Far From Home Writers Want Spider-Man To Face Off Against Kraven Next

The stars may be aligning for Kraven the Hunter's entry into the MCU.

Spider-Man: Far From Home screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers said in a recent interview that they'd like to see Spidey take on the classic villain in his third MCU solo outing — and they're not the only ones. Please be advised that spoilers for Spider-Man: Far From Home follow.

The duo, who also penned Marvel's 2018 hit Ant-Man and the Wasp, sat down with ComicBook.com to discuss their thoughts on which of Spider-Man's classic rogues' gallery they'd like to see him butt heads with next. McKenna noted that, had the question been asked perhaps a year ago, it would've been a lot more difficult to answer.

"That's a tough one," McKenna told ComicBook.com. "It's also so tough because we're dealing with [the] MCU and Sony with it all, and some office would be like, 'Well, you can't use that one.' Or what about this villain? 'Oh, well, Fox owns that villain.' But now that things have changed with Disney with Fox..."

Sommers then interrupted his fellow scribe, not hesitating to cast his vote. "I've always had a soft spot for Kraven the Hunter," he said — and even though it could be argued that the colorfully-garbed baddie might be a touch difficult to pull off onscreen, the same could be said for Far From Home's villain Mysterio, a point which the pair addressed.

"There were definitely a couple of the other iconic characters we danced around [for Far From Home], and wondering if [some] could be combined, two at the same time, but it all kept coming back to Mysterio," McKenna said. "And Mysterio was the serious one, because okay, how do you do the stuntman-turned-magician with springs on his feet..."

"[And a] fish bowl on his head," Sommers interjected.

"So it was scary, but we then finally committed and we went out on a lot of different roads with him, then ultimately kept coming back to making him like the Mysterio from the comic book in terms of being a con artist and trying to, even at the end, trying to make Peter, Spider-Man, the villain of the story," McKenna continued. "So we leaned into that, and tried to ground it as well as we could and use the MCU's past."

Of course, just because the screenwriting aces are keen to feature Kraven in a third Spidey adventure doesn't necessarily mean anything, for as McKenna pointed out, they haven't technically been hired to write the flick yet. But if they get the job — and considering Far From Home's critical notices and box office receipts, it seems like a no-brainer — at least they'll know that their director is on the same page, so to speak.

Asked about which villains he'd like to see by Uproxx, Far From Home director Jon Watts hemmed and hawed before being pressed on who he would pick if the choice were 100% his. "Oh, I would love Kraven," he said. "It's just the trick of how do you do Kraven in a movie?"

Well, you could start by hiring Stefan Kapičić, who portrayed Colossus in the Deadpool flicks and has taken to Twitter in the past to lobby for the role. In case you're having a tough time picturing it, here's what he looks like when he hasn't been turned to metal through the magic of CGI:

Okay, yeah, we can absolutely see that. Since it also stands to reason that the stakes must be raised yet higher for the wall-crawler in his third film, we can even think of the perfect story line to adapt: "Kraven's Last Hunt," an absolutely bonkers event which ran in issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, and Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man in 1987.

In the story, Kraven (AKA Sergei Kravinoff) realizes that his powers of enhanced reflexes, strength, and speed are fading, and he becomes determined to defeat the one quarry who has always managed to thwart him — ol' web-head. In the very first chapter, Kraven tracks down Spidey, and — get this — shoots him right between the eyes and buries him in a coffin on his estate grounds.

Not content with a mere decisive victory, Kraven then assumes Spider-Man's heroic identity, patrolling the city and doling out vicious beatings to lowly muggers and the like. He even rescues Mary Jane Watson (who, of course, quickly realizes he's not really Spider-Man) from a mugging attempt. He then sets out after a new villain terrorizing New York: the monstrous Vermin, who is even stronger than he.

After a brutal fight, Spider-Kraven takes Vermin into custody, but we then get a twist: Peter Parker isn't dead, only drugged, and he manages to escape from the coffin and track down Kraven, who barely resists as Spidey proceeds to kick the crap out of him. As the hero takes off in pursuit of Vermin, Kraven — having nothing left to prove, with Spider-Man only left alive because he allowed it — commits suicide.

It's a dark, intense story, and with a few tweaks (such as the fact that Peter Parker spends practically the entire yarn buried in Kraven's yard), it would lend itself well to the three-act structure of a feature film. It may also tie in well to the end of Far From Home, in which Parker is framed for Mysterio's crimes and declared a menace to the public by none other than J. Jonah Jameson; it would be just Parker's luck if, just as he was starting to get the public back on his side, his identity was assumed by someone who really is a menace, and has no qualms about just straight-up murdering petty criminals.

At any rate, there is one potential fly in the ointment: Sony has been developing a solo Kraven feature for its SUMC (that's Sony Universe of Marvel Characters, if you're not into the whole brevity thing) since 2017. However, at one point, Mysterio was up for the same treatment — and it's safe to say that, considering Far From Home's bonkers box office, the studio isn't too bummed about missing out on a standalone Mysterio movie.

In our estimation, all of the ingredients for Kraven's MCU debut — writers, director, actor, and story — are all just sitting there in the kitchen, and all that's left is for Marvel Studios to get cooking. Of course, we'll be on the lookout for any rumors, leaks, or announcements about the inevitable follow-up to Spider-Man: Far From Home, and we'll keep you up to speed.