Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 Was Originally Going to Feature Kraven the Hunter

Spider-Man 3 back in 2007 wasn't supposed to be the final film in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. There were plans to make a fourth film with even reports that John Malkovich was cast to play the Vulture. However, the project was canceled by Sony and they ended up rebooting the franchise again which was eventually spearheaded by Marc Webb and star Andrew Garfield.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Raimi revealed that there was another villain that he was originally going to introduce in his supposed fourth Spider-Man film and it was Kraven the Hunter, a character that he's been wanting to see fight Spider-Man on the big screen.

"And I missed Kraven the Hunter. We were going to work that character into the next Spider-Man; I always wanted to see Kraven fight Spider-Man on the big screen," Raimi said. "I thought that would be really unique. He’s the ultimate hunter, and Spider-Man is like the most agile trickster of the skies. And I wanted to see Peter continue forward as a human being."

While it is unfortunate that we weren't able to see Raimi's take on the villain, the character is set to make his big-screen debut soon in Kraven the Hunter as part of Sony's Spider-Man Universe franchise with Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing the role. The film is currently in production and set to be released next year.

However, even though Kraven the Hunter will make his cinematic debut soon, he still wouldn't be fighting Spider-Man since it will be more of an antihero take on the character where he is the star of the film. It would have been great to see Raimi's take on the character and fulfill the supposed lore in the comics where serve as an adversary of Spider-Man. Hopefully, we can still see the character as our friendly neighbor's antagonist on the big screen soon.

Also Read: Director Sam Raimi Never Thought a Doctor Strange Movie Would Happen

You can catch Raimi's next film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which is set to be released in theaters this Friday, May 6.