, he is happy about the way things worked out, as it led to Andy Serkis appearing in the film as Ulysses Klaue, and he is grateful for the chance to work with him.

Fans are gearing up for the third Black Panther film, which is Coogler’s next project, but is still early in development. Little is known about the story, except that last year, Denzel Washington revealed that he would be in the sequel.