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This year's CinemaCon has already offered up several exciting reveals, and Sony Pictures is the latest studio to add to the news. During their presentation, the company announced that its upcoming Spider-Man spin-off Kraven the Hunter will be rated R. While there are other Marvel properties with an R rating, Kraven the Hunter will mark Sony's first superhero movie with the rating.
Though most plot details about the film are unknown for the time being, we (obviously) already know that the feature will focus on the titular villain, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Prior to the film, Taylor-Johnson made his Marvel debut, having appeared in the MCU as Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron and, briefly, in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Kraven himself is a formidable villain who first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 in the 1960s. He's known for holding a variety of abilities all of which enhance his physical abilities to superhuman levels.
Along with Taylor-Johnson, the movie stars West Side Story's Ariana DeBose as Voodoo Priestess Calypso, Fred Hechinger as Kraven's half-brother Dmitri Smerdyakov (a.k.a. Chameleon), and Christopher Abbott reportedly playing primary antagonist the Foreigner. Alessandro Nivola, Levi Miller, and Russell Crowe will also star in currently unknown roles.
Why Kraven's Rating Is a Big Deal
As mentioned, only a single-digit number of Marvel-related films received the R-rating, including the Deadpool movies and Logan, though neither were released through Sony. In recent years, Sony has become known as the hub for Spider-Man-centric features, notably with the Tom Holland-led movies, Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Morbius. However, despite the potential for at least the latter three to lean into more R-rated territory, they all gained a PG-13 rating. With Kraven being the first to hit the R status for Sony, it gives both the film and the company an opportunity to go all out with the subject matter and however they choose to approach it -- whether it be through blood and gore, a barrage of F-bombs, or the like. It also gives the movie another way to stand out from other upcoming superhero releases
Alongside Kraven, there are still a few upcoming Spider-Man features for fans to keep an eye out for. In June, the sequel to Into the Spider-Verse, entitled Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, will release. A Venom 3 is also in the works, as well as spin-off Madame Web slated to debut in 2024.
Kraven the Hunter releases in theaters on October 6, 2023. Revisit our interview with Taylor-Johnson and his Bullet Train co-stars Brad Pitt and Brian Tyree Henry below: