Could Kraven the Hunter have been the perfect villain for Black Panther? Ryan Coogler confirms that Sony Pictures prevented him from using the iconic character.
There’s, surprisingly, not too many long-standing rumors about the Black Panther series. For the most part, Ryan Coogler and his team have executed or disproven any supposed leaks. However, one of the most persistent rumors, not just for the series, but for all of comic book media, is that Coogler originally wanted Kraven the Hunter in the first film, but Sony Picutres kept him from using the character due to them owning the rights.
Yet after nearly a decade, things were finally set straight on this rumor. Ryan Coogler recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz. While there, the host asked about the reports that Kraven the Hunter was the original villain of the film. Surprisingly, Coogler revealed that the decision to potentially switch to Kraven the Hunter was made decently late into the development of Black Panter.
“When I took that job, Joe Robert Cole, who’s my co-writer on both the Panthers, [he] had been working with Marvel and they had a line, so when I showed up, it was like, ‘Hey, we have our villains. Our villains are Klaue and Eric Killmonger.’ That had been decided upon.”
“The outline of villains was Klaue and Kilmonger, but they weren’t sure. They weren’t sure. Klaue felt slightly modular to them, and obviously, it was the great Andy Serkis, so I’m hyped to work with him. [I] wanted to base it on the Christopher Priest run of Panther, and his run starts with Panther and Kraven in the kitchen. That’s the first thing. It’s Ross, Panther, and Kraven fighting in the Kitchen.”
Why Kraven Was Cut From Black Panther
Given Ulysses Klaue isn’t exactly the most brandable villain (and still, a decade out from the release of Black Panther, is far from an A-List villain), it’s understandable that Marvel Studios would like to find another character for the role. However, it’s only when Ryan Coogler brought up the idea of using Kraven the Hunter that the issue with the rights became clear.
“I was like, ‘Yo, can I have Kraven in the movie?’ They were like, ‘We don’t think so, but let us check.’ So, they hit Sony, and Sony was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ They came back to me like, ‘Yo, we can’t do it.’ So, I was like, ‘Okay.'”
At the same, Sony Pictures was in their early stages of trying to develop Kraven the Hunter into a hero in his own right, eventually materializing with the character getting his own film starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson. And while it would’ve been amazing to see what Ryan Coogler could have done with Kraven the Hunter, it’s ultimately seems as though things worked out well for Black Panther.
Black Panther 3 is currently in development at Marvel Studios. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding the future of Black Panther!
