Aaron Taylor-Johnson is becoming another comic book character.

The Kick-Ass and Avengers: Age of Ultron alum stars in the first trailer for Kraven the Hunter, a spin-off in the Spider-Man universe, playing the titular anti-hero, aka Sergei Kravinoff.

It's directed by J.C. Chandor, who previously made 2014's A Most Violent Year and 2019's Triple Frontier.

Russell Crowe, Ariana DeBose, Christopher Abbott, Fred Hechinger and Alessandro Nivola also star in Kraven.

A logline for the film says it's "the visceral story about how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be" and it is "set before his notorious vendetta with Spider-Man."

Last June, Taylor-Johnson, 33, teased his Kraven role at the CineEurope conference in Barcelona, according to Variety, saying he liked that the character is "not an alien or a wizard."

"He's just a hunter, a human with conviction. An animal lover and a protector of the natural world. He's a very, very cool character," he added, explaining that Kraven is "one of Marvel's most iconic, notorious anti-heroes — Spider-Man's No. 1 rival."

Nivola hinted at his villainous role while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in August, explaining that the project was exciting since it didn't require extensive green screen or CGI like the typical comic-book movie.

"These movies all have a certain formula to them, but J.C. said that he wanted to shoot all on location. The physical ability of the characters in the movie is also more grounded in reality," he said. "People aren't flying around or anything. J.C. described it as the most incredible Olympic athlete you've ever seen. Moreover, the role, which I'm not yet allowed to disclose, was just a real acting opportunity for me. You'll see."


"It's just a great character part, and I didn't have to do any CGI. I didn't have to do any green screen," continued Nivola. "I only transform, physically, in the final moments of the movie, so it's just a classic villain role. It had a really interesting, complex psychology and personal history to draw on, and the movie has a time jump in it, so the character changes a lot from the way he is in the beginning of the film."

He added, "It was as much of an acting opportunity as any other film I've done, and I didn't have to contend with wearing a spandex outfit or anything like that."

Kraven the Hunter joins Sony's live-action Spider-Man expanded universe after Tom Hardy's two hit Venom movies, plus Jared Leto's Morbius. Dakota Johnson stars in the upcoming Madame Web movie, and Bad Bunny will star in El Muerto.

Kraven the Hunter is in theaters Oct. 6.