‘Kraven the Hunter’ taps Fred Hechinger to play Chameleon in Sony's Marvel film
Another classic Spider-Man villain is joining Sony’s upcoming solo film, Kraven the Hunter.
According to Deadline, Fred Hechinger, whose acting credits include HBO’s The White Lotus, Hulu’s Pam and Tommy, and Netflix’s Fear Street films, has been cast to play Kraven’s illegitimate half-brother, Chameleon.
Chameleon, whose real name is Dmitri Anatoly Smerdyakov Kravinoff, is a supervillain created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
The character, who is skilled at changing his identity, first appeared in 1963’s The Amazing Spider-Man #1. Apart from comics and video game adaptations, Dmitri also appeared in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019, portrayed by actor Numan Acar.
Known as a master of disguise and a soviet spy, the villain initially relied on his skills and a mixture of costumes and make-up to conceal his identity.
Later on, Dmitri used a belt buckle equipped with a microcomputer from Spencer Smythe, which allows him to copy the facial features of hundreds of people.
When his brother committed suicide, Chameleon’s obsession in defeating Spider-Man led him to ingest a serum that allows him to change his appearance at will.
With his skill, he was able to impersonate a number of characters in the Marvel comics including some members of the Avengers such as Spider-Man, Captain Steve Rogers, and Dr. Bruce Banner.
The upcoming Kraven the Hunter solo film will star Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the titular role. The project is being directed by J.C. Chandor and is slated to premiere on Jan. 13, 2023.
Kraven, also known as Sergie Kravinoff, is a Russian hunter who took a herbal potion that allowed him to enhance his strength, speed, and agility. Apart from gaining physical powers, the potion also enabled Kraven to decelerate his aging process.
As a supervillain, Kraven decided to hunt Spider-Man in order to restore the honor of his family name. He later joined Doc Octopus' Sinister Six, which includes Sandman, Vulture, Electro, and Mysterio, in a bid to defeat the web-crawler.
Kraven the Hunter is among the upcoming Spider-Man projects being developed by Sony. Other spin-off movies already underway include Tom Hardy's third Venom film and Jared Leto's Morbius, which is due to come out in April 2022.
Additionally, Sony is also aiming to further expand the universe of its Marvel characters with an upcoming superhero film featuring Madame Web.
As previously reported, Fifty Shades of Grey actress Dakota Johnson is currently in talks to play the titular role of Cassandra Webb, a telepathic, clairvoyant and precognitive mutant with myasthenia gravis.