Comic Book Movies

Kraven The Hunter: Character Profile | Hunting Season Is On

Published

3 months ago

July 2, 2023

Sony Pictures Digital Productions Inc.

Hunting season begins in October 2023 with Kraven the Hunter bracing the big screen. Sergei Kravinoff is on a mission to prove that he is the greatest hunter in the world and who knows who be the main targets will be in the movie. We experience his rise to the top before the notorious rivalry with Spider-Man.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays the titular role. Make sure to catch the red band trailer online.

A Brief Look At The Biography of Kraven the Hunter

Sergei Kravinoff was born and raised in Volgograd and St. Petersburg. His alcoholic father would beat him and Sergei would in turn take out his frustrations on Dmitri, his half-brother. The Bolshevik Revolution forces the Kravinoff family to emigrate. Sergei loses both his parents and is forced to learn to survive on his own. He travels as a stowaway aboard ships and trains from country to country. He discovers his passion for hunting in Africa. He also changes his name from Sergei to Kraven.

He becomes a wealthy game hunter because of his remarkable hunting skills. He steals a witch doctor’s potion during his time in Africa which enhances his physical prowess and abilities to hunt. The potion helps to decelerate the ageing process, thus Kraven looks like a thirty year old man, even though he is much older. He is stronger, faster, agile and can jump very far. You can find rifles, darts, axes, spears, whips, gas bombs and even blowguns in his weapon storage. However, he comes with many tricks up his sleeve such as poison-tipped teeth in his belt and electronics in his lion’s head vest.

He forms a partnership with Dmitri to help with trading animal skins and ivory that he acquires during his hunting sprees. However, big game isn’t the only targets on Kraven’s list. He meets his match, the web-slinging hero, Spider-Man but Spidey evades him most of the time. Kraven joins up with Dmitri and even the Sinister Six at a later stage to take on Spiderman. He is no stranger to the Avengers. He joins Dum Dum Dugan’s original Avengers’ Initiative alongside Nick Fury, Namora, Sabretooth, Ulysses Bloodstone, Dominic Fortune, and Silver Sable.

Kraven shared the herbs with Dmitri to give them both an edge in combat, especially when squaring off against Spider-Man. He saw the friendly neighborhood hero as a monstrosity and fueled by both fear and rage never quit taking on the wallcrawler, but Spider-Man secured a win over both Kraven and Dmitri, now known as the infamous Chameleon. This resulted in them being deported back to Europe, but Kraven and Dimitri found their way back to America. Doc Ock recruits Kraven and other members into the Sinister Six, but even this team is no match for Spider-Man and this results in their capture and imprisonment.

Kraven is eager to do jobs for other famous villains such as the Green Goblin and Mister Sinister. His job with Mister Sinister requires him to obtain DNA from other mutants. This physical altercation results in another face-off with Spider-Man. A face-off against the Vulture resulted in both Kraven and Vulture being captured by Spider-Man. Kraven even landed in hot water with law enforcement and the Fantastic Four when he got caught supplying hallucinogens to other important role-players in New York.

The above are mere highlights of Kraven’s stories and meant to serve as an appetizer.

Final thoughts

I’m honestly excited for this production and can’t wait to see how it links to the wider Sony Spider-Man’s Universe. Looking forward to all the possible action and fight scenes. And will we get to see Spider-Man? Let’s wait for hunting season to begin at a cinema near you.

FILM RATING

Action

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom | Official Trailer

Arthur must enlist the help of his half-brother Orm in order to protect Atlantis against Black Manta, who has unleashed a devastating weapon in his obsessive quest to avenge his father’s death.

Published

7 days ago

September 14, 2023

Staff

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom [credit: Warner Bros. / DC]

Genre:

Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Release Date:

December 20, 2023

Director:

James Wan

Cast:

Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Plot Summary:

Arthur must enlist the help of his half-brother Orm in order to protect Atlantis against Black Manta, who has unleashed a devastating weapon in his obsessive quest to avenge his father’s death.

FILM RATING

Disney +

Marvel Studios’ Loki Season 2 | Official Trailer | Disney +

The second season of the American television series Loki, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name, sees Loki working with Mobius M. Mobius, Hunter B-15, and other members of the Time Variance Authority to navigate the multiverse in order to find Sylvie, Ravonna Renslayer, and Miss Minutes.

Published

2 months ago

July 31, 2023

Staff

Genre:

Action, Adventure

Release Date:

October 6, 2023

Director:

Disney +

Cast:

Tom Hiddleston, Jonathan Majors, Sophia Di Martino, Owen Wilson

Plot Summary:

FILM RATING

Comic Book Movies

Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion Review: Nick Returns With A Fury

Published

2 months ago

July 26, 2023

Jacques van Zyl

Nick Fury (Marvel)

The following piece was written during the 2023 Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the television series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Overview Of Secret Invasion

Secret Invasion is set in the present-day Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Nick Fury learns of an invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls. Fury, joined by Everett Ross, Maria Hill, and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth, races against time to stop an invasion and save humanity.

Brief Summary (Contains Spoilers)

The series starts off with Talos pursuing Everett Ross for the murder of a CIA agent, who had information about a potential Skrull rebellion. Maria Hill arrives on scene and discovers that Everett is a shapeshifting Skrull and contacts Nick Fury to request assistance. Nick returns to learn that not only has Talos been exiled from the Skrull Council, but Gravik is taking the lead with the rebellion. Fury approaches an old acquaintance by the name of Sonya Falsworth to propose an alliance, but to no avail. In the meantime, Talos reunites with his daughter, G’iah who shares with him the location of a Skrull attack in Russia. The mission to stop the attack not only end in failure, but in the death of one of Fury’s team mates. Fury and Talos is forced to escape to fight another day.

Gravik gains the support of the Skrull Council to lead them in a new war. Fury is blamed for the attack in Russia and the death of one of the team members, and is discharged of his duties. Sonya learns from another rebel that Gravik has a new weapon, a machine that can help enhance their strength with the use of powered DNA. The rebel’s next target is the Royal Navy. Their attempt to launch a missile at another aircraft is however thwarted by collective efforts from Fury, Talos, Sonya and G’iah. G’iah attempts to run away but is confronted by Gravik who shoots her and leaves her for dead.

G’iah, however, survives and lives to fight another day. We quickly learn that there is a rebel Skull Imposter posing as one of the Avengers. The rebels turn their focus on the President of the United States, and posing as Russian soldiers almost succeeds in their attempt, however, they leave behind many casualties. The rebel Skrulls tries to convince the United States President to attack one of the Skrull compounds. Gravik is willing to call off the attack in exchange for something from Nick that could potentially tip the scales in the favor of the rebels.

The last episode ends with a short but grand face-off between Fury and Gravik with a special twist…but I will leave this for you as the viewer to experience on the screen.

The summary has been written in such a way as to not spoil too much for the viewer.

Final Views

I really enjoyed the suspense and surprises that the series brought with every episode. Even though the series was only 6 episodes long, it kept the suspense alive and it kept the golden thread going that is taking place within the broader MCU. As you may recall, Captain Marvel’s movie end where she flew off to find a new home for the Skrulls and this series continue many years later where some of the Skrulls feel the promise of a new home has been broken. Even the blip is referenced and it keeps the memory alive of a world still affected by Thanos’ snap.

The rating for this series is definitely a 4 out of 5. The story had a feel of a crime drama and spy thriller. The fight scenes were amazing and I personally felt the last episode could have been longer to give us an even longer fight. There are many questions that this television series have going through my head that I won’t list over here to limit spoiling the experience for you as the viewer. I can only hope that some of the questions will be answered in future Marvel Studios productions.

*Olivia Colman as Sonya Falsworth (Marvel)*

Olivia Colman’s portrayal of Sonya Falsworth was really amazing to watch and I really hope we get to see more of her in future productions. Emelia Clark and Kingsley Ben-Adir brought in a breath of fresh air as G’iah and Gravik respectively. As always, having Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury is epic to say the least, and I encourage keeping both eyes on his performance throughout the MCU.

I highly recommend watching Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), WandaVision (2021), Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) before watching Secret Invasion. These movies provide the detailed backstory to most of the returning characters. These movies and television series are based on the list of recommendations made in Marvel Studios’ Legends as well.

There is no post-credits scene, so no need to wait till the end. The whole series is now available on Disney Plus so make sure to watch. This series is rumored to tie-in with both The Marvels and Armor Wars, upcoming movies in the MCU.

FILM RATING