How “Kraven the Hunter” does (and doesn't) connect to the MCU

Warning: This article contains spoilers about the ending of Kraven the Hunter.

Cravin' answers after seeing Kraven the Hunter? We've got you covered.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson's second Marvel outing brings to life the titular Spider-Man villain in his own origin story. The story jumps around in time, spanning from when Sergei Kravinoff (Taylor-Johnson) got his powers during a hunting accident as a teenager all the way to when he proudly takes on the name Kraven the Hunter in the present day after killing his father (Russell Crowe). The movie ends with Kraven reenacting the iconic comic book cover, wearing a lion fur vest and lounging on a wooden throne with his countless abs on full display.

Related: Aaron Taylor-Johnson says Kraven the Hunter is not his Marvel reboot after Avengers: Age of Ultron

But how does Kraven the Hunter connect to the MCU? It's not officially part of the long-running shared universe, as it's reportedly the final standalone villain film in the separate Sony Spider-Man franchise (which includes Morbius, Madame Web, and the Venom trilogy). We never see (or hear about) Tom Holland's Peter Parker (or any other web-slinging hero). And there are no post-credits scenes that tease connections to future movies in either universe — despite Taylor-Johnson telling Entertainment Weekly that he sees "longevity" for the Kraven character. But aside from a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Daily Bugle sighting, there are multiple references to major Marvel villains throughout the movie, some overt and others much more subtle (for better or for worse).

The main big bad is Aleksei Sytsevich, a.k.a. the Rhino, played with mustache-twirling glee by Alessandro Nivola. The Marvel villain was previously portrayed on screen by Paul Giamatti, also with mustache-twirling glee, as a side character in 2014's villain-filled The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Kraven the Hunter's version of the Rhino is a Russian wannabe kingpin who was turned into a human-rhino hybrid by a scientist in New York (more on that in a bit). He wanted to take over Sergei's father's drug business, and tries to kill Kraven on the off-chance that he would eventually end up on Kraven's hunting list anyway. It's flimsy motivation, but he ultimately fails and dies after getting trampled by bison (ironically, a predator killed by its prey).

Another big Marvel villain that gets name-dropped is Chameleon. Throughout the entire movie, Kraven's younger brother Dmitri (Fred Hechinger) is described as a chameleon due to his supernaturally gifted skill of mimicking voices (don't get us started on that Harry Styles karaoke scene). At the end of the movie, after a year time jump, he reveals to Kraven that he went to a scientist in New York (sound familiar?) for a procedure to enhance his abilities, and he can now physically become anyone else — which he proves by changing into Kraven. He accomplishes what the Rhino did not, and ultimately takes over his father's drug business. His decision to become a villain shocks and disappoints Kraven, who spent the majority of the movie trying to save Dmitri's life and spare him from the dark world they were born into.

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The other Marvel characters we see on screen are Calypso (Ariana DeBose) and the Foreigner (Christopher Abbott). In the comics, voodoo priestess Calypso is a well-known adversary of Spider-Man and a frequent partner (both professionally and romantically) of Kraven. In the movie, she proves to be a formidable ally to Kraven with sharpshooting archery skills and countless criminal underworld contacts. As for the Foreigner, the assassin has no supernatural skills in the comics, but in the movie he can hypnotize his targets to paralyze them, making them easy to shoot and kill. He also uses poison to make Kraven hallucinate his greatest fear: Spiders (get it?).

Now, about that mysterious New York scientist ... while we never see him on screen, the Rhino mentions his name once: Miles Warren. The scientist obsessed with genetics and biochemistry has a long history in the comics as Spider-Man villain Jackal after his first introduction in 1974, but has only been shown on screen in animation so far. Clearly, Kraven the Hunter is attempting to set him up as a future villain (however unlikely it is that we'll see that come to fruition).

If you're keeping track, that means Kraven the Hunter either shows or teases six villains who have been in some form of the Sinister Six villain group in the comics. So if we never see an official Sinister Six live-action team-up movie after years of Sony's failed attempts, at least we kind of got it in Kraven the Hunter?

Kraven the Hunter is now playing in theaters.

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