{"id":493676,"date":"2026-02-23T07:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T07:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/493676\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T07:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T07:51:10","slug":"marvel-is-officially-fixing-kraven-the-hunters-15-rt-flop-with-a-major-spider-man-retcon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/493676\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel is Officially Fixing Kraven the Hunter\u2019s 15% RT Flop With a Major Spider-Man Retcon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few comic book characters die and remain dead. This is fine and realistic, depending on how paramount these characters are and how long readers have been left to marinate with these characters\u2019 deaths, and yet it can oftentimes be grating to see classic storylines or character deaths be regurgitated for the sake of how iconic they are. This is true of both DC and Marvel<\/a>, but Spider-Man<\/a> media has certainly seen its fair share of character revivals.<\/p>\n

For instance, while DC has alarmingly stuck with its decision to keep Alfred Pennyworth dead for nearly seven years now, Marvel continues to fumble Kraven the Hunter, one of Spider-Man\u2019s most popular rogues\u2019 gallery villains<\/a>, and parrot his most interesting storyline to date. This is as true of Sony\u2019s Kraven the Hunter movie as it is of the character\u2019s iteration in Marvel\u2019s Spider-Man 2, and Marvel\u2019s new slate of What If? spin-offs is once again retconning \u201cKraven\u2019s Last Hunt.\u201d However, there is reason to believe that this retcon could be the biggest boon for Kraven in a while, though the bar is not high.<\/p>\n

Kraven Has Had Raw Deal Lately<\/p>\n

\"Aaron
\n Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven the Hunter in the movie poster<\/p>\n

Sony\u2019s Spider-Man universe<\/a> has been something of an amusing and bewildering train wreck, and when it rains, it pours. By the time that Kraven the Hunter was released a couple of years ago, Sony had already obliterated what little faith anyone could\u2019ve had in it due to Morbius, Madame Web, and the Venom trilogy, the latter of which arguably being the least lamentable of the bunch.<\/p>\n

Sergei Kravinoff\u2019s solo spin-off movie was another predictable disappointment, despite taking some bold swings, such as Kraven the Hunter\u2019s Rhino<\/a> being legitimately visually impressive.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t help that Marvel\u2019s Spider-Man 2\u2019s Kraven<\/a> was a letdown, either. Indeed, like how Marvel\u2019s Spider-Man failed to juggle Martin Li\u2019s Mr. Negative and Dr. Otto Octavius\u2019 Doctor Octopus, with Mr. Negative benched as soon as Doctor Octopus arrived to supplant him as the game\u2019s lead villain, Marvel\u2019s Spider-Man 2 benched Kraven (permanently, with his head eaten) as soon as Venom arrived.<\/p>\n

Now, with Kraven\u2019s history in Spider-Man lore<\/a> revisited, it\u2019ll be neat to see what more can be said or plucked out of \u201cKraven\u2019s Last Hunt,\u201d wherein Kraven tranquilizes Peter Parker, buries him alive in his black Spider-Man costume, and wears an identical suit out to replace the wall-crawler. It\u2019s quite haunting and delves into Kraven\u2019s psyche, but its iconic ending will apparently be undone in an upcoming What If? issue, for better or worse.<\/p>\n

Kraven\u2019s Last Hunt is Getting a \u2018What If?\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Symbiote
\n Symbiote Spider-Man comes out of his grave in Kraven’s Last Hunt<\/p>\n

Marvel\u2019s What If? comic book series<\/a> has a storied legacy of almost 50 years, and there will be a handful of new issues retconning or reimagining the events of popular stories in the comics. As such, What If\u2026? Spider-Man\u2019s \u201cWhat If Kraven Survived His Last Hunt?\u201d will presumably prevent Kraven from committing suicide during the \u201cKraven\u2019s Last Hunt\u201d arc.<\/p>\n

\u201cKraven\u2019s Last Hunt\u201d is a dead horse that has been repeatedly beaten, and, ironically, this What If? beat may not make all that much of a difference, as Kraven has since been revived, killed, revived, and so forth. It could be fascinating to see what persuades Kraven not to kill himself during the specific events of \u201cKraven\u2019s Last Hunt,\u201d<\/a> but the storytelling potential for Kraven in that era does not seem overwhelmingly bright, even if it is a non-canon tale.<\/p>\n

That said, if anyone\u2019s alternate-reality take on the ending of \u201cKraven\u2019s Last Hunt\u201d could be terrific and profound, it\u2019d be writer J.M. DeMatteis<\/a>, who wrote \u201cKraven\u2019s Last Hunt\u201d and will be writing \u201cWhat If Kraven Survived His Last Hunt?\u201d (with art by Yildray Cinar). Plus, if this What If? issue turns out to be an alternate ending to the event that was originally planned and shelved for the one that would make it to publication, this could be a great insight into how the story might\u2019ve ended otherwise.<\/p>\n

Marvel Can\u2019t Get Enough of Spider-Man\u2019s Past<\/p>\n

\"Spider-Man
\n Spider-Man Brand New Day #1 cover, Spidey webslinging with foes in the background<\/p>\n

The present state of Spider-Man comic books<\/a> is rather dire, but there at least appears to be a throughline that is being followed as The Amazing Spider-Man\u2019s legacy numbering gradually climbs to #1000. Meanwhile, multiple stories are spinning out of this ongoing Earth-616 run, such as The Amazing Spider-Man: Torn, which concluded recently, The Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Versity, which launches in April, and The Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which launches in May.<\/p>\n

The Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Versity is a modern aside featuring Norman Osborn as something of a leader or educator to the elaborate Spider-family; The Amazing Spider-Man: Torn leaps backward to Peter\u2019s college era; and, surprisingly, The Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day leaps backward to the titular \u201cBrand New Day\u201d era, is canon, and will be conveniently released two months before the MCU\u2019s Spider-Man: Brand New Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Marvel\u2019s latest batch of What If? comics reimagining \u201cKraven\u2019s Last Hunt,\u201d then, is another bit of nostalgia being entertained. This time, it will be interesting to see if anything unique or seminal can come from Kraven, who has more or less been absent from modern Spider-Man comic book stories and disgraced in movies and games.<\/p>\n

\"Kraven<\/p>\n

Release Date<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDecember 13, 2024<\/p>\n

Runtime<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t127 Minutes<\/p>\n

Director<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJ.C. Chandor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Few comic book characters die and remain dead. This is fine and realistic, depending on how paramount these…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,75,337],"class_list":["post-493676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}