Kraven the Hunter ending explained: Is Kraven really a villain?

He came, he kraved, and he left (well, he didn’t if you know him from the Marvel comics). But how did the Kraven the Hunter ending change how we see him?

Sony’s Marvel spinoffverse has been a colorful journey, to say the least. You’d be hard-pressed to forget the cultural phenomenon that was “It’s Morbin’ time,” followed by mega flops including Madame Web and Venom: The Last Dance.

Rounding out the year – and the spinoffverse as we know it – is Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s take on Sergei Kravinoff, a.k.a Kraven the Hunter. In a nutshell, he almost died after being attacked by a lion on a hunting trip to Ghana, but a mysterious girl called Calypso saved him.

Essentially, the villain we know from years gone by might not be the big bad we think he is. But what actually happened during the ending of Kraven the Hunter? Warning: spoilers ahead!

Kraven’s own journey repaints him as a hero

While Kraven is introduced as a villain in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 comic, his origin story suggests he was trying to re-correct the “evil” his father Nikolai was putting into the world.

In opening scenes, we learn Nikolai (Russell Crowe) was incredibly hard on his sons Sergei and half-brother Dmitri (Fred Hechinger), and effectively drove his wife to take her own life. To get them over their grief, Nikolai takes the boys on a hunting trip in Ghana, where Sergei is attacked by a lion. While he’s dragged off into the wilderness, a young Calypso (Ariana DeBose) finds him, bringing him back to life with a potion her grandmother made.

Sergei’s blood is infused with the animal’s, and thus the legend of Kraven the Hunter is born. Many years in the future, he’s hiding out in the Siberian wilderness years after leaving his dad and half-brother behind. While Nikolai is frosty, Dmitri still loves his sibling more than anything. Kraven mostly stays away, but visits his brother every year for his birthday.

We see him break out of a Russian prison, unknowingly killing the very crime boss who’s murdered adult Calypso’s close friend. According to Kraven, he operates on a code of morality… and this guy had it coming.

Kraven (Sergei, but he officially has an alias now) finds her in London, proposing a deal. He’s got a list of names he’s looking to strike off – that’s basically anybody resembling his dad – and he can’t get to them. If she uses her intel as a lawyer, he can eliminate her problems in one go.

Sony Pictures

Before Calypso can actually agree to this, there’s a problem. A villain known as the Rhino (Alessandro Nivola) is coming after the Kravinoff family, and he’s taken Dmitri hostage. Cue Kraven doing his utmost to stop him leaving the country, but it falls short… meaning he needs names, fast.

Given that she’s now swept up in the drama enough for her own life on the line, Calypso gets a name, leading Kraven to an abandoned monastery in Northern Turkey. However, it’s a trap – Rhino knows he’s en route, with Dmitri long gone. All that’s left is thugs who want to kill him. They don’t succeed, but it’s a good show nonetheless.

You might be wondering by this point why our boy Rhino has such a chip on his shoulder. On that same fateful hunting trip, Nikolai took a disliking to him, sending him spiralling down a path of self-hatred. He came across a quack doctor in New York who experimented on his body to become indestructible, hence the Rhino exterior. It’s too much pain for him to bear all the time, so he has to carry a backpack full of damage limiting fluid at all times.

But back to the action! Kraven is on the warpath to get his brother back, with Dmitri refusing to turn on his family, even when Sergei’s true identity is revealed. He takes Calypso to his hideout in Siberia, with Rhino on the warpath. If he can’t get Kraven to come to him, he’s going to Kraven.

Sergei takes down Nikolai in the Kraven the Hunter ending

Kraven the Hunter ends with Sergei taking down The Rhino before leaving his father Nikolai in the Siberian wilderness. He’s killed by a bear, though it’s officially declared a “hunting accident.” A year later, Sergei and Dmitri meet, with the younger son taking over the family business.

Sony Pictures/Marvel

Sure enough, Rhino tracks Kraven down to his hideout, and it’s an all-out battle. He’s brought Dmitri with him as bait, who escapes at the first sign of conflict. Kraven easily wipes out the first round of enemies, but he’s got a problem with a guy known as the Foreigner (Christopher Abbott). He’s had an obsession with Kraven since he eliminated the Foreigner’s boss, and he’s been working on a plan to get rid of him once and for all.

Essentially, the plan is using Kraven’s own weapons against him, tracking down a poisonous hallucinogenic Kraven used at the monastery to duplicate. It’s something only grown in the Siberian region, meaning it gave away his location too. Sure enough, the Foreigner gets a few darts in him, and it looks like things are over.

Just as Kraven begins to succumb to his hallucinations, Calypso shoots the Foreigner in the eye with a crossbow (apparently, she learned this at summer camp). She has another vial of her grandmother’s potion, bringing Kraven back to life for a second time. What luck!

Sony Pictures

While this is going on, Rhino manages to recapture Dmitri, but Kraven doesn’t let him get away. Using the power of buffalo (that makes more sense when you watch), Kraven is able to release Rhino into his full form, jamming a metal rod into the incision he uses to drain fluid into. Rhino gets trampled by the wildlife, and it’s ta-ra to the indestructible beast.

When we next see Kraven, he’s tracked down Nikolai. Before he died, Rhino implied it was his dad who handed over CCTV tapes that gave away his identity to enemy hands. Why? Because only his strongest son could fight his dad’s battles when he couldn’t. Understandably, Kraven isn’t having it, removing the bullets from a shotgun while a bear mauls Nikolai to death.

A year later, Dmitri and Kraven meet for Dmitri’s birthday. Kraven learns his brother has taken over Nikolai’s business, with Dmitri telling Kraven he’s become something worse than his dad could every be. He hints at visiting an “unorthodox” doctor before he leaves. Kraven follows him outside where he’s met with a version of himself.

Freaking out, Kraven watches as Dmitri morphs back into himself, telling him to get out of the city. Kraven the Hunter’s ending sees his returns to Nikolai’s house, where he finds the gift of his famed hunter costume waiting.

Is there a post-credits scene?

Thankfully, there’s no post-credits scene in Kraven the Hunter.

Unless you want to stick around and see the number of digital and visual artists involved in this hunter’s feast (spoiler: there’s a lot), you’re safe to gather your stuff and head off home.

Kraven the Hunter 2 likely won’t happen, but it could

Kraven the Hunter leaves off with Dmitri being revealed to be Chameleon, essentially pitting the brothers against each other. It’s enough of a cliffhanger to generate a sequel, but Sony is winding down the spinoff series.

Sony Pictures/Marvel

As you might have guessed (or read), Dmitri’s morphing act marks his transition into Chameleon, which is “the only thing he’s ever been good at.” He’s got the baggage of being an illegitimate child in his bones, with Nikolai routinely making him feel lesser-than for this very reason. When Rhino tries to use it against him earlier on in the new movie, it doesn’t fully work.

In the Marvel comics, Chameleon is a supervillain who can transform himself into anybody, though he was originally a solo villain in the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. Obviously, this is no longer the case, with Kraven being his half-brother.

We didn’t originally know this, though. It’s revealed when Chameleon gives Kraven the chance to get rid of Spider-Man once and for all, with the two joining forces. We know Spider-Man 4 is on the cards, meaning we could be seeing the brothers once more.

Sony Pictures

But how does this stack up when we don’t really see Kraven as evil anymore? Given our opinion of him has changed, it’s perhaps more likely another movie would explore the brothers going up against each other. Nikolai’s death has driven as wedge between then, with the two clearly in different minds about what is good and what is evil.

Realistically, any speculation away from Spidey is probably all for nothing. Given Sony’s other Marvel movies haven’t performed well, Kraven the Hunter is likely the end of their line of spinoffs.

Unless there’s a box office miracle, you can bet your bottom dollar we won’t be seeing Avengers: Kraven edition any time soon.

Kraven the Hunter is in cinemas now. You can also check out everything we know about Captain America 4, as well as the latest updates on Marvel’s Phase 6, The Fantastic Four, and Thunderbolts*.