One of these days, Sony will deliver a Marvel Comics adaptation that doesn’t get torn down or trashed by critics, crowds, and fans of the source material, but the first trailer for Kraven the Hunter has nonetheless indicated that day might be a little further away still.
In fact, if you break down the studio’s approach to tackling superhero stories, you can make an entirely well-founded argument that it’s been almost 20 years since it got its hands dirty on a costume-clad epic that went off without a hitch, and it surely can’t be a coincidence that Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 is still regarded as one of the genre’s very best ever.
Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has been treading water since its very inception, and while Kraven is no doubt going to draw in some curious audiences based entirely on its talented leading man Aaron Taylor-Johnson and promise of wanton bloodthirsty violence, drawing comparisons to Ace Ventura immediately after unveiling the maiden footage isn’t ideal.
Of course, a Sony comic book caper immediately being pitted against a pair of Jim Carrey comedies released over a quarter of a century ago is so unexpected that it’s entirely on-brand for the company, which regularly – and entirely deservedly, we should add – comes under fire for repeatedly butchering its biggest properties.
Thank the stars for Kevin Feige, then, because imagining how Spider-Man himself would factor into all of this had he not been embedded in the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t even bear thinking about. Kraven the Hunter might surprise everyone come October, but for now, it’s following the standard Sony template of getting brutalized.