Kraven the Hunter Trailer Unveils the Strangest Version of the Rhino Yet

The latest trailer for Kraven the Hunter features a long-awaited character from the Spider-Man mythos. No, not Spider-Man. Of course it’s not Spider-Man. Kraven is the latest in latest in Sony‘s attempts to build a cinematic universe based on Spider-Man characters, but without using Spider-Man.

No, the newest character is Aleksei Sytsevich, better known as the Rhino. We’ve seen clips of Aleksei in his civilian form, played by Alessandro Nivola. But this latest trailer is the first time he’s appeared in his Rhino form and it is… different.

The trailer shows Aleksei transforming into a type of human/rhino hybrid, a beast who smashes cars much like every other giant muscleman in superhero movies. That’s a real change from the comic book version of the Rhino, and even those seen in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the Spider-Man video games. Usually, Aleksei becomes the Rhino by putting on some type of exo-suit, which gives him strength and vulnerability.

However, the biggest change to Rhino lore is in his non-beast form. Traditionally, Rhino is a moron, a dimwitted Russian thug who gets himself trapped inside of his suit. There have been some variations on this personality. The great 2001 story “Flowers for Rhino,” by writer Peter Milligan and artist and Duncan Fegredo, in which the brute becomes a genius after an experimental procedure. And in Amazing Spider-Man 2, Paul Giamatti plays Aleksei as a raving lunatic, who doesn’t seem smart, but isn’t quite the same dolt.

But in the Kraven trailer, Nivola seems to play Aleksei as a smooth gangster, a leader of men who somehow earns the ire of the Hunter, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. That’s nto the only change to Spidey characters seen in the Kraven trailer, however. Ariana DeBose’s Calypso appears to be more of a supportive girlfriend than the crazed voodoo priestess of the comics and Kraven’s half-brother Dmitri Smerdyakov a.k.a. the Chameleon, played by Fred Hechinger, doesn’t show off any master of disguise or shapeshifting abilities.

The biggest change is, of course, that of Kraven himself. He does appear in his traditional lion coat for a few shots in the trailer, but he’s portrayed as a heroic avenger instead of the madman of the comics. Moreover, he seems to spend a lot of time hunting people and protecting animals, instead of doing what Kraven tends to do best and hunt animals.

None of these changes should be much of a surprise. Sony’s Spidey-less Spider-Verse has to take extreme liberties with the source material. So far, that’s only resulted in genuine appreciation for Tom Hardy’s unique take on Venom and mockery toward Morbius and Madame Web, but maybe Kraven the Hunter will turn the tide. Maybe all that these characters really needed was to lose everything that made them distinct in the comics, and changed into generic tough guys.

Or maybe that’s an idea so dumb, even the Rhino would mock it.

Kraven the Hunter comes to theaters on December 13, 2024.