While it didn’t feature the eponymous superhero, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe spotlighted a handful of Spider-Man’s greatest enemies only to crush the possibility that they’ll ever fight him. Although recent reports suggest that Sony’s Spider-Man Universe is now defunct, with Kraven the Hunter being its final installment, Venom’s appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home has canonized Kraven’s universe as part of the MCU’s multiverse. Furthermore, Venom specifically recognized Spider-Man in Venom: Let There Be Carnage after spotting him on TV and suggesting that the multiverse-spanning symbiote hivemind is well aware of Spider-Man’s existence.
Despite the tease and his brief appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home’s credits, Venom did not come toe-to-toe with the wall-crawler before rounding out his trilogy in October with Venom: The Last Dance. While it didn’t come as much of a surprise, Kraven the Hunter didn’t so much as reference Spider-Man when it was released two months later, despite Peter Parker’s existence in the SSU being confirmed in Madame Web. These decisions suggest that Sony never really intended for Spider-Man to face these enemies, but it isn’t as if this anticipated battle would have made sense in the first place.
Sony’s Venom And Kraven The Hunter Are Both More Heroes Than Villains
Sony Painted Spider-Man Adversaries As Heroes In Their Own Right
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Venom swiftly became the flagship character of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe as his debut movie raked in over $800 million for the franchise and its sequels outperformed every other SSU installment. As the protagonist, it stands to reason that Venom’s origin movie portrayed him as a sympathetic antihero with noble goals enforced with lethal efficiency. This is also a relatively comic-accurate depiction of Venom, who would become the Lethal Protector of San Francisco shortly after debuting as a newer villain among Spider-Man’s iconic rogues’ gallery.
Eddie Brock’s initial hatred of Spider-Man was because he believed he ruined his life and career, though he has no such connection in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.
Kraven the Hunter, on the other hand, flipped the script on Kraven by turning him from an obsessive villain into a true antihero. Kraven’s cinematic origin story shows him hunting down powerful villains and even enlisting the help of the overtly good-natured lawyer, Calypso. His heartwarming relationship with his brother, Dimitri, also helps to humanize Kraven significantly. Kraven the Hunter ends like a typical superhero movie, with Kraven emerging as a noble if overly violent bulwark against organized crime, even if orchestrated by his brother. This makes them being in Spider-Man’s crosshairs somewhat nonsensical.
It Wouldn’t Make Sense For Sony’s Venom Or Kraven To Fight Spider-Man
Spider-Man Isn’t A Villain
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Sony’s versions of Venom and Kraven adhere to a moral code. Although they are blasé about killing – something which many superheroes balk at and essentially the only thing that labels them