Kraven the Hunter 2024

The film opens as Sergei Kravinoff, AKA “Kraven The Hunter” (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is being transported to a prison in Russia. After knocking out two inmates outside, he is brought to meet with crime boss Semyan Chorney (Yuri Kolokolnikov). Kraven reveals himself, but Chorney says “The Hunter” is just a myth. Kraven grabs a tooth off a tiger skin rug and proceeds to slash Chorney’s goons before jamming the tooth in Chorney’s neck. He kills another prisoner and uses him as a decoy before making his escape from the prison.

A flashback jumps 16 years into the past to show a young Sergei (Levi Miller) and his brother Dmitri (Billy Barratt). They are picked up from school by their father, mob boss Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe). He informs his sons that their mother has committed suicide, something that Sergei blames on Nikolai.

Nikolai brings the boys on a hunt, along with his team. They are joined by Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola), who wishes to join Nikolai’s empire, but Nikolai does not see him as being of any use to him. Nearby, a teenage girl named Calypso Ezili (Diaana Babnicova) is looking over tarot cards with her grandmother. The hunting party comes across a lion, which attacks Sergei and almost fatally mauls him. Calypso sees this and treats his wounds, while a drop of the lion’s blood falls into Sergei’s body and begins to alter his DNA. The doctors at the hospital try to save him but declare him dead. Moments later, Sergei’s altered DNA kicks in, and he comes back to life.

Nikolai brings Sergei home almost immediately after he is revived. He decides to run away from home, leaving Dmitri to deal with their father. Sergei retreats to the woods, but he ends up in a field where a wildebeest stampede. The animals run right past him, and one that is blocked by Sergei waits until the others have run past so it can keep moving. Moments later, Sergei finds most of the wildebeest killed with their horns removed. He finds two hunters (presumably a father and son), who threaten Sergei to leave. He picks up a knife off the ground and throws it into the older hunter’s head before proceeding the beat the younger hunter to death with his bare hands.

In the present, Kraven continues to go after criminals with enhanced animal-like abilities, including heightened sight, smell, and forming a bond with animals. He gets a message from Dmitri (Fred Hechinger), asking if he will show up for his birthday. Kraven later finds a convoy of mercenaries and blocks them from entering an area to hunt animals. When they move ahead, Kraven enters their van and slaughters them, even biting one guy’s nose off. The mercenary leader retreats and runs to his employer, thinking Kraven was dealt with, only to find Kraven sitting in the boss’s chair since he already killed him. Kraven fires a crossbow and impales the leader with an arrow before leaving.

Calypso (Ariana DeBose) is now a lawyer. She learns that her close friend and colleague was murdered by guys working for Chorney. Kraven approaches her, revealing himself as the boy that she saved, and also informs her that he is “The Hunter” that has been going off and killing major criminals like Chorney.

Aleksei is now a mercenary working with his cronie Bahari (Damola Adelaja). He learns of Kraven’s exploits and sees this as an opportunity to move in on Nikolai’s criminal empire. Aleksei and Bahari approach other criminals to get them to work for him. When they refuse, Aleksei shows off his mutation, which causes his skin to harden and turn him into “The Rhino”, something he keeps off with a serum. Aleksei’s gunmen kill all but two of the criminals, and one of them kills the other to be employed by Aleksei.

Nikolai hosts a party for Dmitri’s birthday at a nightclub where Dmitri works as a pianist and singer. The goon that joined Aleksei approaches Nikolai and makes an attempt to have him killed, but Nikolai uses the goon as a human shield before a shootout occurs, leaving many of Aleksei and Nikolai’s men dead. Kraven later surprises Dmitri by showing up at his apartment. The two have a friendly dinner until Nikolai shows up to ruin things.

Dmitri is later abducted by Aleksei’s goons. Kraven chases them on foot throughout the city, smashing his way through windows and scaling walls to catch up to them, but they manage to get away. Nikolai is later sent Dmitri’s severed finger and is given 48 hours to deliver a $20 million ransom for Dmitri’s return. Knowing his father will not go through with that, Kraven goes to Calypso for help in saving his brother.

Knowing that Kraven will come after them, Aleksei hires an assassin known as “The Foreigner” (Christopher Abbott) to come deal with him. The Foreigner is able to manipulate time so that he can do things like grab a gun out of an assailant’s hand and shoot them with it. While they wait for his arrival, Aleksei shows Dmitri his mutation and tells him how being The Rhino causes him physical pain. He mentions a doctor in New York, Dr. Miles Warren, to Dmitri that helped him with his condition.

Kraven helps Calypso escape her law firm when Aleksei’s goons go after her. They fly to the jungle where Kraven knows that Dmitri is being kept. They run into a wildcat that Kraven knew as a cub, and he wrestles with her for a bit before he and Calypso keep moving.

Once The Foreigner arrives, Aleksei’s goons keep an eye out for Kraven and learn he is nearby. The Foreigner confronts Kraven in the forest and shoots him with a dart containing a powerful toxin. It causes Kraven to hallucinate that he is being surrounded by spiders (the closest reference to Spider-Man that we get). The Foreigner hits him with two more darts and prepares to execute him until Calypso fires an arrow through The Foreigner’s eye. She then uses her own voodoo elixir to heal Kraven and get him back on his feet.

Aleksei moves Dmitri along with a convoy. Kraven sends a wildebeest stampede after them. Bahari gets thrown out of the van an impaled on horns. Aleksei then allows himself to fully transform into The Rhino and engage in a showdown with Kraven. The two duke it out in the middle of the stampede, with Kraven unable to penetrate through Rhino’s skin. When Rhino holds him up by the neck, Kraven spots the entry wound where Aleksei injects the serum, and Kraven impales it, weakening Aleksei. Kraven then ties him up in a wire and flings him into the stampede, causing him to get trampled. Aleksei slowly succumbs to his wounds.

Kraven later confronts Nikolai in the woods, as it was he who sent Aleksei footage of Kraven escaping prison and alerting Aleksei to his identity. This was all a plan for Nikolai to bait Kraven into killing Aleksei since Nikolai knew that Dmitri would be an easy target and that his brother would kill to get him back. In retaliation, Kraven quietly steals the bullets from all of Nikolai’s rifles and leaves as a bear arrives to maul a defenseless Nikolai to death.

Kraven later meets with Dmitri at the nightclub. They have a disagreement about the paths their lives are taking, with Dmitri saying that Kraven is just like their father, another man hunting for a trophy. Dmitri starts to walk away, and Kraven follows him, but when Dmitri turns around, he turns into his brother. Dmitri is now wearing a suit given to him by Dr. Warren. The suit allows Dmitri to shapeshift into anybody, making him “The Chameleon”. The brothers bitterly part ways again.

Kraven returns home and finds both a package and note from Nikolai. The note reiterates that Kraven is just like Nikolai, a hunter. Kraven then pulls out the gift, a vest with an animal pelt on it. Kraven puts it on and begins to stare at himself in the mirror.