Kraven the Hunter: Alessandro Nivola to play villain in Sony’s Marvel movie

Sony Pictures’ Marvel movie Kraven the Hunter has found its main villain. Deadline has reported that Alessandro Nivola, who I found to be the highlight of The Many Saints of Newark, is set to join the cast of Kraven the Hunter.

Unfortunately, it’s not known who Alessandro Nivola will be playing in the Kraven the Hunter movie, only that he’ll playing the villain of the story. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is set to star as Kraven the Hunter, with Ariana DeBose recently cast of Calypso, Fred Hechinger as the Chameleon, and Russell Crowe in an unknown role. J.C. Chandor is set to direct Kraven the Hunter from a script by Art Marcum & Matt Holloway and Richard Wenk.

Born Sergei Kravinoff, Kraven the Hunter is a Russian immigrant whose aristocratic family fled to America following the Russian Revolution. With intensive training and the help of a potion which gave him superhuman abilities, including increased strength, speed, reflexes, and enhanced senses, Kraven became a fearsome big-game hunter who tackled the most dangerous game on the planet, preferably with his bare hands. Kraven is also one of Spider-Man’s most famous villains, and, in one of his most memorable comic-book stories, Kraven’s Last Hunt, even defeats Spider-Man by seemingly killing him and burying him. Kraven then assumed Spider-Man’s identity by donning his own Spidey outfit and set out to prove himself superior at his former adversaries own game.

As I mentioned above, Alessandro Nivola was most recently seen in The Many Saints of Newark, but he has plenty of other projects on the horizon as well. He’s part of the all-star ensemble cast of David O. Russell’s as-yet-untitled movie that stars Christian Bale, Robert DeNiro, Rami Malck, Margot Robbie, Anya Taylor-Joy, and others. The film is set to be released on November 4, 2022. He will also star opposite Alison Brie and Aubrey Plaze in Jeff Baena’s Spin Me Round and recently wrapped production on the Boston Strangler movie starring Keira Knightly.

Kraven the Hunter will hit theaters on January 13, 2023.