R-Rated Spider-Man movie gets gory, controversial first trailer

Sony’s Spider-Man Universe is trying to play catch-up with Disney’s MCU, but will the latest attempt to dethrone King Mickey Mouse prove futile once more?

The movie in question is the R-Rated Kraven the Hunter and the super gory trailer has caused some controversy. Directed by J.C Chandor and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff aka Kraven, the trailer wasn't quite what fans expected.

Looking at the positives, the movie looks to be more gory than most Marvel entries, as you might expect from someone as ruthless as Kraven. Moreover, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a fantastic actor. However, I can’t help but get Morbius vibes from this trailer.

For starters, ignoring the fact that Kraven gets his powers from a concoction of jungle herbs blended into a magical potion that gives him the superhuman abilities to take on Spider-Man, in this trailer, Kraven gets his powers after getting his ass kicked by a lion, and a drop of its blood spills into a wound of Kraven.

What’s more, despite being from Volgograd, Russia and having a strong accent, this Sony version has a strong American accent. But I suppose at least his father, played by Russell Crowe has a strong Russian accent.

If anything, Crowe seems more like Kraven than the character portrayed by Taylor-Johnson, in my opinion. Furthermore, we know that at times Kraven is portrayed as an anti-hero, but he does appear to be more of a hero in this movie, albeit a violent one.

I know we shouldn't totally judge a movie by its first trailer and maybe it will end up being quite decent, but first impressions do count for a lot and after all, following the disaster that was Morbius, fans have every reason to be somewhat sceptical.

To be fair, there were some positive comments in response to the YouTube trailer, but there is also a lot of sarcasm too.

“Love the part where he says it's Kravin' time!” such a masterpiece!” said angrymang0. “Props to Sony for just coming up with villain origin stories completely improv style. "He has... lion blood? Lion blood. It gives him hunt powers!” responded sorrell2. “I love the part when the Rhino got his powers from a drop of Rhinoceros blood and learned "with great horns, comes great horniness,” added MrComixzone1.

Hopefully, when the movie releases later this year, all our doubts and sarcasm will be washed away or does the R-Rated violence exist to compensate for the lack of quality? Only time will tell.

If all else fails, at least we have the Kraven in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 from Insomniac Games to look forward to. Kraven the Hunter is currently scheduled to release in cinemas on 6 October 2023.