This October brings the next chapter of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe following the 2022 release of Morbius. Eight years after his outing as Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is hopping from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to this Web-Slinger-adjacent franchise to play Kraven the Hunter’s eponymous protagonist. The first Kraven the Hunter trailer was released earlier this week, and it’s resulted in fans calling out the lead actor’s American accent. Honestly, I completely agree with these takes.
Before we go any further, if by chance you haven’t seen the Kraven the Hunter trailer yet, rectify that below, and then proceed.
Although Kraven is Russian in the comics, and Russell Crowe, who plays Kraven’s father, boasts such an accent in the 2023 new movie release, for some reason, it was decided to make Johnson’s version of the main character sound American. So naturally numerous fans who are familiar with Kraven’s roots took issue with this creative liberty, as evidenced below:
Spider-Man fans hearing Aaron Taylor-Johnson doesn’t have a Russian accent for Kraven the Hunterpic.twitter.com/CNiUOtPEiwJune 19, 2023
While there are plenty of instances of altering a character’s background or ethnicity for comic book film and television adaptations, taking away Kraven’s Russian accent is a pretty big deal. After all, this character is so Russian in the comics that he’s the son of an aristocrat who fled Russian after the February Revolution in 1917. While that heritage is evidently still in place for Kraven the Hunter, it’s strange that the filmmakers opted to give him an American accent instead.
Genuinely blowing my mind, they made a movie with Kraven the Hunter, the character who is the most Russian man to ever exist in fiction, and had him use an American accent. What a world. What a life.June 19, 2023
What’s even more peculiar about this decision, as noted in this next tweet, is that Aaron Taylor-Johnson can already do a convincing Russian/Easter European accent, as the MCU’s Quicksilver and his sister, Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, hailed from the fictional nation of Sokovia, which is located in that area of the world. So why couldn’t he do the same for Kraven the Hunter?
What makes the decision to not give Kraven a Russian accent even more of a head scratcher is that Aaron Taylor-Johnson already proved he can do a solid one in Age of Ultron.Make it make sense? 🧐 pic.twitter.com/QGYMzNZHFBJune 19, 2023
Now although I don’t recommend one prejudging Kraven the Hunter’s overall quality based on the American accent alone, this will undoubtedly be something that Spider-Man fans will keep thinking about in the months leading up to the arrival of the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe’s fourth entry.
Kraven with super powers and an American Accent: pic.twitter.com/sB23hXzi8DJune 19, 2023
On an unrelated note, I’d be remiss of I didn’t point out that just like how Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Morbius lacked a certain web-spinning superhero, Spider-Man is not expected to appear in Kraven the Hunter. That said, giving that brief snippets of spiders in the trailer calling back to the “Kraven’s Last Hunt” story arc, this fan amusingly speculated on how this Kraven’s beef with Spidey could start while sharing their thoughts on the American accent.
Wait so let me get this straight. Kraven has an American accent, is protector of animals, & gets powers? 🫠Will he hate Spider-Man because he gets traumatized by actual spiders?? What is happening 😭 pic.twitter.com/ogBQpqyOlMJune 19, 2023
Along with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Russell Crowe, Kraven the Hunter’s cast includes Ariana DeBose as Calypso, Fred Hechinger as Dmitri Smerdyakov/The Chameleon, Alessandro Nivola as Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino, and Christopher Abbott as The Foreigner, the movie’s main antagonist. J.C. Chandor directed the feature, and Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and Richard Wenk all worked on the script. This will be the first R-rated feature in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.
Kraven the Hunter opens in theaters on October 6, and it will be followed in this franchise by Madame Web, Venom 3 and El Muerto. If you’re looking for some web-slinging action to enjoy in theaters now, that craving can be sated by purchasing a ticket for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
