Spider-Man: No Way Home turned into a major event for fans since it featured the return of the previous versions of Spider-Man and their respective villains from the past films. It resulted in huge box office success and instantly became one of the most beloved MCU films to date.
However, before the film became a multiversal crossover, there were several ideas that the creative team considered and we've learned since then that they were considering to have Kraven the Hunter as the villain of Tom Holland's third outing as Spider-Man.
It was still unclear why the plan did not go into motion, but if the original idea ended up happening, it is likely that we wouldn't have seen Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield return to play Spider-Man.
Now, we finally have the reason thanks to a new nugget.
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Kraven the Hunter Was Off-Limits to Spider-Man: No Way Home Due to Upcoming Solo Movie
According to the newly-released book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards (via The Direct), Spider-Man: No Way Home was prevented from using Kraven the Hunter due to a mandate from Sony.
After pitching the idea of having Kraven as the villain of the third film, writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers were explicitly told by the studio that the character "was unavailable until Sony established him in a solo movie."
Around that time, Sony had been developing a Kraven the Hunter film as part of the live-action Spider-Verse franchise which is now set for release next year with former MCU actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing the titular role.
Given that Marvel Studios does not have the full rights for the Spider-Man characters in live-action projects, they have no choice but to follow Sony's mandates on whether they can use the character for the film.
Sony has their own plan for the Spider-Verse franchise including the Kraven the Hunter solo movie so it is inevitable that they are preventing Marvel Studios from using the character until they introduce him themselves first.
However, there is still a bright side to this since it led them to the multiversal crossover idea and brought back the actors from the past iterations of the Spider-Man films.
Fans can still watch Kraven the Hunter on the big screen with the upcoming film next year and perhaps they'll eventually have him face off Spider-Man at some point.
Kraven the Hunter is slated for release in theaters on August 30, 2024.
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