Skip to main content

Spider-Man villain Chameleon joins Sony’s Kraven the Hunter

Sony Pictures is turning another Marvel villain into a headlining character in next year’s Kraven the Hunter movie. And while Kraven is best known as one of Spider-Man’s adversaries, he may not be the only member of Spidey’s rogues’ gallery to appear in the film. Deadline is reporting that Fred Hechinger has joined the cast of Kraven. And if Deadline’s sources are accurate, Hechinger may portray Dmitri Smerdyakov, aka the Chameleon.

Hechinger is having a very impressive run of leading roles, including his part as Quinn Mossbacher in HBO’s The White Lotus and his starring turn as Simon Kalivoda in all three of Netflix’s Fear Street films. He has also appeared in News of the World, The Woman in the Window, The Underground Railroad, and Italian Studies. Hechinger also currently recurs as Seth Warshavsky on Hulu’s Pam and Tommy.

Recommended Videos

Within Marvel’s comic book universe, Chameleon has the distinction of being the very first supervillain to face Spider-Man. He is such a master of disguise that very few have been able to tell the difference between him and his targets. But the cost of Chameleon’s ability is that he sometimes loses track of who he really is.

Split image of Marvel villain Chameleon and Fred Hechinger in The White Lotus.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Chameleon is also the half-brother of Sergei Kravinoff, the role that will be played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the film. Sergei is known professionally as Kraven, one of the greatest hunters in the world. After initially challenging himself to capture Spider-Man, Kraven became one of the webslinger’s most memorable foes. But since Sony’s Marvel movies (like Venom) are separate from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this new version of Kraven won’t have any direct involvement with Spider-Man.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

J.C. Chandor will direct the film from a script by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Richard Wenk. Kraven the Hunter will film this year, and head to theaters on January 13, 2023.

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
Andrew Garfield says he had to work very hard to get people to ask less about Spider-Man
Andrew Garfield poses as Spider-Man with his hands crossed.

Over the past decade, Andrew Garfield has worked hard to prove that he's more than just his Spider-Man character. Even so, Garfield admitted during a press conference at the Marrakesh Film Festival that he's still “had to work very hard to have less people ask questions about Spider-Man."

“I’m still working on it, obviously. It’s an imperfect process,” he added. Garfield is currently sitting on a jury at the festival alongside Luca Guadagnino and Jacob Elordi. Garfield added that, in spite of his reticence to continue answering questions about that role, he was "grateful" for it because “it allowed [him] to maybe have an easier shot at working with people like Martin Scorsese straight after.”

Read more
Kraven the Hunter’s early box office estimates aren’t looking good
Aaron Taylor-Johnson stands near fire in Kraven the Hunter.

It's been a long road for Kraven the Hunter. The forthcoming sixth film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe has been delayed three times over the past two years. It was originally set to hit theaters on January 13, 2023, before its release date was pushed first to October 6, 2023, and then to August 30, 2024. It was delayed again from that date and is now on the verge of hitting theaters this coming December. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Kraven the Hunter will receive the enthusiastic welcome at the box office that Sony Pictures may have hoped it would.

According to Box Office Pro, Kraven the Hunter is currently expected to earn between $20 million and $25 million in its domestic opening weekend. If that estimate proves to be true, that will be a quiet opening for a film that reportedly cost north of $100 million to make. For further context, a $25 million opening would put Kraven the Hunter ahead of Madame Web, which grossed just $15.3 million at the domestic box office in its first weekend earlier this year, but below Morbius, which raked in a larger $39 million opening in its debut weekend back in April 2022.

Read more
Spider-Man: The Animated Series at 30 — Did this show help create the MCU as we know it?
Promo art for Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

During the '80s, the Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends cartoon was endlessly rerun long after the show was canceled. To a generation of kids, that was their Spider-Man, until 1994 when Fox Kids debuted Spider-Man: The Animated Series. That cartoon premiered 30 years ago this month, largely thanks to the massive success of X-Men: The Animated Series. Fox already had that show and Batman: The Animated Series for superhero fans, but the network was convinced to give Spidey a shot as well. That led to one of the best adaptations of Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko's signature creation.

Spider-Man The Animated Series Full Intro Theme

Read more