Spider-Man has fought many villains in the past, and while it is unlikely we will get to see all of them face off against the same actor, there is plenty of room for them to grow and thrive in Sony’s Spider-Man-less universe. So far the studio has Venom set for release later this October. Then they’ve got Morbius and Silver and Black films in development. Now, they’ve added a new villain into the mix.

According to a new report, The Equalizer 2 screenwriter Richard Wenk has been tapped to write a screenplay based on Kraven the Hunter. More on the story, below.

Collider was the first to exclusively report on the news. According to their sources, the move shows that Sony has a lot of confidence in this universe they are building and that they don’t need a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to be a part of it. Of course, that all depends on Venom‘s success. But, hiring a new writer is a good nice and possible a step in the right direction. Now it’s just a wait and see game.

As for Kraven the Hunter, he’s Sergei Kravinoff, a hunter of big game who finally comes across a target he cannot claim, Spider-Man. The character has appeared in numerous animated series and video games, but has never officially appeared in a live-action film. Dmitri Smerdyakov, better known as the Chameleon, happens to be his half-brother.

Now the interesting part of all of this is the fact that because Kraven is a Spider-Man villain, how can a character like that exist without Spider-Man, himself? Wenk will have to figure that one out. Of course, if we are to believe that this is a connected Universe, Kraven could end up hunting Venom or even Morbius. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before in the comics. Plus, if we were to see a hint of a sequel, we could see mob bosses hiring Kraven to protect them by killing Venom. But that is just a fan theory.

Again, this Spider-Man-less universe isn’t new at all, although it’s starting to look like it’s more thought-out than the first iteration. Back when Sony had the Amazing Spider-Man franchise, the studio leaped into making their own cinematic universe by announcing spinoff titles in development and then shoehorning in Easter eggs alluding to those spinoffs. Of course, that did not work. And in the end, Sony made the deal to share Spider-Man with Marvel Studios that lead to Spider-Man: Homecoming and the upcoming sequel Far From Home.

While it was mutually beneficial, Spider-Man cannot — at least based on what’s being reported — interact with Venom, Morbius, Black Cat, Silver Sable, and now Kraven. But Sony doesn’t seem to be too concerned about that. And it’s not like Spider-Man has a bunch of clones or anything. Of course, who knows if the studio wants to use one of them. We’ll just have to wait and see.

So for now, we can see that Sony is serious about this.

[Source: Collider]